November 2007 - Protestant Reformed Churches in America

Book Reviews
Henry J. Kuiper: Shaping the
Christian Reformed Church,
1907-1962, by James A. De Jong.
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007.
Pp. xviii-270. $34.00 (paper).
[Reviewed by David J. Engelsma.]
President-emeritus of
Calvin Theological Seminary
James A. De Jong has written
an interesting account of the life
and work of influential Christian
Reformed minister Henry J.
Kuiper. Because of the prominence
of “HJK,” the book affords
as well a fascinating look
at the Christian Reformed
Church during the years of
Kuiper’s ministry, from 1904,
when Kuiper entered what
would now be considered seminary,
until his death in 1962.
For most of his ministerial
career, Kuiper was a leading,
powerful churchman. He was
deeply involved in the ouster of
Ralph Janssen from Calvin
Seminary in 1922. De Jong
makes plain that Janssen was
known to hold and teach highercritical
(that is, unbelieving)
views of the Old Testament as
early as 1906.
Kuiper also played a leading
role in the deposition of
Rev. Henry Danhof and Rev.
George Ophoff by Christian
Reformed Classis Grand Rapids
West in January 1925. In the
deposing of the two ministers
and their consistories and in the
refusal by the classis to examine
B. J. Danhof for ordination
to the ministry (since at that
time Danhof opposed the doctrine
of common grace), “H. J.
Kuiper’s hand on the tiller had
guided the outcome” (58). Thus
Henry J. Kuiper became part of
the history of the Protestant Reformed
Churches, which formed
as the result of these depositions
and Herman Hoeksema’s deposition
by Classis Grand Rapids
East of the Christian Reformed
Church.
Kuiper defended and promoted
the doctrine of common
grace adopted by the Christian
Reformed Synod of 1924 by
preaching and then publishing
three sermons on common
grace. The title of the booklet
was, “The Three Points of Common
Grace.”
In connection with his account
of Kuiper’s involvement
in the controversy over common
grace, and elsewhere in the
book, author De Jong recognizes
Herman Hoeksema with
respect.
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