Stuart Bergsma

Stuart Bergsma (November 15, 1900 – July 30, 1986) was an American psychiatrist, medical missionary, and author. He served with the United Presbyterian Church of North America in Ethiopia and India, with periods between spent practicing medicine in the United States. In India Bergsma was superintendent of a hospital at Ludhiana, Punjab. He wrote on the phenomenon of speaking in tongues, which he connected to emotional stress or a desire to raise the patient's social standing.

Early life and education Stuart Bergsma was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on November 15, 1900. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Calvin College in his hometown and then a medical doctorate from the University of Chicago. Bergsma also received a diploma from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom. In April 1928 he joined the American Mission Hospital in Ethiopia. During this time Bergsma treated many cases of typhus, typhoid and malaria, he also occasionally preached a sermon. The UPCNA mission was based in Addis Ababa and had mission stations in Welega Province but Bergsma visited the western province of Sayo in 1930.

Bergsma returned to the United States in 1934 and practiced medicine at Passaic, New Jersey until 1938. In 1939 he rejoined the UPCNA to serve as a missionary in India. Bergsma returned to the US again in 1943 and worked in a medical capacity in Grand Rapids. In 1949 he returned to missionary work as a surgeon, hospital superintendent and associate professor of surgery at the Christian Medical College at Ludhiana, Punjab. He was promoted to superintendent of the hospital in 1965. Bergsma afterwards practiced as a psychiatrist in Grand Rapids from 1958 to 1972.

Works Bergsma wrote about the phenomenon of speaking in tongues, which he connected to high emotional stress in the subject. He used the analogy of a computer which, if overloaded with information, may produce erratic nonsense output. He also suggested that the subject may voluntarily speak in tongues as a means of raising their status in society. Songs of Sheba (1933), Just One Small Choir, Gabriel!: A Christmas Story (1964), and See That Holy Child: The story of the twelve-year-old Christ (1972).

Personal life Bergsma and his wife, Mildred Bosma (1904–1993), had two sons and one daughter. Mildred served as a medical missionary alongside her husband during their sixteen years in Ethiopia and India. At the time of his death, they had been married 59 years.