Calvin College has been called a Kuyperian institution. I have always been wary of Kuyperian philosophy and its stated purpose to “claim the whole world for Christ.” I’m not against Kuyper or his thought per se, but I think Calvin College should consider “benching” Kuyper and his philosophy, like a baseball team would bench a player when he begins to lose effectiveness.

Every major league baseball team has twenty-five players on its roster. Only nine of them can be on the field at any given time. It is up to the manager of any team to decide which players will be most effective in any given time in a game or season. In this article’s analogy, Calvin College is the manager of a major league baseball team. For purposes of illustration, the Houston Astros will be that baseball team, and Abraham Kuyper will correspond to one member of the team, starting pitcher Jose Lima. All other Astros players symbolize various Christian leaders from history. As in the history of Christianity, some players are arguably greater or lesser than others, but the heart of the matter is that each player (corresponding to their Christian philosophies) has a time and place of greatest effectiveness.. Two years ago, Jose Lima won twenty games for the Astros, which is a great accomplishment in the baseball world.The greatness Lima displayed in the past corresponds to the potential greatness of Kuyperian thought. Applied correctly, I believe Kuyperianism has the potential to establish Christian culture in this or any other country, even though it has not yet done so successfully in nearly a century of existence. Unfortunately, both Lima and Kuyperianism have fallen on hard times recently. Last baseball season, Lima recorded only seven wins against sixteen losses, and posted a terrible 6.65 ERA. So far this year, Lima has yet to win a game, and his ERA has climbed further to an outlandish 7.71. He is in danger of being benched by the Astros’ manager now that Shane Reynolds, another starting pitcher, has returned from an injury and is able to take his place.

Why did Lima’s performance drop off so dramatically? Baseball observers agree that his problems are caused by the Astros’ recent move into a new baseball stadium. Through the 1999 season, the Astros played in the Astrodome, one of baseball’s largest fields. The field was large enough to allow pitchers like Lima, who by their particular style of pitching tend to surrender a lot of risky fly-balls, to record many fly-outs to the deeper part of the outfield. In Enron Field, the Houston Astros new, much smaller stadium, those fly outs have now become disastrous homeruns. So it is with Kuyperianism. The decline of Christian culture and virtue in our culture has meant that Kuyper’s attempt to “reclaim the world for Christ” has become a much more difficult proposition than it would have been in his own time, 100 years ago. We at Calvin College have had our playing field switched from the spacious, safe, Astrodome-like environment of an ethnic community existing within a larger country generally amenable to our beliefs, to the much less comfortable setting of a non-ethnic community with unfamiliar, potentially threatening people everywhere under the overarching purvue of a governmental and societal emphasis that does not often affirm our beliefs. A Christian must be very mature in his or her faith and single-mindedly devoted to God’s leading in every facet of his or her life to successfully engage today’s world in Kuyperian fashion. If this maturity and devotion, plus the blessing of the Holy Spirit on any such enterprise, is not present at any given time, it is all too easy for the world to claim the Kuyperian rather than for the Kuyperian to claim the world for Christ. We are all humans, and all prone to sin. We have all heard stories of Christian artists descending into immoral associations with the object(s) of their work, be they people or things, Christian businesspeople lapsing into unethical dealings, or Christian athletes taking performance enhancing drugs, all with a view toward acquiring success or gratification within this world. It is surely possible for a Christian to work in any “sphere”, to borrow a Kuyperian concept, of life and not fall into sin, but such work requires, as a prerequisite, a singleminded commitment to holiness.

I believe the many dueling voices of today’s diverse Calvin College conspire against successful Kuyperian action. Or, put differently, too many people on this campus express themselves in non-Kuyperian ways in order for us to realize Kuyperian goals. I believe successful Kuyperian action and diversity of thought are mutually exclusive concepts. In order for an institution to promote a vision as aggressive, albeit possibly rewarding as Kuyperianism, the members of the instiution must present a united front, and all individuals in the institution must sacrifice their right to self-expression wherever their thoughts might conflict with Kuyper’s vision. Personally, many of my ideas conflict with a Kuyperianism, even though I see a Kuyperian world where everything, or even most things, are claimed for Christ as a worthwile end for action. So, as I see it, Calvin is at a fork in the road just like Astros pitcher Jose Lima. Do Calvin and Lima, both placed in environments hostile to their ways of operation either A: continue in their current ways and hope, against prevailing wisdom, that things will turn their way, B: rededicate themselves to work with utmost effort toward forwarding their aims even in their hostile environments or C: request a “trade”, meaning in Calvin’s case a change in vision completely away from Kuyperianism toward diverse, presumably still Christian thought, hopefully resulting in a more favorable environment for the college. I think either of the latter two options are feasible, whereas the first is not, since without change our current situation would call for Kuyper’s vision to be benched, but unlike the Astros, I see no Shane Reynolds waiting to take his place as Calvin’s inspiration.