Books

2015: Olof H. De Vries, Alles is geschiedenis. Bouwstenen voor een baptistische geloofsvisie uit de dogmatiek van Olof H. De Vries, onder redactie van Henk Bakker, Jelle Horjus, Jos Jumelet, Teun van der Leer, Anne de Vries (Utrecht: Kok, 2015)

2014: Henk Bakker en Daniël Drost (eds.), Andersom – een introductie in de theologie van James Wm. McClendon (Unie van Baptistengemeenten in Nederland; Veenendaal: WoodyDesign, 2014)

2014: Henk Bakker, Albrecht Boerrigter, Jeanette van Es, Winfried Ramaker (eds.), De geschiedenis van het Schriftwoord gaat door. Gedachten ter markering van de theologie van dr. O.H. de Vries (Utrecht: Kok, 2014)

2014: H.A. Bakker, M.J. de Kater, W. van Vlastuin, Verantwoord geloof. Handboek christelijke apologetiek (Kampen: Brevier, 2014) 2017: 2^nd Edition, Summum Academic Publications

2012: Gunnende Kerk. Kompas voor een waardegestuurde gemeente ethiek (Brevier, 2012)

            See bookreviews by:

            Sake Stoppels, NederlandsTheologisch Tijdschrift 67/2 (2013) 168

            Daniël Drost, ‘Het noachidische verbond revisited’, Soteria 30/3 (2013) 7-17

2012: Henk Bakker (ed.): Simon Jones, De wereld van de Vroege Kerk. Het dagelijkse leven van de eerste christenen (Zoetermeer: Het Boekencentrum, 2012)

2010: Henk Bakker, Paul van Geest, Hans van Loon (eds.), Cyprian of Carthage: Studies in His Life, Language, and Thought (Late Antique History and Religion 3; Leuven: Peeters, 2010)

            See: Bookreview by Allen Brent, Journal of Ecclesiastical History 63     (2012) 354-356

2008: De Weg van het wassende water. Op zoek naar de wortels van het baptisme (Zoetermeer: Boekencentrum, 2008)

2006: Draads en tegendraads. Leren van de puriteinen (Zoetermeer: Boekencentrum, 2006)

2006: Ze hebben lief, maar worden vervolgd. Radicaal christendom in de tweede eeuw en nu (Zoetermeer: Boekencentrum, 2006³)

2003: Exemplar Domini: Ignatius of Antioch and His Martyrological Self-Concept (Diss. University Groningen, Leuven: Peeters, 2003)

Articles

Forthcoming

‘Reading Early Christian Apologists in a Secular Age: “Not to flatter you, but to ask from you”’

Published

2019: Henk Bakker, ‘Wat is de aard van de zonde in evolutionair perspectief?’, in William den Boer, René Fransen, Rik Peels (eds.), En God zag dat het goed was. Christelijk geloof en evolutie in 25 cruciale vragen (Kampen: Summum Academic Publications, 2019) 279-290

2019: Henk Bakker, ‘Pneuma-Christology as Applied Christology: Intimacy and Immediacy in the Odes of Solomon’, in Gijsbert van den Brink, Eveline van Staalduine-Sulman & Maarten Wisse, The Spirit is Moving: New Pathways in Pneumatology (Studies in Reformed Theology, Vol. 38; Brill: Leiden, 2019) 93-108

2018: ‘”So On Earth”: Liturgy From Heaven’, in: Hans van Loon, Giselle de Nie, Michiel Op de Coul, en Peter van Egmond (eds), Prayer and the Transformation of the Self in Early Christian Mystagogy (Late Antique History and Religion, Vol. 18: The Mystagogy of the Church Fathers, Vol. 5; Leuven: Peeters, 2018) 41-6

 2018: ‘Het congregationele [independentistische] perspectief’, in Leon van den Broeke en George Harinck (eds.), Nooit meer eene nieuwe hiërarchie! De kerkrechterlijke nalatenschap van F.L. Rutgers (Ad Chartas-Reeks 34; Hilversum: De Vuurbaak, 2018) 125-133

2017: '“We are all equal” (Omnes sumus aequales): A Critical Assessment of Early Protestant Ministerial Thinking', Perspectives in Religious Studies 44/3 (2017) 353-376

2016: ‘A Martyr's Pain is Not Pain: Mystagogical Directives in Tertullian's Ad martyras, and some other North African Martyr Texts’, in: Paul van Geest (ed.), Seeing Through the Eyes of Faith: New Approaches to the Mystagogy of the Church Fathers (Late Antique History and Religion 11; Leuven: Peeters, 2016) 629-648

2016: ‘Towards an Evangelical Hermeneutic of Authority’, M. Klaver, S. Paas, E. van Staalduine-Sulman (eds.), Evangelicals and Sources of Authority: Essays Under the Auspices of the Center of Evangelical and Reformation Theology (CERT) (Amsterdam Studies in Theology and Religion, Vol. 6; Amsterdam: VU University Press, 2016) 25-43

2016: ‘The Changing Face of Unity or: Cutting the Right Edges in the Proper Way’, in Dagmar Heller and Péter Szentpétery (Eds.), Catholicity under Pressure: The Ambiguous Relationship between Diversity and Unity. Proceedings of the 18^th Academic Consultation of the Societas Oecumenica (Beihefte zur Ökumenischen Rundschau 105; Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt 2016) 81-89

2015: ‘”Yes, We Can”: The Almost Forgotten Flipside of Discipleship’, Baptistic Theologies 7/2 (2015) 25-43

2015: ‘”Beyond the Measure of Man”: About the Mystery of Socratic Martyrdom’, Church History and Religious Culture 95 (2015) 1-17

2014: ‘The Changing Face of Unity or: Cutting the Right Edges’, Perspectief 26 (2014) 19-26

2014: ‘Convictional Theology as Mapping Moral Space’, Baptistic Theologies 6/1 (2014) 81-97

2014: ‘Munificent Church: the Drama of Tangible Ecclesial Transformation’, The American Baptist Quarterly 31/4 (2012 sic!) 366-378

2014: ‘James Wm. McClendon, theoloog en grensganger’, in Henk Bakker en Daniël Drost (eds.), Andersom – een introductie in de theologie van James Wm. McClendon (Unie van Baptistengemeenten in Nederland; Veenendaal: WoodyDesign, 2014) 114-131

2014: ‘Niet van de eeuwigheid - reflectie op een kritisch prolegomenon’, in Henk Bakker, Albrecht Boerrigter, Jeanette van Es, Winfried Ramaker (eds.), De geschiedenis van het Schriftwoord gaat door. Gedachten ter markering van de theologie van dr. O.H. de Vries (Kampen: Utrecht, 2014) 76-100

2014: ‘”Altijd bereid tot verantwoording”: vroegchristelijke apologie op de grens’, in H.A. Bakker, M.J. de Kater, W. van Vlastuin (eds.), Verantwoord geloof. Handboek christelijke apologetiek (Kampen: Brevier, 2014) 80-90

2013: ‘Tangible Church. Challenging the Apparitions of Docetism (I): The Ghost of Christmas Past’; ‘Tangible Church. Challenging the Apparitions of Docetism (II): The Ghost of Christmas Present’; ‘Tangible Church. Challenging the Apparitions of Docetism (III): The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come’, in Baptistic Theologies 5/2 (2013) 1-17, 18-35, 36-58

2012:‘Finding a Place of Holiness: Towards a Typological Characterisation of Evangelical Churches in the Netherlands’, in:  C. van der Kooi, E. van Staalduine-Sulman, A.W. Zwiep (eds.), Evangelical Theology in Transition: Essays Under the Auspices of the Center of Evangelical and Reformation Theology (CERT) (Amsterdam Studies in Theology and Religion 1 [AmSTaR]; Amsterdam: VU University Press, 2012) 15-39

2011: ‘The Roaring Side of the Ministry: A Turn to Sacramentalism’, Perspectives in Religious Studies [National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion] 38/4 (2011) 403-426

2011: ‘Towards a Catholic Understanding of Baptist Congregationalism: Conciliar Power and Authority’, Journal of Reformed Theology 5 (2011) 159-183

2011: ‘De bisschop is van beneden, niet van boven: een congregationele benadering’, Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Kerk & Recht 5 (2011) 54-65

2010: “'Instigator and Standard-bearer” of Christianity (Acta Proconsularia 4.2): A Reconstruction of Early Impressions of Cyprian's Image as a Bishop’, in: Henk Bakker, Paul van Geest, Hans van Loon (eds.), Cyprian of Carthage: Studies in His Life, Language, and Thought (Late Antique History and Religion 3; Leuven: Peeters, 2010) 43-64

2010: Henk Bakker, Paul van Geest, Hans van Loon, ‘Introduction: Cyprian's Stature and Influence’, in: Henk Bakker, Paul van Geest, Hans van Loon (eds.), Cyprian of Carthage: Studies in His Life, Language, and Thought (Late Antique History and Religion 3; Leuven: Peeters, 2010) 1-27

2010: ‘Martelaarspijn is geen pijn: Tertullianus aan het woord’, in: J. Hoek (red.), Vers christendom. Getuigenissen uit de Vroege Kerk  (Heerenveen: Groen, 2010) 41-68

2010: ‘Herders’, in: P.H.R. van Houwelingen (ed.), Apostelen: dragers van een spraakmakend evangelie (CNT; Kampen: Kok, 2010) 292-313

2010: ‘Martelaren’, in: P.H.R. van Houwelingen (ed.), Apostelen: dragers van een spraakmakend evangelie (CNT; Kampen: Kok, 2010) 314-338

2010: ‘Getuigen’, in: P.H.R. van Houwelingen (ed.), Apostelen: dragers van een spraakmakend evangelie (CNT; Kampen: Kok, 2010) 339-361

2009: ‘Helpers en bondgenoten voor de vrede’. Een peiling van vroege christelijke zelfinterpretatie’, Radix 35/3 (2009) 190-205

2009: ‘Baptists in Amsterdam’, The Baptist Quarterly 43 (2009) 229-234

2009: ‘Animosity and (Voluntary) Martyrdom: The Power of the Powerless‘, in: John T. Fitzgerald, Fika J. van Rensburg, Herrie F. van Rooy (eds.), Animosity, the Bible and Us: Some European, North American and South African Perspectives (Society of Biblical Literature, Global Perspectives on Biblical Scholarship 12; Atlanta, 2009) 287-297

2008: ‘De ziel van Europa en de Geest van God’, in: Erik Borgman, Kees van der Kooi, Akke van der Kooi, Govert Buijs (eds), De werking van de Heilige Geest in de Europese cultuur en traditie (Kampen: Kok, 2008) 73-85

2007:‘Allemaal evangelicaal? Perspectieven op de evangelische beweging’, in: Koert van Bekkum, George Harinck (eds.), Kerkelijk Nederland van de kaart (Bavinck Lezingen 2007; Historisch Documentatiecentrum voor het Nederlands Protestantisme [1800-heden], Vrije Universiteit en Nederlands Dagblad; Barneveld, 2007) 31-51

2007: ‘Spirituality and Ethnicity in Holland’, Journal of European Baptist Studies 7/2 (2007) 38-49

2005: ‘Potamiaena: Some Observations About Martyrdom and Gender in Ancient Alexandria’, in: A. Hilhorst, G.H. van Kooten (eds.), The Wisdom of Egypt. Jewish, Early Christian and Gnostic Essays in Honour of Gerard P. Luttikhuizen (Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity 59; Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2005) 331-350

About Henk Bakker

Introduction

Born (1960) and raised in the eastern part of Haarlem, close to Amsterdam, Henk Bakker grew up in an open minded and typical Dutch Protestant environment. Fascinated by the Gospel, and in particular by the calling of the Church to relate Gospel life to the world, he turned to believer’s baptism and became a Baptist follower of Jesus. Gradually a ‘calling’ to study and to become a minister grew and, happily, also materialized. After finishing studies at Leiden University, at Leuven (Belgium, Lic./MA), at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary (Memphis, USA) and a second Master at Utrecht University (New Testament), he completed a doctorate in early Christian literature at Groningen University. The research done resulted in the PhD thesis Exemplar Domini: Ignatius of Antioch and His Martyrological Self-Concept (2003, with Prof. Gerard Luttikhuizen and dr. Ton Hilhorst).

From 1991 to 2005 Dr. Bakker pastored several Baptist churches. He and his wife Jenny have two adult daughters.

From 2013 – 2017 Rev Prof Dr Henk Bakker was Professor of Baptist Studies - History, Identity, and Theology of the Baptist Faith at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Recently he has become Chair holder of the James Wm. McClendon Chair for Baptistic and Evangelical T heologies at VU University Amsterdam (Sept. 1^st. 2017). Dr. Bakker is also lecturer of Theology and Historical Theology at the Dutch Baptist Seminary, Amsterdam, and lecturer of Baptistic Histories and Theologies at IBTS Centre, Amsterdam.

From 2005 – 2017 Dr. Bakker was Lecturer of New Testament and Theology at Ede Christian University of Applied Sciences, and from 1991 - 2004 Lecturer of New Testament and Theology and the Evangelical Theological Institute, Veenendaal. From 1985 – 1990 he was Lecturer of Theology at the Evangelical Theological Faculty and at Bible Institute Belgium, Leuven.

Dr. Bakker published extensively on early Christian studies, especially on martyrdom, and history and modern (predominantly Baptistic) theology. We will only mention some of his publications. Currently he supervises around 10 PhD-students.

At VU University Amsterdam Dr. Bakker initiated a project ‘Religious Martyrdom in Dialogue’, consisting of a research group taken from major religious traditions (Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian) to discuss religious texts on martyrdom. The outcome of the dialogue is promising. Publications will probably follow next year.

"In the community of Christ conventional boundaries between status, culture, and sexes were overcome (which did not imply serious societal negativism for Paul). As Luther would articulate one and a half millennium later: omnes sumus aequales, “we are all equals.” For Paul the church was a kind of new breed of mankind, the cornerstone of a new society in anticipation of the arrival of the Kingdom of God. Here, a fisherman, a Moroccan, and an ordinary lady have just as much voice as a governor, a Jew, or some powerful male personality."

Publications

2015: ‘”Beyond the Measure of Man”: About the Mystery of Socratic Martyrdom’, Church History and Religious Culture 95 (2015) 1-17

2010: Henk Bakker, Paul van Geest, Hans van Loon (eds.), Cyprian of Carthage: Studies in His Life, Language, and Thought (Late Antique History and Religion 3; Leuven: Peeters, 2010) See: Bookreview by Allen Brent, Journal of Ecclesiastical History 63     (2012) 354-356

2010: “'Instigator and Standard-bearer” of Christianity (Acta Proconsularia 4.2): A Reconstruction of Early Impressions of Cyprian's Image as a Bishop’, in: Henk Bakker, Paul van Geest, Hans van Loon (eds.), Cyprian of Carthage: Studies in His Life, Language, and Thought (Late Antique History and Religion 3; Leuven: Peeters, 2010) 43-64

2010: Henk Bakker, Paul van Geest, Hans van Loon, ‘Introduction: Cyprian's Stature and Influence’, in: Henk Bakker, Paul van Geest, Hans van Loon (eds.), Cyprian of Carthage: Studies in His Life, Language, and Thought (Late Antique History and Religion 3; Leuven: Peeters, 2010) 1-27

2010: ‘Martelaren’, in: P.H.R. van Houwelingen (ed.), Apostelen: dragers van een spraakmakend evangelie (CNT; Kampen: Kok, 2010) 314-338

2009: ‘Animosity and (Voluntary) Martyrdom: The Power of the Powerless‘, in: John T. Fitzgerald, Fika J. van Rensburg, Herrie F. van Rooy (eds.), Animosity, the Bible and Us: Some European, North American and South African Perspectives (Society of Biblical Literature, Global Perspectives on Biblical Scholarship 12; Atlanta, 2009) 287-297

2006: Ze hebben lief, maar worden vervolgd. Radicaal christendom in de tweede eeuw en nu (Zoetermeer: Boekencentrum, 2006³)

2005: ‘Potamiaena: Some Observations About Martyrdom and Gender in Ancient Alexandria’, in: A. Hilhorst, G.H. van Kooten (eds.), The Wisdom of Egypt. Jewish, Early Christian and Gnostic Essays in Honour of Gerard P. Luttikhuizen (Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity 59; Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2005) 331-350

Dr. Bakker is Fellow Researcher at the Centre for Patristic Research, Amsterdam and actively participates in the ‘mystagogy’ project.

2017 [forthcoming]: ‘”So On Earth”: Liturgy From Heaven’, in Paul van Geest (ed.), The Mystagogy of the Church Fathers, Vol. 2 (Late Antique History and Religion, Center for Patristic Research; Leuven: Peeters)

2016: ‘A Martyr's Pain is Not Pain: Mystagogical Directives in Tertullian's Ad martyras, and some other North African Martyr Texts’, in: Paul van Geest (ed.), Seeing Through the Eyes of Faith: New Approaches to the Mystagogy of the Church Fathers (Late Antique History and Religion 11; Leuven: Peeters, 2016) 629-648

2010: ‘Herders’, in: P.H.R. van Houwelingen (ed.), Apostelen: dragers van een spraakmakend evangelie (CNT; Kampen: Kok, 2010) 292-313

2010: ‘Getuigen’, in: P.H.R. van Houwelingen (ed.), Apostelen: dragers van een spraakmakend evangelie (CNT; Kampen: Kok, 2010) 339-361

Dr. Bakker is also Fellow Researcher Centre for Evangelical and Reformation Theology, Amsterdam.

2017: Laura Dijkhuizen en Henk Bakker (eds.), Typisch evangelisch. Een stroming in perspectief (Amsterdam: Ark Media, 2017)

2016: ‘Towards an Evangelical Hermeneutic of Authority’, M. Klaver, S. Paas, E. van Staalduine-Sulman (eds.), Evangelicals and Sources of Authority: Essays Under the Auspices of the Center of Evangelical and Reformation Theology (CERT) (Amsterdam Studies in Theology and Religion, Vol. 6; Amsterdam: VU University Press, 2016) 25-43

2012:‘Finding a Place of Holiness: Towards a Typological Characterisation of Evangelical Churches in the Netherlands’, in:  C. van der Kooi, E. van Staalduine-Sulman, A.W. Zwiep (eds.), Evangelical Theology in Transition: Essays Under the Auspices of the Center of Evangelical and Reformation Theology (CERT) (Amsterdam Studies in Theology and Religion 1 [AmSTaR]; Amsterdam: VU University Press, 2012) 15-39

Dr. Bakker is also Fellow Researcher at the Herman Bavinck Centre for Reformed and Evangelical Theology

2017: '“We are all equal” (Omnes sumus aequales): A Critical Assessment of Early Protestant Ministerial Thinking', Perspectives in Religious Studies 44/3 (2017)

2014: H.A. Bakker, M.J. de Kater, W. van Vlastuin, Verantwoord geloof. Handboek christelijke apologetiek (Kampen: Brevier, 2014)
[2017: 2^nd Edition, Summum Academic Publications]

2015: Olof H. De Vries, Alles is geschiedenis. Bouwstenen voor een baptistische geloofsvisie uit de dogmatiek van Olof H. De Vries, onder redactie van Henk Bakker, Jelle Horjus, Jos Jumelet, Teun van der Leer, Anne de Vries (Utrecht: Kok, 2015)

2014: Henk Bakker en Daniël Drost (eds.), Andersom – een introductie in de theologie van James Wm. McClendon (Unie van Baptistengemeenten in Nederland; Veenendaal: WoodyDesign, 2014)

2014: Henk Bakker, Albrecht Boerrigter, Jeanette van Es, Winfried Ramaker (eds.), De geschiedenis van het Schriftwoord gaat door. Gedachten ter markering van de theologie van dr. O.H. de Vries (Utrecht: Kok, 2014)

2013: ‘Tangible Church. Challenging the Apparitions of Docetism (I): The Ghost of Christmas Past’; ‘Tangible Church. Challenging the Apparitions of Docetism (II): The Ghost of Christmas Present’; ‘Tangible Church. Challenging the Apparitions of Docetism (III): The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come’, in Baptistic Theologies 5/2 (2013) 1-17, 18-35, 36-58

2012: Gunnende Kerk. Kompas voor een waardegestuurde gemeente ethiek (Brevier, 2012)

2011: ‘The Roaring Side of the Ministry: A Turn to Sacramentalism’, Perspectives in Religious Studies 38/4 (2011) 403-426

2011: ‘Towards a Catholic Understanding of Baptist Congregationalism: Conciliar Power and Authority’, Journal of Reformed Theology 5 (2011) 159-183

2008: De Weg van het wassende water. Op zoek naar de wortels van het baptisme (Zoetermeer: Boekencentrum, 2008)

2006: Draads en tegendraads. Leren van de puriteinen (Zoetermeer: Boekencentrum, 2006)

"As a reconciling community the church’s first aim is to reconcile humanity with God and from there with each other. Hence, it can be explained that churches are critical regarding any kind of violence and breakup."

Articles and publications

VU Research Portal

Personal Website

PhD Supervision

Scholary Publications

Professional Publications

Current

Ralph Lubs, Eirene and Pneuma in the Corpus Paulinum, VU Amsterdam (expected 2022)

Hruaia Khiangte, Distinctive Baptist Doctrines and the Visible Unity of the Church in India: A Contribution to Baptist Ecclesiology , VU Amsterdam (expected 2022)

Kirsten Timmer, Baptist Sources: The Amsterdam Heritage (1600-1615), VU Amsterdam (expected 2024)

Vincent van Altena, What has Athens to do with Jerusalem? An Interdisciplinary Investigation on Using Spatial-Temporal Research in New Testament Exegesis (with Prof. Jantien Stoter, TU Delft, expected 2022)

Elly van den Berg, In Dialogue;  (in cooperation with Prof. dr. Manon Ruijters, School of Business and Economics, VU Business School, expected 2022)

Linda Margaret Aadne, The Theology and Practice of Believers’ Baptism Within the Norwegian Baptist Union: Tradition, Revision and Renewal, IBTSC/VU (expected 2025)

Laura Dijkhuizen, The Invisible Woman, Gender Roles in Contemporary Evangelical Churches in the Netherlands, VU Amsterdam (expected 2023)

Inok Lee, Biblical Theology of the Book of Revelation: Reading Revelation from the Perspective of the Theology of Martyrdom, VU Amsterdam  (expected 2024)

Matt Edminster, The Reality of Fellowship: a relational and theological examination of koinonia in the life of a small Estonian congregation, IBTSC/VU (with Irma Fast Dueck, expected 2023) 

Lauren Moore, A Phenomenological Study of the Evolution of Marian Apparitions in Roman Catholicism, (with Robert Letham, Union School of Theology, and Leonardo De Chirico, expected 2024)

Jonathan Owens, Roadblocks & Bridges: Seeking Pathways for Greater Interfaith Involvement with American Evangelical Christianity, VU Amsterdam  (expected 2024)

Hendri Mulyana, Sendjaja Understanding Gregory of Nyssa’s Thoughts on Celebrating Life Experience for Transformation of the Self in the Communion with the Triune God, VU Amsterdam  (expected 2024)

Yuriy Skurydin, Mono-ethnic Kazakh Evangelical Churches as a Hermeneutical Community: Convictional Study of Kazakh Evangelical Christianity, IBTSC/VU (expected 2025)

Michael Aidoo, Towards a contextual approach to Baptist congregational polity/governance in Ghana, IBTSC/VU (expected 2025)

Gabriel Stephen, The Contribution of Migrant Experiences to the Formation of New Ecclesial Perspectives in the Norwegian Baptist Context, IBTSC/VU (expected 2025)

Realised

2021: Lon Graham, The Sources, Nature, and Context of John Ryland’s Catholicity , VU Amsterdam/IBTSC, Jan 19th, 2021.

2020: Yme Horjus, Tucht van onderop, Theologische Universiteit Kampen, in cooperation with Prof. dr. Mees te Velde, Dec 11th, 2020.

2019: Daniël Drost, A Contrasting Community: a Systematic Theological Thinking Through of John Howard Yoder’s Perspective on the Jewishness of the Free Church Vision, on Account of Post Liberal Jewish Critique, VU Amsterdam, Nov. 12th, 2019, cum laude.

2018: Jan Martijn Abrahamse, The Mystery of Ministry: A Theological Inquiry into the Roots of Ministerial Office Within Early Congregationalism (1580-1612), VU Amsterdam, Jan. 10th 2018.

2017: Samuel Renihan, From Shadow to Substance: The Roots and Rise of the Federal Theology of the English Particular Baptists (1642-1702), VU Amsterdam, Oct. 26^th 2017.

2016: Lee Spitzer, “The Hand of Sincere Friendship”: Baptist Responses to Nazi Anti-Semitism and Persecution of the Jewish People (1933-1948), IBTSC/VU Amsterdam, September 6^th, 2016.

2015: Michael J. Pears, Towards a Theological Engagement With an Area of Multiple Deprivation: The Case of the Cornwall Estate, IBTSC/VU Amsterdam, September 2^nd, 2015.

Referent & Opponent

2019: Fulco van Hulst, Vrede hebben met het kruis van Christus

2019 Marco Rotman, The Call of the Wilderness: The Narrative Significance of John the Baptist’s Whereabouts

2019: David Murray, Matthew Henry: The Reasonableness and Pleasantness of Christianity

2019: David McMillan, Convictions, Conflict and Moral Reasoning: The Contribution of the Concept of Convictions in Understanding Moral Reasoning in the Context of Conflict, Illustrated by a Case Study of Four Groups of Christians in Northern Ireland

2018: Philipp F. Bartholomä, Freikirche mit Mission: Eine explorative Studie zum freikirchlichen Gemeindebau im säkularen Zeitalter, Hab. Freie Theologische Hochschule Gießen, 2018

2018: Alex To, Lam Chi-fung’s Transformative Role in Shaping Hong Kong Baptist Life (1950-1970), VU University Amsterdam, 2018

2018: Henrikas Žukauskas, The Role of the Holy Spirit in the Relation God – World in the Theology of Yves Congar, VU University Amsterdam, 2018

2018: Bianca van Wesep, Als het erop aankomt. Een kwalitatief onderzoek naar de betekenis van leiderschap voor zingeving in werk en organisatie bij de Koninklijke Marechaussee, VU University Amsterdam, March 27th, 2018

2017: Ross Dueck, A Transformative Moment: Emerging Adult Faith Development in Conversation with the Theology of James E. Loder, VU University Amsterdam, May 10th, 2017

2016: Maria Cornou, Worship as a Formative Practice: The Worship Practices of Methodists, Baptists, and Free Brethren in Emerging Protestantism in Argentina (1867-1930), VU Amsterdam, Nov. 29^th 2016,

2015: Rosa Hunt, The Self-Enclosing God. John Chrysostom and Ephrem Syrus on Divine Self-Limitation as Gift of Love in Genesis 1-3, VU Amsterdam, Dec. 14^th 2015

2015: Ekkardt A. Sonntag, Jesus, The Good Wasta? Reading the Epistle to the Hebrews in Light of a Middle Eastern Social Phenomenon, VU Amsterdam, Dec. 9^th 2015

2010: Alex Kish, The Origins of the Baptist Movement Among the Hungarians, VU Amsterdam, (November 18, 2010)

About James Wm. McClendon

Introduction

James Wm. McClendon (1924-2000) may be characterized as an inspiring Atlantic theologian. His three volumes on systematic theology exhibit profound knowledge of European and American theology, as it specifically revolves around the retrieval of the baptistic tradition. It also profoundly affected theological thinking on both sides of the Atlantic.  He combines the Free Church mentality with robust orientations of Barthian, Mennonite and narrative-hermeneutical background. Anyhow, the result is a challenging and in McClendon’s days a timely presentation of baptistic theology as a way of living and thinking the truth of Christ.

Lived conviction and lived religion

At the onset of the third millennium McClendon’s theology proves even more beneficial and relevant than decades before, because in the present demise of grand narrative of the church, Christian life should be spoken of in terms of diaspora ecclesiology. The church is, and will become, a social-religious minority. Hence, Christianity will not predominantly be studied as a historical and dogmatic reality, but as a lived conviction and a lived religion. Whosoever thinks and believes as a Christian lives like a Christian. McClendon’s basic premise may be summarized in the three words noted down in his Ethics: radical Christian materialism. Christianity is about knowing and obeying Christ as bodily as it can be, as regards our personal constituency as an individual who is a follower of Christ, and as regards our social constituency as a person who engages with others and forms and folds the community of Christ.

Christ-centered theology

Christian faith materializes; otherwise it may be deemed illusive or defective. Such emphasis on the morality of bodily presence automatically comes with the history and lived tradition of the Baptist, Anabaptist and Free Church tradition. Major voices from these springs have always underscored the Christ-centred visibility of the Christian faith. The McClendon Chair for Baptistic & Evangelical Theologies is determined to hold on to these core values, to study them, and to be committed to living them out.

It has astutely been assumed that the Atlantic mind is a unique breed, born from three mothers: Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome. Three spirits were mingled into one soul. Albeit that the imagery of the theory is far too simple, yet the fabric of Western thinking, throughout the nascent ages of Europe, has strongly been coded by dualistic reasoning. The realm of God and the realm of human beings were not to be confused or perfused. Inasmuch as Christian discourse took up words like these, the church wrestled with the palpability of the flesh of Christ. As a whole, the church of the West displayed the inclination of spiritualizing the physical existence of Jesus, whether in its reflections on his life on earth or in its notions of the Eucharist. According to McClendon the very person of Christ himself should cure us from having such double-sided notions of him.

"If we should call this this radically changed state of affairs simply “the new that comes in Christ,” that choice of words would designate a gap in ordinary speech: How is this truly extraordinary even to be named? This linguistic gap corresponds to the primitive disciples’ dilemma: How can converted folk ever talk with the inexperienced, or even with one another, about the unprecedented, the unique? If it is new, old terms will not do, while new ones may convey nothing."

"So to be a Christian is to remember, and the church is the place, the event, the sharing in which these memories are kept, these stories told, these treasures are brought to life again and again, while time lasts (…) If we forget the stories, church will be no more. If we merely remember, but have no new stories to tell in our own generation, church will be only a mausoleum of dead memories."

Tangible life

For Gospel-people there is no controversy between a life oriented to heaven and a life lived on earth. The Gospel story, indeed, is the Christian’s story in which the world of God and the world of humans basically merge. Tangible life, as such, is the realm where people and God meet, where the infinite chooses to touch and tolerate the finite. As a consequence no detail of the life of Christ can be seen as superfluous, in particular his Jewishness. Jesus’ Jewishness may prevent the church from becoming antagonistic about Jesus’ presence in the world, even today. In line with McClendon and Yoder’s thinking, it also reminds us of the many complexities there are between Jews and Christians, and the urgency these issues have. The Chair advocates involvement in ecumenical studies and inter-faith studies, in particular Baptist relations with Jews.

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