Kuyper Prize for Excellence in Reformed Theology & Public Life

The 2018 Abraham Kuyper Prize for Excellence in Reformed Theology and Public Life will be awarded to Dr. Daniel Bourdanné, as part of the Kuyper Conference at Calvin College and Seminary.

Daniel Bourdanné, general secretary of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES), is the recipient of the 2018 Abraham Kuyper Prize for Excellence in Reformed Theology and Public Life. Bourdanné will receive the award on Monday, April 30, 2018, during the Kuyper Conference hosted by Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary, at an event scheduled for 7:00 pm at the Calvin College Chapel.

The Kuyper Prize, established in 1996 and named after Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper, is awarded each year to a scholar or community leader whose outstanding contribution to their chosen sphere reflects the ideas and values characteristic of the Neo-Calvinist vision of religious engagement in matters of social, political, and cultural significance in one or more of the ‘spheres’ of society.

Bourdanné wears many hats as an evangelist, theologian, scientist, administrator, and publisher. For a quarter-century he has been making outstanding and diverse contributions to the encounter of the gospel with public life in Africa and throughout the world. He has also been a leading advocate of a biblical theological vision as it relates to all areas of public life. Bourdanné joins an esteemed group of past winners of the award, which include a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, Templeton Prize-winning philosopher, a prime minister, and a pair of U.S. ambassadors, to name a few.

After receiving the award, Bourdanné will give the Monday evening plenary award lecture emphasizing how the numerical growth of Christianity in Africa requires an intensified focus on the importance of a lasting qualitative growth and discipleship. Bourdanné argues that the theological task and responsibility of African Christianity today is to contribute to the flourishing of African society by articulating, sharing, modeling, and living out a fresh contextual and biblically grounded imagination. The Prize lecture is free and open to the public.

In addition to the Monday evening lecture, Calvin College and Seminary are hosting the the Kuyper Conference on Monday, April 30 and Tuesday, May 1, 2018 at Calvin College’s Prince Conference Center. Participants can register for the Conference activities until noon on Friday, April 27 (more information at the Kuyper Conference website). The theme of the plenary sessions of this year’s Kuyper Conference is “The Future of African Public Theology,” and in addition to Bourdanné’s Kuyper Prize lecture, the conference features Emmanuel Katongole of the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, Nicholas Wolterstorff, professor emeritus of philosophical theology at Yale University and past Kuyper Prize recipient, and Anne Zaki, a professor of practical theology at the Evangelical University in Cairo.

For more information about the Prize and Dr. Bourdanné, see the story on Calvin News