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Of pagan festivals and meta-narratives: Recovering the awareness of our shared humanness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 August 2017

Richard J. Mouw
Richard J. Mouw*
Affiliation:
Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA 91182, USArjmouw@fuller.edu
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Abstract

The notion of human commonness was a key interest of the nineteenth-century theologian-statesman Abraham Kuyper. As an orthodox Calvinist, Kuyper accepted the division of humankind into the categories of ‘elect’ and ‘non-elect’, but he was also convinced that this way of classifying human beings failed to account for the positive contributions of non-Christians. As a political leader, Kuyper was also concerned to enlist his fellow Calvinists in the quest for justice in the larger society and specifically focused on the ways in which Christian worship can nurture a sense of shared humanness that extends beyond the walls of the church. In our contemporary setting, where our loss of an emphasis on a shared humanness is becoming widespread, Kuyper's effort to ground human solidarity in the practices of worship has much to commend it.

Keywords

compassionhumannessidentitiesKuypernarrativesRousseauworship
Type
Research Article
Information
Scottish Journal of Theology , Volume 70 , Issue 3 , August 2017 , pp. 251 - 263
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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References

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21 Gaudiam et Spes, http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_cons_19651207_gaudium-et-spes_en.html. This article was originally delivered as the 2015 Kuyper Lecture at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.