Neo-Calvinism and Christian Theosophy: Franz von Baader, Abraham Kuyper, Herman Dooyeweerd

by J. Glenn Friesen

The key ideas of Abraham Kuyper’s Neo-Calvinism do not come from Calvin or from Reformed sources. Their source is the Christian theosophy of Franz von Baader (1765-1841). Among the many ideas derived from Baader are the ideas of a Christian worldview, a Christian philosophy, the idea of sphere sovereignty, opposition to the autonomy of thought, a Free University, the importance of an embodied spirituality, and the idea of our supratemporal heart, the center of our existence. Seeing these ideas in their historical context of Christian theosophy will challenge many of the current assumptions of evangelicals and reformational philosophers who claim to base their worldview and philosophy on Kuyper’s ideas or on the development of these ideas in the Christian philosophy of Herman Dooyeweerd (1894-1977). Part 1 of this book traces the reception of Baader's ideas by Daniël Chantepie de la Saussaye and J.H. Gunning Jr., who then introduced Baader’s Christian theosophy ideas to Dutch Reformed theology. Chantepie de la Saussaye and Gunning transmitted these ideas to Kuyper, who acknowledges their influence. Kuyper refers to Baader’s writings with approval, and incorporates many of his ideas. Part 2 is a history of the development of Dooyeweerd’s Christian philosophy, and of the very different philosophy of his brother-in-law Dirk Vollenhoven. Whereas Dooyeweerd chose to incorporate the ideas of Christian theosophy, Vollenhoven did not. They disagreed with respect to almost every idea in their philosophies. Part 3 is a detailed examination of Dooyeweerd’s Christian philosophy. Although Dooyeweerd was not at all forthcoming about his sources, it is clear that there is a deep historical connection of his philosophy to Baader’s Christian theosophy, as well as to other mystical and non-Reformed sources. This insight allows us to understand many previously obscure parts of his philosophy and to correct previous misinterpretations of his work. It also opens the way for ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue.

Genres: Theology

586 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2015

Reviews

[Agent Intellect · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is quite an odd, but interesting text. It is primarily about the intellectual development of Herman Dooyeweerd, who was the founder of Reformational Philosophy (or what was popularized in America as Presuppositional Apologetics, even though Dooyeweerd himself was opposed to the interpretations of it done by Van Til and others in America). The author of this book, J. Glenn Friesen, shows throughout the differences between Dooyeweerd's philosophy from that of his relative Vollenhoven, and how these differences come about primarily from Dooyeweerd's acceptance of Christian Theosophy (this being the tradition of Jacob Boehme and his interpreters) and Vollenhoven's rejection of such a tradition.

The book did have quite a fascinating chapter on Franz von Baader and his philosophy (and which helps explain the thought behind Baader for the three articles that Friesen has translated on his own website). After the chapter on Baader there are a few chapters on Dutch thinkers who were influenced by Baader who would become influences on Dooyeweerd as well.

The book then ends with a lengthy exposition of Dooyeweerd's philosophy as summed down in 95 theses, with Friesen then giving commentary on each of these theses.

Not being Reformed myself, I instead saw value in this work for understanding the true origin of Presuppositional Apologetics (which are popular in America both in Protestant and EO circles these days), in learning more about Franz von Baader's thought (which is hard to come across in English), and then for seeing how Dooyeweerd differed from some Catholic Baaderians mentioned in the book especially when it comes to them being purer followers of Baader, while Dooyeweerd being more influenced by Neo-Kantianism was led to reject such concepts like the idea of substance. The ideas of the supratemporal nature of the heart, and of the religious a priori of experience, and the integration of science with religion are all three interesting ideas mentioned from the book and are found in both Baader and Dooyeweerd.

[Tim Wilder]

Very thorough analysis of Dooyeweerd and his sources. Absolutely worth studying for the sake of the various theories of knowledge built on this. I have no interest in Dooyeweerd for his own sake.