Jan Jacob van Oosterzee (1 April 1817 – 29 July 1882),
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
divine
Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.[divine< ...](_blank)
, was born at
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...
. He was educated at the
University of Utrecht
Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...
1835–1839. He was also known as Jan Jakob van Oosterzee, JJ van Oosterzee, or Johannes Jacobus van Oosterzee.
After acting as pastor at
Eemnes-Binnen 1841–43,
Alkmaar 1843–44 and Rotterdam 1844–62, in 1863 he was made professor of biblical and practical
theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
at the University of Utrecht, with which he was variously connected until the end of his life. Oosterzee earned a reputation as a preacher, was editor of the ''Theolog. Jahrbücher'' from 1845, wrote a number of noteworthy books on
religious history, and published poems in Dutch (1882).
Career
Of his
sermon
A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present contexts. ...
s, some 270 were printed in more than twelve volumes 1846–70, including ''Mozes'' (Rotterdam, 1859; English translation, ''Moses: a Biblical Study'', Edinburgh, 1876. He likewise published ''De Heidelbergsche Catechismus'' in fifty-two lectures (1869), and issued many individual sermons which were widely circulated. In these sermons Van Oosterzee laid his entire stress (in somewhat rhetorical fashion) on the preaching of the
Gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...
, the
proclamation of Christ according to the
Scripture
Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual pra ...
s, and the announcing of
salvation
Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its ...
; but regarded the
pulpit least of all the place from which to transcend the Gospel into the regions of
dogma
Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted. It may be in the form of an official system of principles or doctrines of a religion, such as Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Isla ...
tic speculation. His avowed aim as a preacher was rather to edify than instruct. Holding himself aloof from the radical, naturalistic, and purely ethical tendencies, remaining neutral toward negative criticism, and in
Christology
In Christianity, Christology (from the Greek grc, Χριστός, Khristós, label=none and grc, -λογία, -logia, label=none), translated literally from Greek as "the study of Christ", is a branch of theology that concerns Jesus. Differ ...
maintaining a distinctly supernaturalistic position, he was pleased to call himself "Evangelical, or Christian Orthodox."
With all his activity as a preacher, Van Oosterzee devoted himself zealously to theological science. This phase of his activity he began with the first article, ''Verhandeling over den tegenwoordigen toestand der Apologetiek'', in the newly founded ''Jaarboeken voor wetenschappelijke theologie'', followed the next year by his treatise "''On the Value of the Acts of the Apostles''" (1846). To this same period belongs his ''Christologie'' (Rotterdam, 1855–61; English translation, ''The Image of Christ as Presented in Scripture'', London, (1874) and by his commentaries on Luke (Bielefeld and Leipsic, 1859), the pastoral epistles and Philemon (1861), and James (in collaboration with J. P. Lange, 1862) for J. P. Lange's ''Bibelwerk''.
After his professorial appointment at Utrecht in 1863, Van Oosterzee wrote his brief ''Theologie des Nieuwen Verbonds'' (Utrecht, 1867; Eng. transl., ''Theology of the New Testament'', New York, 1893), which was followed by the larger ''Christelijke dogmatiek'' (2 parts, 1870–72; English translation, ''Christian Dogmatics'', 2 vols., New York, 1876). The best of his academic works, however, was his ''Praktische theologie'' (2 parts, Utrecht, 1877–78; English transl., New York, 1879), in which he considered homiletics, liturgics, catechetics, pastoral theology, missions, and even apologetics.
In 1877, with the passage of the law forbidding the theological faculty to lecture on Biblical, dogmatic, and practical theology, Van Oosterzee was compelled, against his will, to teach the philosophy of religion,
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...
introduction, and the history of Christian dogma, in which he gave instruction until his death. His memoirs appeared posthumously under the title ''Uit Mijn Levensboek, voor, mijne Vrienden'' (Utrecht, 1883), and collections of his minor writings were published later in two groups comprising: ''Redevoeringen, verhandelingen en verspreide geschriften'' (Rotterdam, 1857); ''Varia. Verspreide geschriften'' (1861); ''Christelijk-litterairische opstellen'' (Amsterdam, 1877); ''Christelijk-historische opstellen'' (1879). Mention should also be made of his popular devotional book, ''Het jaar des heils: Levenswoorden voor iederen dag'' (1874; English transl., ''Year of salvation: Words of Life for every Day'', New York, 1875), and of the posthumous collection of his poems entitled ''Uit de dichterlijke nalatenshap'' (Amsterdam, 1884).
A collected edition of Oosterzee's works was published in French, ''Œuvres complètes'', in three volumes (1877-1880). His autobiography appeared in 1882. His book ''Practical Theology'' was one of two "most influential" works on that topic in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. His theological position is described as
premillennial
Premillennialism, in Christian eschatology, is the belief that Jesus will physically return to the Earth (the Second Coming) before the Millennium, a literal thousand-year golden age of peace. Premillennialism is based upon a literal interpretat ...
and mild
chiliast
Selected works
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References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Oosterzee, Jan Jakob van
1817 births
1882 deaths
Dutch Calvinist and Reformed theologians
Clergy from Rotterdam
Utrecht University faculty