Bible Encyclopedias
Abraham Kuyper

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

Search for…

Enter query below:

or

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Prev Entry
Abraham Kuenen

Next Entry
Abraham Lincoln

Resource Toolbox

Print Article

Kuyper, Abraham (1837-1920), Dutch theologian and politician, was born Oct. 29 1837 at Maassluis, and was educated at the university of Leiden. He became Doctor of Divinity and pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church at Beesd in 1863, and in 1870 moved to Amsterdam, where he became in 1876 leader of the anti-Revolutionary party which aimed at the restoration of strictly Calvinistic doctrine in the guidance of State affairs. In 1879 he detailed fully the principles and wishes of his party in Ons Program (Our Programme). A few years later a Calvinistic university was formed through his instrumentality at Amster dam, and he himself became professor of theology. Under his leadership a considerable section of the old Netherland Reformed Church seceded in 1886 and founded the strictly orthodox Calvinistic Reformed Church Community. Until 1894 he devoted himself to religious teaching, and subsequently to politics, literature and journalism, having founded the Standaard and the Heraut in 1872, and contributing to it a daily front-page column of notes on current politics and theology. From 1874-7 he had sat in the Second Chamber, but in the latter year a serious illness forced him to resign his seat. In 1894 he was returned to the Second Chamber. In 1895 he defended the workers' right to strike, but in 1903, as head of the Government (1901-5), he crushed a railway strike by rushing a bill through Parliament making illegal a stoppage of work by those engaged in the public and semi-public services. This won him the enmity of the Dutch Socialists. As minister he conferred upon his Calvinistic univer sity the Jus Promovendi. He deserves great credit for having converted the somewhat old-fashioned polytechnical school at Delft into a technical university which rivals the very best. During the South African War he took a prominent part in the attempts to get Holland to mediate between Great Britain and the Boers. In the World War he sided openly with Germany, but his influence had already greatly diminished. He was the author of numerous publications dealing mostly with religious subjects and held honorary degrees from various universities.

A popular edition of his works appeared in 1896-8, and his parliamentary speeches were published in four volumes (190810). He also published a book describing the Dutch community in London in 1570-1. He died at The Hague Nov. 8 1920.

See W. F. A. Winckel, Leven Arbeid van Dr. Kuyper (1921); Dr. A. Kuyper, Gedenkboek (1921) and A. S. S. and J. H. Kuyper, De Levensavond van Dr. A. Kuyper (1921). 'Abori, Fernand' (1860-1917), French lawyer, was born at Reims April 18 1860. He was educated at Reims and Paris, and spent several years in England and Ger many. He was called to the bar in 1884, and rapidly made a reputation as a brilliant lawyer and advocate, being counsel for the defence in most of the important political trials of the day during a period of nearly thirty years. It was his conduct of the Dreyfus case, however, which placed him at the top of his profession and earned him his unique reputation. He fought with unremitting energy for his client during both the first and second revisions of the trial, in 1898 and 1899, a task attended with considerable danger, as political passions were so strongly excited at the time that Labori was shot at and wounded at Rennes on the eve of his cross-examination of the witnesses for the prosecution. Dreyfus was not finally declared innocent until 1906, and Labori never once relaxed his efforts on behalf of the unfortunate officer. Other notable trials in which he was concerned were the prosecution of Emile Zola for libel (1898), which arose out of the Dreyfus case; the Humbert affair (1902); and the trial of Madame Caillaux for the murder of M. Calmette, editor of the Figaro (1914), when he secured her acquittal. He died in Paris March 14 1917.