Kuyper Center Annual Conference 2015: Faith in the Workplace Symposium

Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920) – Dutch pastor, theologian, journalist and politician — was instrumental in the revival of Calvinism as a worldview worthy of practical allegiance and sustained critical reflection. In 1898 he visited Princeton and delivered the Stone Lectures that year, his famous Lectures on Calvinism.

Kuyper’s political theology is widely regarded as providing a Christian foundation for multi-culturalism, and he was in the vanguard in understanding the religious significance of the Muslim revival taking place at the beginning of the 20th century. But his writings also include references to race and nationality that have proved controversial, a controversy intensified by the appeal to his theology of ‘sphere sovereignty’ that was made by some Dutch Reformed apologists for apartheid in South Africa. Accordingly, the aim of the 2015 conference is twofold: to explore the contemporary relevance of neo-Calvinism for a Christian understanding of racialism, and to critically assess Kuyper’s own views on race and nationality.

Pre-Conference Symposium

“Faith in the Workplace”

Does Christian faith have any impact in the workplace? Does it show in the way that people do their jobs? Should it be given more emphasis, or less? These are some of the questions to be addressed in the third Abraham Kuyper pre-conference symposium on April 15th and 16th 2015. This year, the Abraham Kuyper Center for Theology and Public Life is collaborating with two other organizations whose expertise in this area brings theory and practice into fruitful conversation. The ‘Faith and Work Initiative’ at Princeton University, led by Princeton Seminary graduate David Miller, investigates the ways in which the resources of various religious traditions and spiritual identities shape and inform engagement with diverse workplace issues. The Center for Faith and Work at Redeemer Presbyterian Church New York, headed by David Kim (also a Princeton Seminary graduate, who worked on Abraham Kuyper) seeks to equip individuals of all backgrounds to develop and apply a worldview for work that better serves their profession and industry. Staff from both organizations will make presentations aimed at opening up a wide-ranging discussion of an increasingly important theme for both church and industry.

The ‘Faith in the Workplace’ symposium is open, free of charge, both to participants in the annual Kuyper Conference that follows, and to all interested clergy and laity in the wider Princeton area, as well as students and faculty at Princeton Seminary. To ensure that there is space for everyone who wishes to attend, you are asked to register online here.