David Koyzis

David Koyzis has been a Global Scholar since 2019. He is an academic political scientist with a PhD in Government and International Studies from the University of Notre Dame, where he wrote a dissertation comparing the political thought of Herman Dooyeweerd and Yves R. Simon. David taught political science at Redeemer University College for thirty years, mentoring hundreds of young people who have gone on to contribute to public life in Canada and elsewhere. In recent years he has broadened his academic ministry through contacts in Brazil, Pakistan, Ukraine, Indonesia, Germany, Finland, and elsewhere.

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Mission statement: My mission is to disseminate to the larger world the riches of a Reformed Christian worldview, especially as it impinges on social and political life. More specifically, I aim:

to expose the idolatrous religious nature of political ideologies and their implications for our shared public life;
to affirm the role of authority in human flourishing; and
to connect our political cultures with the institutions they nurture.

To facilitate these aims I anticipate using my two published books, Political Visions and Illusions (InterVarsity Press, 2019) and We Answer to Another (Pickwick Publications, 2014), and thirty years of teaching experience to reach interested readers in Canada, the United States, Brazil, and elsewhere; to teach seminar courses, both in person and online; to continue to publish in my field; and to travel when necessary.

Learn More About David’s Most Recent Activities

Read David’s Latest Monthly Newsletter on His Blog

BLOG

Notes from a Byzantine-Rite Calvinist was rated as a Top 15 Calvinist Website/Blog in 2020.

PUBLICATIONS

David is the author of two books:

The award-winning Political Visions and Illusions, published in 2003 and, in a revised second edition, in 2019, with a foreword by Richard Mouw.

In 2014 it was translated into Portuguese and published as Visões e Ilusões Políticas in Brazil, where it has been widely read and appreciated.

In 2014 David published a second book, We Answer to Another: Authority, Office, and the Image of God.

Commendations for Political Visions and Illusions

Definitely the best book I’ve read on the current state of political thinking happening among evangelicals in 2020.

— Rev. Timothy Keller, 22 July 2020, Twitter

If you want to have a coherent view of Christianity and politics . . . you need to read David Koyzis’ book. It’s the best book in Portuguese on the subject, and it will be one of the textbooks for our forum on faith and politics. In these times of ‘divided souls,’ this book presents a Reformed perspective on this complex relationship. Worth every penny!

— Cristiano Franco, Pastor, Igreja Presbiteriana do Brasil, 5 September 2018, Facebook

Although the first edition of Political Visions and Illusions has already been praised in Brazil as an invaluable tool of Christian political formation, from young students and clergy to federal prosecutors and career politicians, the new edition confirms itself as a classic . . . . The new edition . . . carries the promise to be an even greater blessing for the Christian political mind. I hope we will have it in Portuguese soon.

— Guilherme de Carvalho, L’Abri Fellowship Brazil

It is a profound and at the same time accessible book. It is also balanced, and we sense the author’s quest to hear all the different positions. It is a book that invites dialogue without disparaging either side of the political spectrum. But above all, it makes us rethink our ideologies and where we place our hope, bringing us back to the centre of God’s will. Our trust must be in God, the one who redeems his creation. Our mission on earth is to reconcile all of creation, without leaving a single square centimeter out. This book helps to point the way for political action.

— Luiz Adriano Borges, Professor, Federal Technical University of Parana, Toledo, Brazil

SELECTED ONLINE PUBLICATIONS & INTERVIEWS

Political Ideologies and the Christian Worldview, an interview with Jason Thacker, September 2021

David Koyzis on “Political Visions & Illusions”, an interview with Mark Tooley, Institute on Religion and Democracy and Providence Magazine, July 2020

The American Political Parties: History, Problems, and Prospects

The American Political Parties: History, Problems, and Prospects, Gospel Coalition, September 2020

Clash of Idols, Mere Orthodoxy (2020)

Authority: There’s No Getting Away from It (Nor Would We Want to), Kuyperian Commentary (2020)

Kuyper’s Flawed Example: Sphere Sovereignty on the Personal Front, Kuyperian Commentary (2020)

Canada Divided Against Itself, First Things (2019)

Canada’s State Religion, First Things (2019)

Visions and Illusions in Political Life: Guidance for Voters, The Banner (October 2019)

Populism in Christian Perspective, The Bible Society (2017)

Living Communally in God’s Good Creation: Rod Dreher and Benedict’s Way, First Things (2017)

The Evolving American Constitution: Change without Amendment, First Things (2017)

It Hasn’t Happened Here (Yet): The Obstacles to a Christian Democratic Party in the United States, Perspectives on Political Science Volume 46, 2017 – Issue 1 (December 2016)