Hubertus Gerardus Josephus Henricus "Huub" Oosterhuis (; 1 November 19339 April 2023) was a Dutch theologian and poet. He is mainly known for his contribution to
Christian music
Christian music is music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence, and lament, and its forms vary widely aroun ...
and
liturgy in Dutch and also in German, used in both Protestant and
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
churches. He authored over 60 books and over 700 hymns, songs, psalms (often in an own interpretation), and prayers. Several of his songs were translated, and he received international awards and recognition.
Life and career
Oosterhuis was born on 1 November 1933 in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
.
He attended a high school there and joined the
Society of Jesus
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
in 1954.
He was ordained as a
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...
at the
Basilica of Saint Servatius in Maastricht in 1964.
From 1954, inspired by
who said that churches have the potential to transform the social structure of society, Oosterhuis combined his religious position with political activism.
[SP.nl Tribune](_blank)
Interview with Huub Oosterhuis (in Dutch), 22 October 2004.
In 1965, Oosterhuis was appointed priest of the student parish in Amsterdam, Studentenekklesia.
He became one of the major supporters of
ecumenism, following the
modernist
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
interpretation of the
Second Vatican Council
The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...
.
He started out to rewrite the liturgy and make it acceptable to all. Some of his changes were considered controversial within the Roman Catholic Church especially writing the prayer for agnostics: "Heer, als U bestaat, kom dan onder ons" ("Lord, if You exist, come amongst us"). A few songs have been censored in some dioceses.
His political views, conflicts regarding the liturgy, and unorthodox views regarding
priestly celibacy
Clerical celibacy is the requirement in certain religions that some or all members of the clergy be unmarried. Clerical celibacy also requires abstention from deliberately indulging in sexual thoughts and behavior outside of marriage, because thes ...
led to Oosterhuis being dismissed from the
Jesuit order
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
and
defrocked
Defrocking, unfrocking, degradation, or laicization of clergy is the removal of their rights to exercise the functions of the ordained ministry. It may be grounded on criminal convictions, disciplinary problems, or disagreements over doctrine or ...
by the
Bishop of Harlem Theodorus Zwartkruis in 1969.
He left the Catholic Church and functioned as an
Independent Catholic
Independent Catholicism is an independent sacramental movement of clergy and laity who self-identify as Catholic (most often as Old Catholic or as Independent Catholic) and form "micro-churches claiming apostolic succession and valid sacramen ...
priest, in charge of a church in Amsterdam, for about forty years. He remained focused on writing liturgy, poetry and essays.
In the 1960s and 1970s, his liturgical texts were put to music by his fellow former
Jesuit (1922–2003). When this co-operation between Oosterhuis and Huijbers ended, Huijbers engaged himself more and more in a "
spirituality-without-God" or "- without-Thou", while Oosterhuis kept to his biblical prayers, hymns, and psalms. After they split up and Huijbers moved to the south of France, Oosterhuis's main composers were two of Huijbers' pupils, and .
Oosterhuis founded "" ("The Red Hat"), a discussion centre in Amsterdam in 1990, for his student organisation, and was its director until 1998.
Personal life
In 1970, Oosterhuis married nurse and violist Jozefien Melief. They had two children,
Trijntje Oosterhuis
Judith Katrijntje "Trijntje" Oosterhuis (; born 5 February 1973) is a Dutch singer and songwriter. She formed the band Total Touch in 1990 with her brother Tjeerd Oosterhuis before she started as a solo singer. She represented the Netherlands i ...
and
Tjeerd Oosterhuis
Tjeerd-Pieter David Oosterhuis (; born 25 December 1971), also known as TJ Oosterhuis, is a Dutch musician, songwriter and producer known internationally for his chart topping work with Madcon, Kelly Rowland and Estelle. His production of Frea ...
, who both became musicians.
They divorced, and he married a second time.
Oosterhuis died on 9 April 2023, at age 89,
after a short illness.
Walter Meinrad, a German theologian and musicologist, thinks that the songs by Oosterhuis will leave a lasting impression because they serve no fashion but touch existential human conditions and express tensions such as life and death, doubt and insecurities. Like psalms and other great hymns, his texts show "a sense for the overtones of helplessness, lament and the unfinished" ("ein Gespür für die Obertöne des Unvermögens, der Klage, des Unfertigen").
Work
Oosterhuis wrote over 60 books and more than 700 hymns, songs, psalms (often in an own interpretation), and prayers. Many songs are part of the hymnal '. His poetry was not valued in the same way;
Gerrit Komrij
Gerrit Jan Komrij (30 March 1944 – 5 July 2012) was a Dutch poet, novelist, translator, critic, polemic journalist and playwright. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s writing poetry that sharply contrasted with the free-form poetry of his ...
, editor of an
influential anthology of Dutch poetry, referred to him as "the firm Christ & Co.", and did not include a single poem of Oosterhuis's in his anthology.
[
In 2002, ]Queen Beatrix
Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013.
Beatrix is the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and her husban ...
of the Netherlands asked Oosterhuis to deliver the eulogy at the funeral of her husband, Prince-Consort Claus von Amsberg
Prince Claus of the Netherlands, Jonkheer van Amsberg (born Klaus-Georg Wilhelm Otto Friedrich Gerd von Amsberg; 6 September 1926 – 6 October 2002) was Prince consort of the Netherlands from 30 April 1980 until his death in 2002 as the husband ...
, a longtime personal friend, in the New Church in Delft:[ Claus and Oosterhuis had first met in 1968 and he visited the royal family regularly.][ That same week, the Protestant VU University in Amsterdam granted Oosterhuis an honorary doctorate in theology.] Herman Amelink noted in '' NRC Handelsblad'' after Oosterhuis died that this should have been done by a Catholic university, but that his history with the Catholic church probably disallowed this—and that the church had further distanced itself from Oosterhuis in 2000 by scrapping all of Oosterhuis's songs from a new edition of the songbook for the Roermond diocese.[
At De Rode Hoed, André van der Louw announced his ''Social Democratic Renewal Program'', an incentive to reform the Labour Party. Oosterhuis ultimately chose the less-known ]Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...
, as he viewed it as being closer to socialist ideals. He said that "The Socialist Party is closer to the social ethics of the Bible than many Christian parties." He had joined the Socialist Party in 1999, and in the 2006 elections
The following elections occurred in the year 2006.
* Elections in 2006
* Electoral calendar 2006
* 2006 Acehnese regional election
* 2006 American Samoan legislative election
* 2006 Bahraini parliamentary election
* 2006 Costa Rican president ...
Oosterhuis stood for the party as the final candidate, a symbolic position. After his death in 2023, the party published an ''in memoriam'' on their website, saying his inspiration continues to live in the party.
Oosterhuis made a translation of the Torah
The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...
together with , which was released in five separate books, as an attempt to translate the first five books of the Bible as closely to contemporary Dutch as possible without losing the style of the original Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
text.
Hymns
The first hymn by Oosterhuis was " Wie als een God wil leven", in 1965. It was translated in 1969 by Johannes Bergsma, and included in the 1975 German Catholic hymnal ''Gotteslob
''Gotteslob'' ("Praise of God") is the title of the hymnbook authorized by the Catholic dioceses in Germany, Austria, South Tyrol, Luxembourg and Liège, Belgium. First published in Advent 2013, it is the current official hymnal for German-speaki ...
'' and its second edition. His song " Heer, onze Heer". written in 1965 to a traditional Dutch melody, was translated to German as " Herr, unser Herr, wie bist du zugegen" (Lord, our Lord, how present you are), and included in several hymnals and songbooks. Lothar Zenetti translated his " Ik sta voor U in leegte en gemis" to "Ich steh vor dir mit leeren Händen, Herr" (I stand before You with empty hands), which was included in German Protestant and Catholic hymnals. When the hymnal's second edition was prepared, some feared that his popular songs would be eliminated because of his dissident stance, but all five and a litany were retained.
Oosterhuis received the German ecumenical (sermon award) for his life's work in 2014.
Translations
Translations into English include ''At Times I See'', ''The Children of the Poor Man'', and ''Wake Your Power'' (CD), and also:
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*
*
*
*
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References
Further reading
*
*
* Alex Stock:
"Und in den Funken sehe ich". Huub Oosterhuis und seine Poesie in Deutschland.
' In: ''Herder Korrespondenz.'' number 9/2014, pp. 466–470.
* Koeven, Erna van
Huub Oosterhuis. De paus van Amsterdam
(in Dutch) biografieportaal.nl 10 April 2023
External links
*
* Smet, Eric de
De liederen van Huub Oosterhuis: een overzicht in 10 favorieten
(in Dutch) kerknet.be 10 April 2023
Ekklesia Amsterdam
(in Dutch) 2023
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oosterhuis, Huub
1933 births
2023 deaths
Christian hymnwriters
Dutch Christian socialists
Dutch hymnwriters
Dutch male poets
20th-century Dutch Roman Catholic theologians
Former Jesuits
Writers from Amsterdam
Catholic socialists
Christian socialist theologians
21st-century Dutch Roman Catholic theologians
20th-century Dutch poets
21st-century Dutch poets