Ralph Stob

Ralph Stob (1894 – 1965) was an educator, academic, and former

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Calvin College Calvin University, formerly Calvin College, is a private Christian university in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Founded in 1876, Calvin University is an educational institution of the Christian Reformed Church and stands in the Reformed (Calvinist) ...

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

. Stob was born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, and attended Roseland Christian School. He felt called to

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

ministry. He enrolled in the preparatory curriculum of Calvin College in 1909 from which he graduated in 1915. He then enrolled and enrolled at the

Seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

. Stob then accepted an appointment to teach classical languages at his alma mater. Teaching delayed his graduation from seminary until 1920. He continued to teach at Calvin while working during the summers on his graduate degrees at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. Stob was a gifted and amiable

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

and was appointed

President of Calvin College The President of Calvin University is the chief executive officer of the school. The office is not as old as Calvin University, which had no need for such a position when it was founded in 1876. When the ''Theological School of the Christian Refo ...

in 1933. During his tenure, he oversaw improvements to the curriculum and the beginning of a pension program for the staff. Faculty criticism, well-publicized student pranks, student criticism in the school

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, and student flouting of school rules made for a difficult presidency. In 1939, Stob returned to teaching

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as effectively as before. In 1953 Stob was asked to assume the Chair of

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 Christ ...

department in the Calvin Seminary. He retired from the seminary in 1964 and died the following year. Stob and Evelyn L. Mokma were married in 1918 and they had three daughters. 1894 births 1965 deaths Calvin University alumni Calvin University faculty Presidents of Calvin University 20th-century American academics {{US-academic-administrator-stub