The translation was published in The Standard Bearer (a semimonthly magazine of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America) in installments of varying frequency from November 1, 1977 to December 15, 1986. In his introductory remarks, the translator notes that the present situation “in many historically Calvinist and Reformed churches” parallels the “doctrinal and spiritual apostasy of the Reformed Church in the Netherlands of the latter part of the 19th century.” From his point of view, much of what Kuyper had said remained relevant for his time. The translator did not agree with everything that Kuyper wrote about the subject of church reformation, however, and he indicated his disagreements by adding critical footnotes. He distinguished between his notes and Kuyper’s notes by using asterisks to designate the former and numerals to designate the latter.

The translator, Herman Hanko (*1930), is a professor emeritus who taught church history and New Testament at the Protestant Reformed Seminary in Grandville, Michigan from 1965 until 2001.