Recently, I picked up James Bratt’s biography of Abraham Kuyper. While I read the book years ago when I had the opportunity the interview the author on Christ the Center, I was compelled to revisit the subject after having read portions of Kuyper’s Common Grace. Kuyper’s was a remarkable life, and Bratt summarizes Kuyper’s unique combination of contributions in one succinct paragraph:

At this he showed real genius: within three years he founded a university, instituted a formal political party, and helped build a nationwide network of Christian elementary schools. The first two were not only the first of their type in the Netherlands—indeed, pioneering efforts in all of Europe—but represented something of a social revolution as well, steps toward a genuinely democratic social order. The king who pointedly refused to invite him to court, the leaders of the opposition who battled him at every turn, and the members of his own group who were discomfited by his innovations all recognized this. So did the many commoners who were galvanized by his vision—and his charisma.

James D. Bratt, Abraham Kuyper: Modern Calvinist, Christian Democrat (Eerdmans, 2013)