ABSTRACT
For all the problems and pitfalls evident in the ways Protestant Christianity has responded to diversity, there is a real richness in the Protestant tradition to resource covenantal pluralism. We argue that this is particularly evident in the neo-Calvinist tradition—the interpretation and application of Calvinism found in the persons of Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck. In this chapter, we first set out the neo-Calvinist theological foundations for a pluralist perspective on public life; articulated, secondly, in the tradition of what neo-Calvinists call principled pluralism; which thirdly we lay out through the practical examples of Richard Mouw in his dialogues with Mormons, and Matthew Kaemingk in his dialogues with Muslims. Ultimately, there is a real gamble behind this Calvinist model: Namely, that religious (and non-religious) communities will do the heavy lifting necessary to covenant together on principles and practices while (often) disagreeing on their underlying rationale. It is a gamble, however, worth taking.
