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Type | Seminary |
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Established | 6 December 1854 |
Location | , , |
Website | https://en.tukampen.nl/ |
Theological University of the Reformed Churches (Dutch : Theologische Universiteit Kampen van de Gereformeerde Kerken) is an academic theological seminary in the Dutch city of Utrecht (formerly Kampen). It was founded on 6 December 1854 in Kampen. [1]
The university primarily caters to ministerial education. In order to be an ordained minister in the Reformed Churches a six-year training including a Bachelor of Theology (BA) and Master of Divinity (MA) are required. Next to these programs the seminary offers one-year master programmes (MA) in several disciplines. Most MA-programmes can be taken in English. Since 2015 the university also offers a full English programme: Master of Intercultural Reformed Theology, which attracts International and Dutch students. Especially the MA in 21st Century Mission under the supervision of Stefan Paas is a popular programme. Academic research is carried out by the faculty, several post-doctoral fellows, and PhD-students. The doctoral course offered by the university is typically a four-year program.
In 1854, a Theological School ("Theologische School") was founded by the Christian Reformed Church in the Netherlands, a church resulting from a schism in 1834 from the mainline Reformed Church in the Netherlands (Hervormde Kerk), to provide for education for its ministers. The name was changed to Theological College ("Theologische Hogeschool") in 1939.
In 1892, a large part of the Christian Reformed Church in the Netherlands merged with another group split from the mainstream Dutch Reformed Church to form the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, which founded a new Calvinist university in Amsterdam: the Vrije Universiteit. This university also has a theological faculty, but the Theological School at Kampen remained a separate institution.
In 1944, another schism within the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands occurred, called the Liberation ("Vrijmaking"), which resulted in the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Liberated). This new church also had a need for its own ministerial education institute, and so a new Theological College of the Reformed Churches (Liberated) was founded from parts of the Theological College. In 1986, both colleges became universities when a change in the Dutch university/polytechnic system was carried out.
Notable faculty of the seminary in the past include systematic theologians Herman Bavinck (1854–1921) and Klaas Schilder(1890–1952), and more recently the New Testament scholar Jakob van Bruggen (born 1936).
In 2021, the Minister of Education, Culture and Science approved the intention of university's board to move the study programs to Utrecht in process of establishing a Theological University there. The decision was followed by a positive advice from the Higher Education Efficiency Committee giving the board six months to make a final decision to establish the university in Utrecht. [2]
Utrecht University is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established 26 March 1636, it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2022, it had an enrollment of 37,675 students, and employed 8,584 faculty members and staff. More than 400 PhD degrees were awarded and 8,500 scientific articles were published. The university's 2022 budget was €2.606 billion, consisting of €1.067 billion for the university and €1.539 billion for the University Medical College Utrecht.
Kampen is a city and municipality in the province of Overijssel, Netherlands. A member of the former Hanseatic League, it is located at the lower reaches of the river IJssel.
The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, being founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being the University of Amsterdam (UvA). The literal translation of the Dutch name Vrije Universiteit is "Free University". "Free" refers to independence of the university from both the State and the Dutch Reformed Church. Both within and outside the university, the institution is commonly referred to as "the VU". Although founded as a private institution, the VU has received government funding on a parity basis with public universities since 1970. The university is located on a compact urban campus in the southern Buitenveldert neighbourhood of Amsterdam and adjacent to the modern Zuidas business district.
The Institute for Christian Studies is a private, graduate-level Reformed philosophical and theological school in Toronto, Ontario. At ICS, students and faculty take part in shared learning through participatory seminars, mentoring, and an interdisciplinary approach to study. There are several unrelated institutions bearing similar names.
Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, Dutch: Radboud Universiteit, formerly Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen) is a public research university located in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The university bears the name of Saint Radboud, a 9th-century Dutch bishop who was known for his intellect and support of the underprivileged.
Herman Bavinck was a Dutch Calvinist theologian and churchman. He was a significant scholar in the Calvinist tradition, alongside Abraham Kuyper, B. B. Warfield, and Geerhardus Vos.
Protestant Theological University is a theological university with locations in two Dutch cities: Amsterdam and Groningen. The Protestant Theological University primarily caters for ministerial education and as such is one of three institutes recognised by the PKN, but it is also possible to study general (Calvinist) theology without wishing to become a minister.
The Christian Reformed Churches in the Netherlands is a Protestant church in the Netherlands.
Klaas Schilder was a Dutch Neo-Calvinist theologian and professor in the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and later in the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (liberated).
The Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Liberated) (Dutch: Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland (vrijgemaakt)) was an orthodox Calvinist federation of churches. This church body arose in 1944 out of the so-called Liberation (Vrijmaking) from the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, when many pastors and members refused to go along with the General Synod's demand to hold to "presumed regeneration of infants" at their baptism. Klaas Schilder played an important role in the Liberation. There are currently 270 affiliated local congregations with a total of about 120,000 members in 2016.
Herman Nicolaas Ridderbos was a Dutch theologian and biblical scholar. He was an important New Testament theologian, having worked extensively on the history of salvation (Heilsgeschichte) and biblical theology.
Klaas Runia was a Dutch theologian, churchman and journalist. He studied at the Free University, Amsterdam and obtained his doctorate with a dissertation on the concept of theological time in Karl Barth in 1955. In 1956 he was appointed Professor of Systematic theology at the Reformed Theological College in Geelong, Australia, where he taught until his return to the Netherlands in 1971. During his time in Australia he exerted much influence on evangelical Christians, particularly at universities and theological schools. He was also elected chairman of the Reformed Ecumenical Council from 1968 to 1976. In 1971 he was appointed Professor of Practical Theology at the Kampen Theological University. During his professorship he was heavily engaged in church affairs and was regarded as a leader of the orthodox wing of the Dutch Reformed Church, now the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. For many years he was also active as a journalist. He was editor-in-chief of Centraal Weekblad from 1972 to 1996. He also wrote many articles in the Frisian daily newspaper Friesch Dagblad. He retired in 1992, but remained active as a theologian and journalist until his death in 2006.
Johan Herman Bavinck was a Dutch pastor, missionary and theologian.
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