FOREWORDBEING PUBLIC: ON ABRAHAM KUYPERAND HIS PUBLICATIONSGeorge HarinckI.No person lives solely for himself. Apart from Abraham Kuyper, however, I know of no one who always, from the very earliest words he is known to have uttered until the very last, had a public in mind. For every subject that had his attention, he also recognized a public side. Even in matters relating to his most private life-his dealing with God in the intimate inner chamber of his heart-he reported to his reading public on an almost weekly basis throughout his working life. Kuyper was a public figure, not only in the sense that he belonged to the group of people who figured in the public domain, but also in the stricter sense that he could not do without an audience. For him the world was a stage; he lived for the footlights and believed that his roles and his public had been thrust upon him. As he admitted to one of his daughters in 1903: "My calling is high, my task is wonderful, and above my bed hangs a painting of the crucifixion, and when I look upon it, it seems as if the Lord asks me every night: 'What is your struggle at my drinking cup?' His service is so uplifting and wonderful." That struggle and that service concerned the public expression of his personal religious conviction, and in the past two centuries the Netherlands has not seen anyone who has as forcefully pressed his conviction upon society as Abraham Kuyper did. The oldest remaining manuscript in his hand illustrates that, even at an early age, Kuyper understood that the personal is public. As a boy of ten, he wrote on a piece of paper that on October 10, 1848, he had not been able to sleep because of the unrest he felt about the evil he had committed. At half past eleven that night he converted and resolved to "flee evil and pursue good." This statement had the form of a declaration for the benefit of a third party. It was addressed to "the God in heaven." There are many written statements that describe conversion experiences throughout the history of Christianity, including the nineteenth century. However, such statements are usually recorded for the benefit of the author's own memory and, owing to their intimate nature, are typically closed off from the public domain. This statement, by contrast-signed with the words "I, Abraham Kuijper J. F. zoon"-betrays no fear of public disclosure. Although it certainly comes "from a humble heart," it is a personal statement made for publication. It is an announcement, self-consciously addressed to "the king of kings," the holder of the highest public office: Abraham Kuyper is a converted man, as noted. Kuyper's last publication, the devotional "Uw harte worde niet ontroerd" [Let not your heart be troubled] (John 14:1)-on the fitting subject of Jesus's departure-was published in De Heraut on October 31, 1920, seventy-two years after the statement about his conversion. On the following November 4, four days before Kuyper's death, his friend, the former governor-general A. W .F. Idenburg, visited him. Idenburg made notes about the last conversations he and Kuyper had, and on that day he noted: "I said that the Lord was a refuge and strength for him, a very present help in trouble [Psalm 46:1]. He nodded affirmatively and smiled happily. I asked, 'Can I tell the people that you feel this way?' He answered in the affirmative." His daughters Henriette and Jo understood the hint, and in 1921 they published a book about their father's final years, which can safely be described as the best-documented deathbed account written in Dutch during the twentieth century. In the book sixty-six pages are dedicated to the last twelve months of Kuyper's life-twenty of these pages to the last six weeks alone. Henriette was frank about the reason for this publicity: "From my earliest youth I have had to learn that my father's life vocation belonged to the Dutch people, and in the second instance belonged to his family. My father was first and foremost a public person. In life, he already belonged to the history that is written in public." Familiar with the great interest that Kuyper had generated during his lifetime, and not utterly devoid of their father's businesslike attitude, the daughters had secured the rights to the translation of De levensavond van Dr. A. Kuyper in advance. Interesting as a contrast is the fact that Idenburg also attended the deathbed of Kuyper's sympathizer, the theologian Herman Bavinck, who was to die almost ten months later. When he asked Bavinck whether God was his strength and refuge, and if he was permitted to pass this on to the Dutch Reformed community, Bavinck answered: "Yes, but do not put it in the newspaper; that does not befit me!" For Bavinck-as for most of us-there was a clear boundary between private and public. However, for Kuyper that boundary did not exist, just as there was for him no boundary between God's business and his. When Idenburg had critical comments for Kuyper about the blurring of this boundary, Kuyper gave the following deeply human answer: "You could be right, but I don't think so. You must not forget that if one has spent one's entire life, all of one's time, all one's powers on a cause, then ultimately the two have grown together to such an extent that one can no longer exactly distinguish what happens for the cause in itself and what occurs for one's own self individually. Usually the two will merge." What applied to the religious also applied to Kuyper and public life: they merged. In public he expressed himself fully, and the public was able to see into the inner recesses of his soul, so that nearly every public statement he made was at once general and particular. II.Kuyper had a number of means at his disposal through which he could communicate himself to the public. Although the first sound recordings were made only shortly after his death, his generation was the first in which photography played a role in public life. Many photographs of Kuyper have been preserved, from his student days at Leiden University around 1860 to the deathbed portrait made in 1920. Most are portrait photographs for which he posed alone, but also typical are photos of Kuyper, taken at home and abroad, either in full academic attire, or with members of his family, or with his cabinet. Towards the end of his life the snapshot made its first appearance, and a number of photographs survive that show him out walking on the Binnenhof or along a street in The Hague. He is also visible in one film fragment, shot in 1918 in the Pulchri Studio in The Hague. Although photography was of little importance throughout most of his public life, he did take advantage of this medium. For example, he once handed out portrait photographs of himself to his kitchen staff, who had had to provide a dinner for guests unexpectedly and had succeeded above all expectations. Photographs of his portrait were for sale early on in his career and had pride of place in many Dutch Reformed households, even as far away as the United States.More often he used public appearances as a means of communicating with the people. As a pastor in Beesd, Utrecht, and Amsterdam, he stood in the pulpit every week; then in 1873 he held his first lecture tour, during which he discoursed on the (for a pastor) new domain of politics. His lectures from this tour were later published under the title Het calvinisme, oorsprong en waarborg onzer constitutioneele vrijheden. Many tours followed, and his appearance seldom failed to make an impression. Among those who attended Kuyper's first tour in Leiden was the liberal law student and future prime minister Theo Heemskerk, who was very impressed by the speaker's "amazing erudition and great power of expression." In 1906 the Roman Catholic newspaper De Tijd commented on a speech Kuyper had delivered about Willem Bilderdijk: "For two hours this indefatigable, powerful man spoke in an enviable tone of voice; for two whole hours he held his audience spellbound, demanding attention, drawing attention, until the very end, both by his delivery and by the substance of the speech itself." He could also be very personal in political debates, and knew, particularly by making the right intimate remark, how to secure the attention of his audience. During the parliamentary election campaign of 1897, Kuyper gave a speech on a beautiful July evening in the village of Noordhorn. Everyone from the surrounding area-supporters and opponents alike-had turned out to hear the well-known politician speak. When the hall proved to be too small to contain the multitude, it was decided to hold the meeting in a meadow, in the open air. Kuyper's speech was followed by a debate, during which a political opponent raised objections against the fact that the Anti-Revolutionary Party had included the death penalty in its electoral platform. "Don't forget," the man called out to Kuyper, "that the Lord Jesus was condemned by the authorities and underwent the death penalty." The report of this event gives a remarkable picture of Kuyper's gifts as a public speaker: Meanwhile, it had grown quite dark. A sumptuous evening. As quiet as it can be in an open field. Across the countryside there hung a light summer's haze, so that the soft shades of sunset glowed in the sky.... How quiet it was amongst that great crowd, who listened with bated breath, just as in the past during open-air sermons in the fields where the eager crowd absorbed what was preached. Dr. Kuyper had put on his hat because it had begun to get chilly. When it came to the debater's question about the death penalty, his voice became most solemn. "Our Saviour was," he said, "brought to death. Condemned by the authorities, he died on the cross. And now," he continued, "now that I must speak of these things, I will bare my head." And then ... all hats and caps were removed. There we all stood, believers and atheists, all of us most apprehensive. And then the voice sounded, full of heartfelt emotion. "Now I believe with all of God's people, that if the authorities, who rule by the grace of God, had not had the right to carry out the death penalty, and our King and Lord had not been condemned to death on the cross, there would have been no salvation and mercy for me or you, for all times and eternally." And raising his voice he called out, "and whoever believes this as I do, say: amen." Then from a multitude of mouths there arose amen, as it surely had never been uttered before. For a moment there fell a wondrous silence. There were those for whom it all became too much. They wanted to leave. Kuyper's manner of speech was striking, not only in these dramatic moments, but also when he was involved in something as simple as opening a meeting with a Bible reading. The young Hendrik Algra had already heard a great deal about Kuyper when he saw him for the first time in 1916. He had resolved not to let himself be carried away, but to watch and listen critically. However, when Kuyper came to the fore and started to speak, he had to surrender within minutes: "Of all the impressions that I stored up," he wrote in his memoirs half a century later, "this one is the greatest and the deepest-the tone, the inflection, the warmth with which passages from the Bible were read.... There was something musical in that somewhat high, thin voice, and just as a pianissimo in a violin solo remains audible and tangible throughout an entire hall, so this voice was in this silence." III.However, more than photographs, sermons, or speeches, it was Kuyper's writing that contributed to his image as a public figure. Kuyper was first and foremost a publicist, a journalist in the literal sense-a man who day in and day out addressed the public with his personal ideas and convictions. In 1912, Jhr. A. F. de Savornin Lohman, in reaction to Kuyper's gift to him of an edition of Pro rege, joked that he would have to have an extra book cupboard made if Kuyper continued to publish at this rate. In similar fashion, for the generations who succeeded Kuyper it was the sheer volume of his published works that made, and still makes, an overwhelming impression. Publishing was part of Kuyper's core identity, and this bibliography testifies to that. His publishing activity started early on, continued to the very limit of his life, and only granted the printing presses a rest in times of ill health and personal vacations. His earliest brochure was described by Groen van Prinsterer as the "most notable" that had been written about its subject. And whether it was a devotional, a publication about religious service, a defense of Christian schooling, an elucidation on common grace, or a report of his travels around the Mediterranean, time and time again his literary productions attracted attention, garnered admiration, and aroused aversion. But they were always remembered by readers as notable. He had a complete mastery of the Dutch language and with his own style left a mark on the journalism of his time. In 1920 De Tijd described Kuyper's style, "however linguistically perfect and elegant," as distorted, "because his language is imitative as if akin to the language of Canaan, in particular to that of the Statenbijbel [State Bible of 1637]. Do not go in search of a loose style of writing ... such as found in Max Havelaar or in Camera Obscura.... Nor go in search of the suppleness, the French pliancy and charm of someone like Busken Huet." By present standards Kuyper is long-winded and his style can be heavy, but it is also clear and compelling. That was why the Algemeen Handelsblad characterized his journalistic style as follows: What sets Dr. Kuyper apart as a journalist is that he hardly reminds one of the old-fashioned Calvinist.... He has realized that a journalist lacks the right to be annoying.... The first polemist and party leader of the Netherlands realized this! He wanted to influence the "little people" in particular ... [and] therefore had to make himself understood and make his readers understand that they together know best, and with a firm belief in the Bible are able to solve all problems, while their opponents really don't signify much, do not have many principles, and are revolutionary.... One never calls writers such as Kuyper, Schaepman and Quack-to name but three-sound, although their knowledge, their erudition, their insight exceeds that of many who have been praised for being sound! But they are individual. They have broken with the old-fashioned prejudice that what is easily read is quickly thought up and edited. They are never annoying! And so also the Calvinist Kuyper, who stands out in form and color! Kuyper's whole oeuvre reflects the Pygmalion motif-an urge to educate, explain, correct, build up, and encourage, an effort to make of everyone what he thought they should become. Many of his books resulted from articles, devotions, and speeches that he published in the press week after week for the man in the street, or from lectures delivered to his students. Whoever reads the texts in the great series by Kuyper, such as E voto Dordraceno or De gemeene gratie, cannot help but notice the regular repetitions. Repeatedly, in subsequent parts of such works, Kuyper picks up the thread of a former part by giving a short summary of where the train of thought had previously been suspended. The reader is led by the hand and very little is left to chance. However, it also becomes clear that the author is a man who has great command of his material and in every episode is adding a new stone to an edifice that he has had in mind from the very beginning. Clearly, these are books that were built up from article to article according to a fixed plan and with strict discipline. One has the same impression with respect to Kuyper's approximately 2,200 devotionals. Whoever reads Als gij in uw huis zit or In de schaduwe des doods, comes to Excerpted from Abraham Kuyper: An Annotated Bibliography, 1857-2010 by Tjitze Kuipers All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
