The Idea of Rebirth in Dominionism and Abraham Kuyper's Neo-Calvinism: A Comparative Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46445/ejti.v10i2.1158Keywords:
Christian Nationalism, Dominionism, Douglas Wilson, Fascism, Neo-Calvinism, PalingenesisAbstract
This article explores the notion of “born-again” (palingenesis) in relation to “Christian fascism” found in far-right Christian movements. This research is urgent given the rising polarization between Christians' political left and right, which is drifting away from the ecumenical unity envisioned by Our Lord Jesus Christ. Through comparative qualitative content analysis, doctrinal analysis, and historical-theological study, this paper examines far-right Christian use of palingenesis to determine whether it emerged from Abraham Kuyper's work or developed later in the work of Dominionists like R.J. Rushdoony and Douglas Wilson. The existing literature tends to overlook a pivotal doctrinal shift: the subtraction of Common Grace transforms Kuyperian palingenesis from an inclusive, cosmic vision into an exclusionary, state-level 'fascist minimum.' The literature also lacks a direct engagement with the “Moscow Model” (Douglas Wilson) and the relevant contemporary political landscape through a strictly comparative content analysis of the term palingenesis itself. Thus, this study suggests six main distinctions between far-right Christian movements and Kuyper through in-depth comparison.
References
Barrett-Fox, R. (2010). “Pray Not for this People for Their Good”: Westboro Baptist Church, the Religious Right, and American Nationalism [University of Kansas]. https://hdl.handle.net/1808/7738
Brown, P., Herb, J., & Dubnow, S. (2025). Inside one pastor’s crusade for Christian domination in the age of Trump. CNN Politics. https://edition.cnn.com/2025/08/07/politics/pastor-doug-wilson-christian-domination-trump
Calvin, J. (1960). Institutes of the Christian Religion (J. T. McNeill (ed.)). Westminster John Knox Press.
Camus, J.-Y., & Lebourg, N. (2017). Far-Right Politics in Europe (J. M. Todd (ed.)). Harvard University Press.
Constantin, I., & Kallis, A. (2020). Beyond the Fascist Century (C. Iordachi & A. Kallis (eds.)). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46831-6
Dooyeweerd, H. (1968). The Christian Idea of the State. The Craig Press.
Dooyeweerd, H. (2012a). In the Twlight of Western Thought: Studies in the Pretended Autonomy of Philosophical Thought. In The Collected Works of Herman Dooyeweerd (Vol. 4, p. 157).
Dooyeweerd, H. (2012b). Reformation and Scholasticism in Philosophy (Vol. 1). Paideia Press.
Du Mez, K. K. (2020). Jesus and John Wayne – How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation. Liveright.
Fielitz, M., & Marcks, H. (2019). Digital Fascism: Challenges for the Open Society in Times of Social Media. In UC Berkeley: Center for Right-Wing Studies. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/87w5c5gp
Frincu, I. (2021). Into the Q storm : uncovering the narrative of QAnon [University of Twente]. https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/86475
Gentile, E. (2006). Politics as Religion (G. Staunton (ed.)). Princeton University Press.
Goldberg, M. (2006). Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism (1st ed.). W. W. Norton & Company.
Griffin, R. (2006). Ideology and culture. Journal of Political Ideologies, 11(1), 77–99. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569310500395974
Griffin, R. (2008). A Fascist Century: Essays by Roger Griffin (M. Feldman (ed.)). Palgrave Macmillan.
Hedges, C. (2008). American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America. Free Press.
Hochschild, A. (2017). A New Heaven and a New Earth. In Biblical Foundations of Spirituality (Vol. 85, Issue 2, pp. 181–191). The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. https://doi.org/10.5040/9798881821197.ch-012
House, B. (2008). Dooyeweerd and Rushdoony. Chalcedon Foundation. https://chalcedon.edu/resources/articles/dooyeweerd-and-rushdoony
Intan, B. F. (2022). Kuyper’s sphere sovereignty and the restriction on building worship places in Indonesia. HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 78(1). https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v78i1.7309
Kallis, A. (2000). Fascist Ideology: Territory and Expansionism in Italy and Germany, 1922-1945. Routledge.
Kopeček, L. (2007). The Far-Right in Europe: A Summary of Attempts to Define the Concept, Analyze Its Identity, and Compare the Western European and Central European Far Right. Středoevropské Politické Studie, 9(4), 280–293. https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=104934
Kristanto, D. (2020). Is the Creation under Destruction?: Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck on New Creation. Veritas: Jurnal Teologi Dan Pelayanan, 19(2), 189–200. https://doi.org/10.36421/veritas.v19i2.394
Kuyper, A. (2013). Lectures on Calvinism. Christian’s Library Press.
Kuyper, A. (2015). Common Grace: God’s Gifts for a Fallen World: Vol. 1. The Historical Section (E. M. van der Maas & J. J. Ballor (eds.)). Lexham Press.
Lewis, R. (2025). Westboro Baptist Church. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Westboro-Baptist-Church
Lima, J. S. (2020). Injil Sebagai Kabar Tentang Kembalinya Kemuliaan Tuhan Ke Dalam Segenap Ciptaan. Evangelikal: Jurnal Teologi Injili Dan Pembinaan Warga Jemaat, 4(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.46445/ejti.v4i1.169
Middleton, J. R. (2018). A new heaven and a new earth: Reclaiming biblical eschatology. Baker Academic.
Mouw, R. J. (2011). Abraham Kuyper: A Short and Personal Introduction. Eerdmans.
Mussolini, B. (1935). The Doctrine of Fascism. Vallecchi.
North, G. (1987). Dominion Covenant: Genesis. Christian Liberty Pr.
Ragin, C. C. (1989). The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies. University of California Press.
Rosenberg, P. (2021). How extremist Christian theology is driving the right-wing assault on democracy. Salon.Com. https://www.salon.com/2021/10/31/how-extremist-christian-theology-is-driving-the-right-wing-on-democracy/
Rushdoony, R. J. (1980). The Institutes of Biblical Law. Presbyterian and Reformed.
Rushdoony, R. J. (1982). Larceny in the Heart: The Biblical Doctrine of Property. Ross House Books.
Rushdoony, R. J. (2012). God’s Plan for Victory. Thoburn Press.
Rushdoony, R. J. (2023). Thy Kingdom Come: Studies in Daniel and Revelation. Presbyterian & Reformed.
Saiya, N. (2025). The varieties of American Christian nationalism. Politics and Religion, 18(2), 171–189. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755048325000069
Skillen, J. W. (1982). Public Justice and True Tolerance. In J. W. Skillen (Ed.), Confessing Christ and Doing Politics (pp. 54–62). Association for Public Justice.
Skillen, J. W. (2019). God’s Sabbath with Creation: Vocations Fulfilled, the Glory Unveiled. Wipf & Stock Publishers.
Solzhenitsyn, A. I. (2018). The Gulag Archipelago (A. Applebaum (ed.)). Harper Perennial.
Syahputra, I. (2020). Social Media Activities and the 212 Movement: The Indonesian Ulema Council’s Perspective. Al-Jami’ah: Journal of Islamic Studies, 58(2), 323–354. https://doi.org/10.14421/ajis.2020.582.323-354
VanDrunen, D. (2010). Natural Law and the Two Kingdoms: A Study in the Development of Reformed Social Thought. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
Volle, A. (2026). MAGA movement: American political movement. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/MAGA-movement
Ward, I. (2025). Doug Wilson: The New Right’s Favorite Pastor. POLITICO. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/05/23/doug-wilson-new-right-pastor-hegseth-trump-officials-00355376
Wilson, D. (2023). Mere Christendom. Canon Press.
Wilson, D. (2026). On Repealing the 19th Amendment: The Interview. Blog & Mablog. https://dougwils.com/books-and-culture/books/repealing-the-19th-amendment-the-interview.html
Wilson, J. R. (2013). God’s good world: Reclaiming the doctrine of creation. Baker Academy.
Wodak, R. (2015). The Politics of Fear: What Right-Wing Populist Discourses Mean. SAGE Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446270073
Wolfe, S. (2022). The Case for Christian Nationalism. Canon Press.
Wolters, A. M. (2005). Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview. Eerdmans.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Jadi Sampurna Lima, James W. Skillen
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
5.jpg)
