13 October 1873 A.D. (Rev. Prof.) Louis Berkhof was born. He died on May 18, 1957.
13
October 1873 A.D. (Rev.
Prof.) Louis Berkhof was born. He died on May 18, 1957.
Berkhof, Louis. Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Company, 1977.
A 1996-edition with a foreword by Mr. (Dr.) Richard Muller is
available at: http://www.amazon.com/Systematic-Theology-Louis-Berkhof/dp/0802838200/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377296172&sr=8-1&keywords=louis+berkhof+systematic+theology
There is also free online pdf-version of Systematic Theology at: http://books.biblicaltraining.org/Systematic%20Theology%20by%20Louis%20Berkhof.pdf
First, we include a brief
Wiki-bio. Second, we call attention to a
short bio: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/berkhof . Third,
there is an excellent summary by Banner of Truth’s Mr. (Rev.) Geoff Thomas at: http://www.banneroftruth.org/pages/articles/article_detail.php?1389 . We did
not reduplicate that but we do recommend the article. Fourth, we have included an outline of Mr.
Berkhof’s infamous Systematic Theology. (5)
Before the Wiki-bio, this observation:
Aren’t you glad for the Calvinists in Grand Rapids? For Zondervan, Baker Academics, William B.
Eerdmans, Kregel Publishing and more?
Personal life
Berkhof was born in 1873 in Emmen, Drenthe, in the Netherlands and moved with his
family to Grand Rapids,
Michigan, in 1882.
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.[1]
Education and career
In 1900, he graduated from Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids after which he was appointed pastor of the First Christian Reformed Church in Allendale Charter Township, Michigan. Two years later he attended Princeton Theological Seminary where he earned his B.D. in two years. He returned to Grand Rapids to pastor Oakdale Park Church.
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.[2]
Publications
Berkhof wrote twenty-two books during his career.[1]
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 Eerdmans’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 and college 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 1951. 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.[2]
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, Abraham
Kuyper and Herman
Bavinck.
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."[3]
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.[4]
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