Tjitze Baarda (8 July 1932 – 23 August 2017) was a Dutch professor of

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 ...

and

Religious Science The Religious Science movement, or Science of Mind, was established in 1927 by Ernest Holmes (1887–1960) and is a spiritual, philosophical and metaphysical religious movement within the New Thought movement. In general, the term "Scie ...

s. He spent his career at the ''

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, being founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research ...

'' (VU) and

Utrecht University 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 ...

. He specialized in the four

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 an ...

s of the New Testament.

Career

Baarda was born on 8 July 1932 in

Vogelenzang Vogelenzang is a village in the municipality of Bloemendaal, North Holland, Netherlands. The name "Vogelenzang" is Dutch for " bird song". Attractions The ''Huis te Vogelenzang'' (House at Vogelenzang) was built circa 1600 by the Counts of Holla ...

. He studied theology and

Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigra ...

at the VU. He obtained his doctorate in 1975 with a dissertation titled "''The gospel quotations of Aphrahat the Persian sage''". His doctoral advisors were

Matthew Black Rev Matthew Black (3 September 1908, Kilmarnock – 2 October 1994, St Andrews) was a Scottish minister and biblical scholar. He was the first editor of the journal, ''New Testament Studies''. Life He was born in Kilmarnock the son of James Blac ...

and R. Schippers. Baarda subsequently became a professor of

Biblical criticism Biblical criticism is the use of critical analysis to understand and explain the Bible. During the eighteenth century, when it began as ''historical-biblical criticism,'' it was based on two distinguishing characteristics: (1) the concern to ...

exegesis Exegesis ( ; from the Ancient Greek, Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation (logic), interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Bible, Biblical works. In modern usage, ...

and canon of the

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 ...

at the same university. In 1981 Baarda became extraordinary professor (Dutch: ''buitengewoon hoogleraar'') at

, two years later he became a regular professor. During his time in Utrecht he held the chair of Antique Judaism and explanation of the New Testament. In 1990 he returned to the VU and held the chair of New Testament. He retired in 1997. During his career he specialized in the four gospels of the New Testament. Baarda became a member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

in 1982. Baarda died in

Amstelveen Amstelveen () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands with a population of 92.353 as of 2022. It is a suburban part of the Amsterdam metropolitan area. The municipality of Amstelveen consists of the historical villages o ...

on 23 August 2017.Family notices in ''

NRC Handelsblad ''NRC'', previously called ''NRC Handelsblad'' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by NRC Media. It is generally accepted as a newspaper of record in the Netherlands. History ''NRC Handelsblad'' was first published on 1 ...

'', 26 August 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baarda, Tjitze 1932 births 2017 deaths Dutch Christian theologians Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences People from Bloemendaal Academic staff of Utrecht University Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam alumni Academic staff of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam