Eleven theses defended by Kuyper at a meeting of the eight professors who taught at the Vrije Universiteit (listed according to seniority: A. Kuyper, F.L. Rutgers, Ph.J. Hoedemaker, D.P.D. Fabius, F.W.J. Dilloo, J. Woltjer, A.H. de Hartog, and A.F. de Savornin Lohman). Nine theses deal with various facets of the unity of the church, such as the church as corpus Christi and the church as human organism. The author argues that, considered purely as a human organism, the church is not adequate to the parousia. In the ninth thesis this contention is used to point to the possible necessity of reforming the church. As far as possible, all churches should strive for reform simultaneously, but if need be each congregation should shoulder that responsibility on its own and be prepared to break its denominational ties. The final two theses have to do with the ordination examination required for admission to the ministry of the Word. Among other things, they assert that any local church that issues a call has the right to administer the examination itself.

The theses were intended for use within the closed circle of professors at the Vrije Universiteit. Each page was printed with a single column so that annotations could easily be made in the blank space.