Dutch statesman and historian Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer (1801-1876), on whose shoulders stand such Reformed thinkers as Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck, shaped the political landscape of 19th-century Holland. Key in his thinking is his view that acknowledging God in the public square safeguards liberty rather than threatens it.
Writing at a time when Europe was engulfed in revolutions, Groen diagnosed Europe's upheaval as rooted in "unbelief" the denial of God in public life. This work of original scholarship shows how its opposite, the notion that society owes God what is God's, grounds Groen's Christian-historical thought. It roots his political theology in early patristic and medieval traditions and explains how its successful application by the early Dutch Republic fostered liberty, religious tolerance, decentralized power, and phenomenal prosperity, in stark contrast to the chaos and mayhem that its denial brought revolutionary France. The work offers a fruitful comparison with Edmund Burke, whose anti-revolutionary thought shares Groen's rootedness in early Christian tradition. Through engagement with the contemporary debate on the grounding of justice and human rights as a safeguard against political tyranny, Noteboom demonstrates Groen's enduring relevance for political theology and constitutional theory.
This book will appeal to scholars of Reformed thought, the history of ideas, political theology, and moral philosophy seeking to understand how Judeo-Christian principles have shaped Western civilization, as well as what they have to offer for today's public square.
