The Trouble with Sphere Sovereignty: Toward a Dispensational Social Ontology of Divine Institutions

The dispensationalist presentation and understanding of God’s design for society in terms of divine institutions or societal units is philosophically and pragmatically preferred over the Kuyperian sovereign sphere model, which will be shown to devolve into problematic applications. This article gives an overview of Abraham Kuyper’s background and how he developed the sovereign sphere model while highlighting a few of the problems that resulted from his ambiguity (specifically the repurposing of Kuyperian sphere sovereignty for South African apartheid and Black liberation theology). Reformed epistemology is then contrasted with dispensational epistemology, with an emphasis on differences regarding sources of authority, biblical perspicuity, and metahermeneutics. This article contributes to the broader discussion on the differences between dispensationalism and Reformed theology, intending to encourage Christians to espouse a dispensational social ontology.