Journal: Pneumatikos
Volume: PNEUMATIKOS 16:2 (Fall 2025)
Article: The Trouble With Sphere Sovereignty: Toward A Dispensational Social Ontology Of Divine Institutions
Author: Paul Miles

Pneumatikos 16:2 (Fall 2025) p. 61

The Trouble With Sphere Sovereignty: Toward A Dispensational Social Ontology Of Divine Institutions

Paul Miles

Chafer Theological Seminary
Bella Vista, Arkansas, USA

Keywords: Abraham Kuyper, apartheid, Black liberation theology, Reformed epistemology, dispensationalism, social ontology

Abstract: 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.

Pneumatikos 16:2 (Fall 2025) p. 62

Introduction

The field of social ontology wrestles with questions that shape current discussions, not only in the church but also in the world today. Brian Epstein of Tufts University defines social ontology well:

Social ontology is the study of the nature of the social world. “What is X?” social ontology asks, where ‘X’ stands for any social thing whatever.

What, for instance, are groups? What are corporations? What is law? What is race? What is gender? What is language? Fill in a social object, a social kind, a social category—and it’s a topic for social ontology. Even more general questions are in its purview as well: What is society? What is the social? What, for that matter, is a “what is X” question?1

These are fundamental questions about the nature of society, questions that have risen to the forefront of today’s Zeitgeist. Debates over gender identity politics, Critical Race Theory, same-sex marriage, and other social issues dominate public discourse—but are there any Christian answers to these questions? Many evangelicals today—both Reformed and dispensational—have adopted an approach to social ontology that emerged in the Reformed tradition. In particular, the influential Kuyperian sphere-sovereignty model has shaped the...