Article translated and reprinted from De Heraut, no. 362, March 23, 1884. After making reference to the apologetic method of Wildeboer (1855–1911) and Robertson Smith (1846–1894), Kuyper writes: “And then we begin with as much principle as possible to declare ourselves, at least provisionally, against all apologetics.”

The article, written forty years before, was reprinted as the conclusion to a brochure about the place of apologetics in the theological encyclopedia. In his study, Rev. G.H. Hospers (1864–1949) criticized above all B.B. Warfield’s ideas about the place and object of apologetics. He appealed to Kuyper, who gave a much more modest place to apologetics in the theological encyclopedia and ascribed it a much more limited domain and significance. The reprinted article was therefore apparently intended to serve as both an illustration of Kuyper’s conception of apologetics and as warning against Warfield’s vision of apologetics.