Abraham Kuyper

In thinking about things on this deeper level, Kuyper wanted to be sure that we keep the very basic differences among these created spheres in mind. To talk simply about “civil society” is to ignore the rich diversity of the created spheres. Families are different than churches. Art guilds are different than groups of scientists working on a common

“pluriformity.”

Our true “enjoyment” includes our flourishing in the kind of participation in created life that God intends for us.

The fact is, Kuyper insisted, that the true church “can reveal itself in many forms, in different countries; nay, even in the same country, in a multiplicity of institutions.”

Enlightenment thought saw human reason—or more generally, an enlightened human consciousness—as the highest standard in the universe for deciding issues of truth and goodness.

“Each sphere has its own identity, its own unique task, its own God-given prerogatives.

Sphere sovereignty” is the English term used for Kuyper’s Dutch phrase (soevereiniteit in eigen kring). The Dutch here is a little difficult to translate literally, but it has the sense of each sphere having its own unique or separate character. Each cultural sphere has its own place in God’s plan for the creation, and each is directly under the di

Kuyper even wrote an essay on the subject to which he gave the telling title “Uniformity: The Curse of Modern Life.”

On each God has conferred its own peculiar right of existence and reason for existence.”