parties strive to make states conform as closely to the ideal of a Christian polity as possible, while also witnessing, by their very existence, to the fractures among citizens. For Kuyper, establishing a Christian nation is an eschatological event. Only the return of Christ the king will bring about Christendom—and, in so doing, abolish the sinful divisions among the nations. Reading Pro Rege provides a window into a vanished world of Dutch order, puritanism, and, frankly, repression. Its author
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