Dutch theologian and statesman. Born in Maassluis, Kuyper was the son of a Reformed Church minister. At the University of Leiden he was a brilliant student who embraced liberalism and the latest theological views. During his first pastorate, in Beesd, he experienced an evangelical conversion. Influenced by the piety of his parishioners, he began anew his study of theology, drawing inspiration from the Dutch Calvinist tradition.
Following the death of Groen van Prinsterer in 1876 Kuyper became the leader of the small but growing Calvinist movement in both church and state. He wrote many books and hundreds of articles on theology, philosophy, politics, art, and social issues in which he sought to express a Christian world and life view.
Kuyper founded two newspapers, the daily political paper De Standaard and the weekly religious paper De Heraut. In 1874 he entered parliament as a representative of the newly formed Anti-Revolutionary Party. This was the first modern political party in the Netherlands. In 1878 he published Ons Program, the party's political manifesto, and in 1880 he founded the Free University of Amsterdam. Active in church politics, Kuyper led a secession movement from the state church in 1886 to form the independent Gereformeerde Kerk (Reformed Church).
In 1900 Kuyper's Anti-Revolutionary Party was elected to office and he became prime minister. He broke the crippling railway strike of 1902 but after a bitter election campaign in 1905 lost power. From 1908 he sat as a delegate in the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament and continued to exercise a political influence as editor of De Standaard until shortly before his death.
Kuyper is best remembered for his development of the theological doctrine of common grace and his views about the importance of the kingdom of God in Christian thinking, which were influenced by the work of F. D. Maurice. His social and political theory of sphere sovereignty is an attempt to give an intellectual justification to pluralism and create structural means of limiting the power of the state. Kuyper was keenly aware of the dangers of totalitarianism. He was a strong lover of liberty who recognized that business interests as well as government can oppress the weak; therefore he saw the function of the state as that of preserving God's justice in society.
I. HEXHAM