Neo-Calvinism

Neo-calvinists recognise the lordship of Christ over all of life. The articulator of neo-calvinism, Abraham Kuyper, famously and emphatically proclaimed that "There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'" For neo-calvinists this confession has been the spur towards an intense cultural engagement. Neo-calvinists believe that the lordship of Christ means that we must be redemptively involved in every sphere of society, seeking to bring about cultural renewal. This has meant that neo-calvinists have been deeply involved particularly in setting up Christian schools and trade unions, and in doing scholarship and politics. Neo-calvinist cultural engagement shares with other Calvinists a social piety described by Nicholas Wolterstorff (Until Justice and Peace Embrace, page 21): "Restless disciplined reformism, or guilt for not being restlessly reformist: these are the characteristic components of the Calvinist social piety."