Hendrikus Berkhof (11 June 1914,

Appeltern Appeltern is a village in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is a part of the municipality of West Maas en Waal, and lies about 9 km northeast of Oss. Until 1984, Appeltern was an independent municipality. History It was first mentioned ...

Gelderland Gelderland (), also known as Guelders () in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by ...

– 17 December 1995,

Leiderdorp Leiderdorp () is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland near the city of Leiden. It had a population of in . The municipality covers an area of of which is water. Leiderdorp has now become a suburb ...

) was a professor of

Systematic Theology Systematic theology, or systematics, is a discipline of Christian theology that formulates an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the doctrines of the Christian faith. It addresses issues such as what the Bible teaches about certain topi ...

at the

University of Leiden Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, as a reward to the city of Le ...

. Berkhof was educated in Amsterdam, Leiden and Berlin, before taking up a

pastorate A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

in the Dutch town of

Lemele Lemele is a village in the Netherlands, Dutch province of Overijssel. It is a part of the municipality of Ommen, and lies about 20 km northwest of Almelo. History Lemele is an ''Angerdorf, esdorp'' which developed on the foot of the , a rem ...

in 1938. In 1944, he moved to another pastorate in

Zeist Zeist () is the capital and largest town of the municipality of Zeist. The town is located in the Utrecht province of the Netherlands, east of the city of Utrecht. History The town of "Seist" was first mentioned in a charter in the year 83 ...

. In 1950, he began working for the Church and World Institute of the Dutch Reformed Church at

Driebergen Driebergen is a former village and municipality in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is first mentioned as Thriberghen in 1159. The former municipality of Driebergen existed until 1931, when it merged with Rijsenburg, to create the new municipali ...

. The subject first published ''Christ and the Powers'' in 1953 which sought to understand the operation of spiritual and social forces especially in light of the world wars.Moses, Robert Ewusie. (2014). Practices of Power: Revisiting the Principalities and Powers in the Pauline Letters. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Fortress Press. p. 26. . In 1960, he became a professor at the University of Leiden. Bekhof was also active in a number of ecumenical organisations, including the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most juri ...

, serving on its Central Committee from 1954 to 1975. He was also involved in the

World Alliance of Reformed Churches The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) was a fellowship of more than 200 churches with roots in the 16th-century Reformation, and particularly in the theology of John Calvin. Its headquarters was in Geneva, Switzerland. They are now merged ...

and served as president of the Ecumenical Council of the Netherlands from 1975.

Works

*Berkhof's work—titled "Science and the Biblical World-View"—appears as a chapter in part I (Introduction) of
Science and Religion: New Perspectives on the Dialogue
' (1968), pages 43–53, ed.

Ian Barbour Ian Graeme Barbour (1923–2013) was an American scholar on the relationship between science and religion. According to the Public Broadcasting Service his mid-1960s '' Issues in Science and Religion'' "has been credited with literally creating ...

Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Study of the Faith
Hendrikus Berkhof (Translated by Sierd Woudstra), 2002, Wm. B. Eerdmans,
Two Hundred Years of Theology: Report of a Personal Journey
Hendrikus Berkhof (Translated by John Vriend), 1989, Books on Demand,
Christ and the Powers
Hendrikus Berkhof, (Translated by

John Howard Yoder John Howard Yoder (December 27, 1927 – December 30, 1997) was an American Mennonite theologian and ethicist best known for his defense of Christian pacifism. His most influential book was '' The Politics of Jesus'', which was first published in ...

), 1977, Herald Press, 80 pages,
The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit
Hendrikus Berkhof, 1964. John Knox Press, 128 pages, The Annie Kinkead Warfield Lectures, 1963-1964.
Christ the Meaning of History
Hendrikus Berkhof, 2004, Wipf & Stock Publishers, 224 pages,

References

1914 births 1995 deaths People from West Maas en Waal Dutch Calvinist and Reformed theologians Academic staff of Leiden University 20th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians {{Netherlands-academic-bio-stub