De Wit PhD at the VU in Bavinck
23/12/2011 9:45
by Dr. Klaas van der Zwaag.
Willem-Jan de Wit works on behalf of the Reformed Mission League (GZB) in Cairo.
Congratulations to Bavinck Society member Willem-Jan de Wit, who received his doctorate from the VU University Amsterdam on December 16, 2011 (see also this Reformed Daily exclusive).
De Wit’s dissertation, under the supervision of Prof. A van de Beek and Prof. C. van der Kooi, is titled, On the Way to the Loving God (VU University Press, 2011). It offers a “cathartic reading” of Herman Bavinck’s faith wrestlings, beginning with his student years at Leiden. The dissertation is available as a free download via his web site as is his related article in TBR 2: “Will I Remain Standing?”: A Cathartic Reading of Herman Bavinck.
Dr. de Wit works in Cairo, Egypt on behalf of the Reformed Mission Union (Gereformeerde Zendingsbond), teaching at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in that city. A recent graduate of Calvin Theology Seminary, Anne Zaki, is also now teaching at Cairo's Evangelical Theological Seminary.
The Evangelical Theological Seminary of Cairo (ETSC) is the seminary for the Evangelical Synod of the Nile. One of the largest Christian Arabic-language theological seminaries in the world, it trains pastors, teachers, and musicians for Egypt, Sudan, Iraq, Palestine, Jordan, the Gulf States and North Africa. It offers a Diploma in Theological Studies, a four-year Bachelor of Theology degree, and a Masters of Theology in Biblical Studies and Middle East Christianity. In 2005 the seminary inaugurated its Center for Middle East Christianity, which invites both Western Christians and Arab Christians to come and study more about the roots of Christianity in the Middle East. It publishes theological books and Christian education materials in Arabic for the Middle East Christian community.Egypt - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services (CEOSS) is one of Egypt's largest development organizations, providing integrated approaches to poor communities in the areas of economic development, agriculture, education, health care, and the environment. CEOSS uses a rights-based approach to improve the quality of life in impoverished Egyptian communities, empower communities and individuals with sustainable development, promote a culture of dialogue based on pluralistic democratic approaches, and encourage religious and social enlightenment. CEOSS positively impacts 2 million Egyptian citizens each year.
Violence Erupts in Egypt - Christian Reformed Church
In Egypt, [Anne] Zaki is teaching at a seminary and working with the Christian community. Her husband, Naji Umran, is working to create dialogue between Christians and Muslims. CRC leaders praise the effort. But the ministry in Egypt is not officially connected to the CRC. Zaki and her husband came the U.S. in 2002 to attend Calvin Theological Seminary. After graduation from CTS and before leaving for Egypt, they served a Christian Reformed Church congregation in Grand Rapids, Mich., and one in British Columbia.
Specifically, last Sunday’s demonstrators, said Zaki, were protesting the destruction in late September of Christian homes and a TV and radio broadcasting building in the village of Aswan. But there have been several other incidents of violence directed at Christians since the Egyptian Revolution occurred in January of this year.From Reformatorisch Dagblad, Christian daily online, an ariticle
by Dr. Klaas van der Zwaag, translated into English from the Dutch original
Dr. Willem-Jan de Wit werkt namens
de Gereformeerde Zendingsbond (GZB) in Caïro.
Nieuwerbrug, Netherlands — The Reformed theologian Herman Bavinck (1854/1921) prayed to God for him to keep going while studying in Leiden. "He saw that the stream of his time comes from the point at which Christ and the cross is," says Dr Willem-Jan de Wit, "Bavinck was a man who felt challenged by the modern philosophy of his day."
Friday, the PhD was granted at the VU University in Amsterdam to De Wit by Prof. A. van de Beek and Prof. C. van der Kooi on the thesis "On the Way to the Living God" (publ. VU University Press).
In the first half of his thesis, he offers a "cathartic reading" ("cathartics reading") of Bavinck: the story of Bavinck's struggle to tell readers he extends a mirror to face their own struggle.
The research is based in Bavinck on correspondence with his university friend Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje and texts that have not previously been published or been forgotten (were lost). "My image of Bavinck was that he entered the Reformed denomination of his life-time, but I soon discovered that his horizon was much larger, and that brought him to battle with them. He writes concerning his "naive childlike faith about his lost soul" and even an unspoken desire becomes detectible "that the Scripture might be true, that the new criticism could be right."
Two sections of the dissertation is devoted to the concluding chapter of Philosophy of Revelation (1908-09, Stone Lectures at Princeton Theoligical Seminary). "Bavinck argues that the modern evolutionary worldview of man without hope in the world makes and points to the cross as the place where we see God's will to save the world."
Wits dissertation consists of six essays that that are both scientific and personal. "My method of theology is not descriptive or prescriptive, but inviting. I begin the book with a short walk through post-Christian Amsterdam, the city in which I've lived for seven years and where life seems to be without God. Bavinck called the unchurched neiborhood one of the greatest evils of his time, but it has since risen spectacularly. In this context, I based on Psalm 42 at the invitation of the heart's desire to be understood as a thirst for the living God. "
De Wit will not prove the existence of God, but explains: only a God who really is the deepest thirst of the heart can fill it. "Christians and atheists can therefore stand side by side when debunking gods which are no-gods at all. Bavinck more so than I am open to trying the natural world to explain. While I do the invitation to the world of signs and references to the living God to see. When we open with two eyes, a scientific and a religious eye of reality, we can see depth. "
Now, besides many delicious to see much harm, he says. "The brokenness of the references may raise the question whether they really refer to God. The Christian faith at its core, however, shows that this is indeed possible: it knows the revelation of the Lord of glory, without form or glory on the cross. "
After studying theology in Utrecht, Durham and Tübingen, De Wit worked at the International Reformed Theological Institute (IRTI) at the Free University. Today he teaches in the service of the GZB, Biblical Studies and Systematic Theology at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo.
Since the revolution of January 25, De Wit writes regularly blogs about life in Egypt. "The revolution has cawzed many Egyptian Christians to feel are more involved in their country and people as a whole. Simultaneously, they are concerned. The future will have to learn what is to be the outcome of the permanent revolution. "
Amsterdam and Cairo, according to De Wit, are both post-Christian: In Egypt, the Gospel of the cross was largely supplanted by Islam; in the Netherlands by a secular worldview. "But you will also find that secularization in Cairo and Amsterdam includes many Muslims. This double challenge of "post-Christian" deserves further reflection. Life on the road to the living God always follows the narrow path between religiosity and searching disbelief. The exciting question remains: is it nonsense, profanity, or truth when we say that Christ is the Crucified [and risen and ascended] wisdom of the living God revealed? "
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