“Sphere sovereignty” is the English term used for Kuyper’s Dutch phrase (soevereiniteit in eigen kring). The Dutch here is a little difficult to translate literally, but it has the sense of each sphere having its own unique or separate character. Each cultural sphere has its own place in God’s plan for the creation, and each is directly under the divine rule. This is the basic insight of his theory of sphere sovereignty. What Kuyper meant by a “sphere” is pretty much what we have in mind