Berkouwer, G. C. 1903-1996

Gerrit Cornelis "G.C." Berkouwer (8 June 1903 – 25 January 1996) was for years the leading theologian of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (GKN). He occupied the chair in systematic theology of the Faculty of Theology, Free University (VU) in Amsterdam. Berkouwer was born in Amsterdam on 8 June 1903. He was raised in Zaandam. In 1927 he married Catharina Cornelia Elisabeth Rippen in The Hague. In 1932 he obtained his doctorate from the Free University. His dissertation was entitled Geloof en Openbaring in de nieuwe Duitse theologie (Faith and Revelation in Recent German Theology). In 1949 the first volume of his eighteen-volume Studies in Dogmatics appeared in the Netherlands. In 1962 he was an observer at the Second Vatican Council in Rome. He was very influential among the Reformed churches and other groups in North America, where the many volumes of his series, Studies in Dogmatics, were translated and published. He had a continuous flow of seminary graduates to study under him for the degree of Doctor of Theology. Altogether Berkouwer mentored about 46 students who received the Th.D. degree under his supervision. Many of them became leaders in Christian thought abroad; and, often enough, denominational chief officers. In 1953, Berkouwer became a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Berkouwer died on 26 January 1996, aged 92, in Voorhout, Netherlands.