For a Better Worldliness

For a Better Worldliness is not only a statement of Abraham Kuyper's and Dietrich Bonhoeffer's theological concept and historical practice of discipleship. It is also--and perhaps more importantly--a call to engage in the fullness of the Christian life here and now. While this book goes to great efforts to establish sound historical and theological insights specifically in regards to Kuyper and Bonhoeffer, there is a strong underlying current that these particular insights deeply matter to the life of discipleship in the world today. History shows us that discipleship is not a singular journey; because of Jesus Christ it is not a description of one set path with one set of guidelines. A disciple can be a prime minister who unabashedly and successfully campaigned on his Calvinistic principles, just as he can be a participant in a coup d'etat launched against a tyrant, leading to the disciple's own imprisonment and death. Jesus Christ calls--whether to the height of political office, or to the dank prison cell, or (more likely for us) to somewhere in between.

Brant M. Himes is Associate Professor in Humanities at Los Angeles Pacific University. He is the author of For a Better Worldliness: Abraham Kuyper, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Discipleship for the Common Good (2018).


Richard J. Mouw earned his PhD in Philosophy from the University of Chicago, and he taught for seventeen years at Calvin College. Mouw then served as the president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, for two decades. In 2013 he stepped down and became the professor of faith in public life at Fuller. He is the author of many essays and books, and has lectured and preached widely in China.