Louis Berkhof (October 13, 1873 – May 18, 1957) was a

Dutch-American Dutch Americans ( nl, Nederlandse Amerikanen) are Americans of Dutch descent whose ancestors came from the Netherlands in the recent or distant past. Dutch settlement in the Americas started in 1613 with New Amsterdam, which was exchanged with ...

Reformed

theologian 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 ...

whose works on systematic theology have been influential in seminaries and

Bible college A Bible college, sometimes referred to as a Bible institute or theological institute, is an evangelical Christian or Restoration Movement Christian institution of higher education which prepares students for Christian ministry with theological ed ...

s 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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...

and with individual Christians in general throughout the 20th century.

Personal life

Berkhof was born in 1873 in Emmen in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and moved in 1882 with his family to

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

(

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

). About the time he graduated from the seminary he married Reka Dijkhuis. They had four children before her death in 1928. He then married Dena Heyns-Joldersma who had two daughters.

Education and career

Berkhof entered the Theological School of the Christian Reformed Church in

at the age of 19, in which the studies included a 4-year literary course (expanded into

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) ...

) and a 3-year theological course (expanded into

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 ...

). During this period, he learnt under Hendericus Beuker who introduced him to the works of

Abraham Kuyper Abraham Kuyper (; ; 29 October 1837 – 8 November 1920) was the Prime Minister of the Netherlands between 1901 and 1905, an influential neo-Calvinist theologian and a journalist. He established the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, which u ...

and

Herman Bavinck Herman Bavinck (13 December 1854 – 29 July 1921) was a Dutch Calvinist theologian and churchman. He was a significant scholar in the Calvinist tradition, alongside Abraham Kuyper and B. B. Warfield. Biography Background Bavinck was bo ...

. In 1900, he graduated from the seminary in Grand Rapids after which he was appointed pastor of the First Christian Reformed Church in Allendale Charter Township, Michigan. Two years later (1902), he attended

Princeton Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly of t ...

where he earned his B.D. in two years. He studied under

B.B. Warfield Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield (November 5, 1851 – February 16, 1921) was professor of theology at Princeton Seminary from 1887 to 1921. He served as the last principal of the Princeton Theological Seminary from 1886 to 1902. After the death ...

and

Geerhardus Vos Geerhardus Johannes Vos (March 14, 1862 – August 13, 1949) was a Dutch-American Calvinist theologian and one of the most distinguished representatives of the Princeton Theology. He is sometimes called the father of Reformed Biblical Theolog ...

during his time in Princeton. Subsequently, Berkhof returned to Grand Rapids to minister at the Oakdale Park Church for another two years. In 1906, he joined the faculty of Calvin Theological Seminary and taught there for almost four decades. For the first 20 years he taught Biblical Studies until in 1926 he moved into the systematic theology department. He became president of the seminary in 1931 and continued in that office until he retired in 1944.

Publications

Berkhof wrote twenty-two books during his career. His main works are his ''Systematic Theology'' (1932, revised 1938) which was supplemented with an ''Introductory Volume to Systematic Theology'' (1932, which is included in the 1996 Eerdman's edition of ''Systematic Theology'') and a separate volume entitled ''History of Christian Doctrines'' (1937). He wrote a more concise version of his ''Systematic Theology'' for

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

and

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

students entitled ''Manual of Christian Doctrine'', and later wrote the even more concise ''Summary of Christian Doctrine''. He also delivered Princeton Theological Seminary's Stone Lectures in 1921. These were published as ''The Kingdom of God''. In addition to this, he worked on many papers for the Christian Reformed Church as well as collections of sermons.

Bibliography of Works in English

*''Life Under the Law in a Pure Theocracy: or, The Significance of the Book of Judges'' (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans-Sevensma, 1913) *''The church and social problems'' (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans-Sevensma, 1913) *''Biblical archeology'' (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans-Sevensma, 1915) *''Paul the Missionary'' (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans-Sevensma, 1915) *''New Testament introduction (or special canonics)'' (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans-Sevensma, 1915) *''The Christian laborer in the industrial struggle'' (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans-Sevensma, 1916) *''Subjects and outlines'' (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans-Sevensma, 1918) *''Why Reformed Young Man's Societies? Address delivered at the 10th annual convention of the American Federation of Reformed Young Men's Societies, October 10, 1929'' (Chicago: American Federation of Reformed Young Men's Societies, 1929) *''Manual of Reformed doctrine'' (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1931) *''Reformed Dogmatics'' (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1932) *''Vicarious atonement through Christ'' (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1936) *''History of dogma'' (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1937) *''Summary of Christian doctrine for senior classes'' (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1938) *''Assurance of Faith'' (Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1939) *''Systematic theology'' (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1941) *''Recent trends in theology'' (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1944) *''Riches of divine grace; ten expository sermons'' (Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1948) *''Principles of Biblical interpretation: sacred hermeneutics'' (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1950) *''Aspects of liberalism'' (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1951) *''Kingdom of God: the development of the idea of the kingdom, especially since the eighteenth century'' (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1951) *''The second coming of Christ'' (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1953) *''History of Christian doctrines'' (London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1969)

Legacy

Berkhof was not known for being original or speculative but for being very good at organizing and explaining basic theological ideas following in the tradition of

John Calvin John Calvin (; frm, Jehan Cauvin; french: link=no, Jean Calvin ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system ...

and

. Theologian Wayne Grudem has called Berkhof's ''Systematic Theology'' "a great treasure-house of information and analysis ..probably the most useful one-volume systematic theology available from any theological perspective."Grudem, ''Systematic Theology'', Zondervan, 1994, pg. 1225 Berkhof's writings continue to serve as systematic presentations of Reformed theology. They are organized for use in seminaries and religious education as well as individual reference, though his systematics works are demanding reads. One of the prominent students of Berkhof is

Cornelius Van Til Cornelius Van Til (May 3, 1895 – April 17, 1987) was a Dutch-American reformed philosopher and theologian, who is credited as being the originator of modern presuppositional apologetics. A graduate of Calvin College, Van Til later received ...

, whose thoughts became the major position of the tradition of Westminster Theological Seminary in the areas of

apologetics Apologetics (from Greek , "speaking in defense") is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics an ...

and

epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Epi ...

References

External links

* L. Berkhof,
Systematic Theology
' * L. Berkhof
''Summary of Christian Doctrine''
(This is a complete, free e-book edition.) * L. Berkhof
''Manual of Christian Doctrine''
(This is a complete, free e-book edition.)

op website http://www.calvin.edu * G. Kirkland (2009)
''Louis Berkhof: an Ardent Apologist, a Passionate Pastor, and a Scrupulous Scholar''
(pdf), website http://vassaloftheking.com * F. Klooster,
Louis Berkhof´
(pdf), in: W. Elwell (1993), ''Handbook of Evangelical Theologicans'', pp. 254–294, website: https://web.archive.org/web/20140220061509/http://www.davidcox.com.mx/ * H. Zwaanstra
`Louis Berkhof´
in: D. Wells (1985), ''Reformed Theology in America. A History of its Modern Development'', pp. 153–71, website https://books.google.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Berkhof, Louis 1873 births 1957 deaths 20th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians American Calvinist and Reformed theologians Dutch Calvinist and Reformed theologians People from Emmen, Netherlands Dutch emigrants to the United States Princeton Theological Seminary alumni Presidents of Calvinist and Reformed seminaries Calvin Theological Seminary faculty Calvin Theological Seminary alumni