The Kuyperian Theological Framework and Public Hospitality: A Model for Christian Political Participation in Post-Reformation Indonesia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34199/ijracs.2026.10.03Keywords:
Public Theology, Abraham Kuyper, Pancasila, Identity Politics, Public HospitalityAbstract
The post-1998 Reform era in Indonesia expanded democratic space even as it intensified religion-inflected identity polarization. In this tension, Christian political engagement has often vacillated between passive apoliticism and exclusionary activism, signalling the lack of a coherent and contextually attuned public theology. This article advances Public Hospitality as a Kuyperian-inspired framework for transformative Christian participation within Indonesia’s plural public life. Situated within constructive normative public theology, it employs a hermeneutical-constructive, qualitative–theological approach to integrate four foundations Kuyper’s common grace and sphere sovereignty, the doctrine of Imago Dei, and the theology of exile (Jeremiah 29) into two praxis dimensions: active pluralism and institutional reform. The model affirms the theological legitimacy of interfaith cooperation and frames Christian public witness as a pursuit of love and justice. In doing so, it offers a constructive contribution to strengthening Pancasila-based democracy and advancing the bonum commune in Indonesia’s plural political order.
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