Kuyper Conference 2026

From 26 to 28 March I was at the annual Kuyper Conference at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I travelled there by car with Harry Van Dyke and Peter Schuurman and stayed, along with Peter, at his brother Derek's house near campus. Peter is, of course, executive director of Global Scholars Canada, the organization with which I am affiliated. The conference always offers an opportunity to meet and get to know new people and to renew older friendships, but this one was especially memorable, as Calvin University celebrates 150 years of providing Christian higher education in the Reformed tradition.

It was good to talk with people from Indonesia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, the Netherlands, South Africa, and elsewhere. I was gratified to learn that some of these people already knew me from my writings, which they have found of benefit in their own work.

The annual Kuyper Prize was awarded to George Harinck, historian and Rector Magnificus at the Theological University in Utrecht, Netherlands. He delivered a keynote address titled, "A Neo-Calvinist Moment," in which he recounted the history of the Neo-Calvinist movement from the late 19th century and into the 20th, focussing on key figures of the era and the connections between the Netherlands and North America. A fascinating lecture given by a most worthy recipient.

Other speakers included Roel Kuiper, who has just published a book, The Antirevolutionary: Life and Works of Groen van Prinsterer (1801-1876). Groen was a formative influence on Kuyper, who inherited leadership of the antirevolutionary movement in the Netherlands after Groen's death, whose 150th anniversary we also observe this year. I have ordered a copy of this book from the publisher and look forward to reading it.

My great friend Derek Schuurman, who billeted me during my visit, gave the final plenary address on the subject of "Abraham Kuyper, Common Grace, and the Future of AI and Technology." As always, he did a fine job, which explains why he is in such great demand for his insights on this increasingly important topic.

My own role at the conference was fairly small. Dylan Pahman, whom I have known for several years, recently published a book, The Kingdom of God and the Common Good: Orthodox Christian Social Thought (Chesterton, IN: Ancient Faith Publishing, 2025). Pahman asked me to be a respondent to his new book, a responsibility shared with John Bolt and Jessica Joustra. I happily accepted this invitation, as I was already invited to publish a response in a future issue of Faith & Economics, now scheduled to come out later this year. My own remarks focussed on how Pahman's work might fill some of the pressing needs in countries with Orthodox Christian majorities.

Here are some more photos of the event:

Michele Moorlag-Salcido offered a fascinating presentation with a currently relevant title: "Towards a Faithful Legacy of Abraham Kuyper: A Response to the Misappropriation of Kuyper in American Christian Nationalist Movements." Michele was taught by one of my own former students, Paul Brink. She is thus an intellectual and spiritual granddaughter, so to speak. 

These three gentlemen are from Indonesia. Yudha Thianto teaches at Calvin Seminary. All three know our daughter's father-in-law, Joshua Lie, who pastors an Indonesian Reformed church in Toronto.

Derek Schuurman is always worth hearing. I especially appreciated his account of his own journey into the Neo-Calvinist movement, a pilgrimage in which I myself was pleased to play a small role, as indicated below.

 

Finally, I was privileged to converse with Ivan Tomassini, who comes from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and has read my first book in Spanish translation.

The next Kuyper Conference will be in Seoul, Republic of Korea, on 25-27 February 2027.