John Henry Stek (March 7, 1925 – June 6, 2009) was an American pastor, biblical scholar and translator, and Old Testament professor.

Background and education

Stek was born in

Oskaloosa, Iowa Oskaloosa is a city in, and the county seat of, Mahaska County, Iowa, United States. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Oskaloosa was a national center of bituminous coal mining. The population was 11,558 in the 2020 U.S. Ce ...

, to William and Gertie Stek. His studies at Calvin College were interrupted for a tour of duty with the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

in the

Pacific Ocean theater of World War II The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

from 1944 to 1946, but he returned to marry Nadine Ruth De Bruin in 1948 and earn his

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in 1949. He went on to earn his B.D. (1952) from

Calvin Theological Seminary Calvin Theological Seminary is a private Christian Reformed Church seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is closely tied to Calvin University, though each institution has its own board. History The seminary was founded in 1876 with the purp ...

, and his Th.M. (1955) from

Westminster Theological Seminary Westminster Theological Seminary is a Protestant theological seminary in the Reformed theological tradition in Glenside, Pennsylvania. It was founded by members of the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary in 1929 after Princeton chose to ...

. Stek was ordained as a minister in the Christian Reformed Church in

Raymond, Minnesota Raymond is a city in southwest Kandiyohi County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 764 at the 2010 census. Raymond High School consolidated with Clara City and Maynard High Schools in the late 1980s to create the MACCRAY (Maynard ...

. He pursued further post-graduate studies at the

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

from 1965 to 1966, and doctoral work at the Free University of Amsterdam from 1973 to 1974.

Career

Stek joined the faculty of Calvin Theological Seminary in 1961 as a professor of Old Testament, continuing until his retirement in 1990. He joined the Committee on Bible Translation in 1965, and later served as Chairman for 15 years. He was a member of the team that translated the New International Version (1978) and

Today's New International Version Today's New International Version (TNIV) is an English translation of the Bible which was developed by the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT). The CBT also developed the New International Version (NIV) in the 1970s. The TNIV is based on the N ...

(2003). In 1978, he began work as editor of the

NIV Study Bible The NIV Study Bible is a study Bible originally published by Zondervan in 1985 that uses the New International Version (NIV). Revisions include one in 1995, a full revision in 2002, an update in October 2008 for the 30th anniversary of the NIV, a ...

, published in 1985 and fully revised in 2002. Stek also served his denomination on several synodical study committees: Infallibility (1959-1961), Neo-Pentecostalism (1971-1973), Revision of the Form of Subscription (1974-1976), and Interchurch and interdenominational Relations (1975-1981). In 2008, Stek was presented with a Distinguished Alumni Award from Calvin Theological Seminary.

Background and education

Career

References

Further reading