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Abstract
This article investigates the phenomenon of present-day globalisation from a Christian perspective to determine whether the principle of sphere-sovereignty can provide an antidote to globalisation’s harmful consequences. Firstly, it is explained how the principle of sphere-sovereignty is founded on the biblical message, and that it includes two interrelated dimensions, viz. that of life-orientation and of responsible differentiation. Secondly, the following four characteristics of contemporary globalisation are reviewed: it is (1) of a more or less autonomous nature, (2) a seemingly unavoidable project, (3) a process of a dynamic nature, and (4) a product of Western modernisation. In the third place the implications of the acceptance of the principle of sphere-sovereignty for globalisation are investigated. It seems that globalisation, in many areas of life, is detrimental to healthy forms of differentiation – the first dimension of sphere-sovereignty. From the perspective of orientation(the second dimension of sphere-sovereignty), it becomes evident that the present project of globalisation has in some respects already deteriorated into a kind of blinding, oppressive ideology. This type of globalisation “ad malam partem” is finally contrasted with a better road of globalisation “ad bonam partem”. This last type of globalisation – not driven by selfish greed, desire and power, but by love for our Lord Jesus Christ,and for one’s neighbours – may help to prevent the ominous crisis of our time.
Highlights
About 35 years ago Prof Bernard Zylstra of Toronto and I brought a visit to the already aging Prof Stoker in his home
Sphere-sovereignty, and the significance of the philosophy of the cosmonomic idea for our time, and after that lively discussion he gave us both a copy of his two volume book Oorsprong en rigting
For while this principle of sphere-sovereignty brought Prof Stoker to a supportive, though not entirely uncritical view on the policy of eiesoortige ontwikkeling in his lifetime, in 2011, other, and in my view even more intriguing questions, are at stake
Summary
About 35 years ago Prof Bernard Zylstra of Toronto and I brought a visit to the already aging Prof Stoker in his home. For while this principle of sphere-sovereignty brought Prof Stoker to a supportive, though not entirely uncritical view on the policy of eiesoortige ontwikkeling in his lifetime, in 2011, other, and in my view even more intriguing questions, are at stake. Could this old truly calvinistic principle perhaps mean something for people like us who live in the context of a deeply infringing process of globalisation?. The end of the nation-state has already become a common theme in the present discussions about globalisation.[2]. On that base we may hope to see a possible connection with the present dynamic process of globalisation
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