The Struggle for a
CHRISTIAN POLITICS
From Foreword:
This volume
contains one of the first extensive studies by Herman Dooyeweerd.
This early study (1924-27) reveals the depth and scope of Dooyeweerd's emerging philosophy of reality. The historical topics covered
include Early Christianity and the birth of the idea of the Corpus Christianum; the unitary ecclesiastical culture of the Middle Ages and its dissolution: the emergence of modern
Humanism in the Renaissance;
and the rise and self-destruction of the Humanist theories of natural law. The attention that Dooyeweerd pays to the development of the modern concept of science and the new
concept of matter may appear a needless digression yet paves the way
for a probing analysis of the mathematical method prevalent in the views of political theorists like
Grotius and Hobbes.
The erudition
evinced in this work is impressive and inviting – the reader is soon absorbed in the line of argumentation and will constantly be invited by the style and manner of presentation to continue to read. Studying this work will be a richly rewarding experience for anyone interested in the vital material
covered here.
The work is a translation of a series of articles that appeared in the monthly journal Antirevolutionaire Staatkunde (Anti-revolutionary Politics), in 1924-26, and in the quarterly journal with the same name in 1927.
[The term “Anti-revolutionary’ was used by Abraham Kuyper as the
name of the political party he organized in 1870. It indicated opposition to the principles of the French
Revolution articulated in the phrase “neither God nor master”. Dooyeweerd wrote
his series of articles at the newly established think tank of the
Anti-revolutionary Party in his capacity as its associate director, a position
he held for several years prior to his appointment as professor of law at the Vrije
Universiteit [Free University] in Amsterdam, which was also founded by Kuyper.]
£8.50 / $8.50
