Geerhardus Vos

Geerhardus Johannes Vos (March 14, 1862 – August 13, 1949) was a Dutch-American Calvinist theologian and one of the most distinguished representatives of the Princeton Theology. He is sometimes called the father of Reformed Biblical theology.

Biography

Vos was born to a Dutch Reformed pastor in Heerenveen in Friesland in the Netherlands.

Career period Herman Bavinck and Abraham Kuyper tried to convince Vos to become Professor of Old Testament Theology at the Free University in Amsterdam, but Vos chose to return to America. Vos retired to California in 1932, three years after the formation of Westminster.

In 1894, Vos married Catherine Smith. Known for being the author of The Children's Story Bible, she died in 1937. They had three sons and one daughter. One of their sons, Johannes G. Vos (1903-1983), studied at Princeton Theological Seminary and became ordained in the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, and was also a professor at Geneva College in Pennsylvania.

After retirement After retirement from Princeton, Vos remained in the Presbyterian Church (USA), whereas his wife (Catherine) and their two sons, Geerhardus Jr. and Johannes together with Johannes' wife, Marian, joined the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America. His daughter, Marianne, joined the Christian Reformed Church in North America with her husband, William Radius. Bernardus Vos joined Gresham Machen's newly formed church, which was later renamed as the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in 1939.

On August 13, 1949, Vos died in Hessel Convalescent Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan. A funeral service was conducted by H. Henry Meeter in Zaagman Chapel in Calvin College two days later. Vos' body was then buried in the tiny village of Roaring Branch, Pennsylvania on Wednesday, August 17, 1949. For his burial, very few people turned out. Only two family members, Bernardus and Geerhardus Jr., a man and a woman from the local Methodist Church, and two ministers from the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, John De Waard and Cornelius Van Til were present. Van Til preached from 2 Corinthians 5:1 at the burial service. No one was there from his denomination and from the institution he had served for nearly 40 years.

Works Books

Published posthumously

Journal articles