Prof.dr. G. van den Brink – History of Reformed Christianity

Position:
  • Professor extraordinary History of Reformed Protestantism
Expertise:
  • History of Reformed Theology; Reformed Confessions; The Contemporary Renaissance of Trinitarian Theology; Theology as an Academic Discipline; Christian Doctrine.


Personal Homepage: leidsewetenschappers.leidenuniv.nl/​show.php3?medewerker_id=923
www.pthu.nl/​gvandenbrink

C.V.

Dr. Gijsbert van den Brink (1963) is Professor for the History of Reformed Protestantism at the Leiden Institute of Religious Studies. This is a part-time appointment (0,2 fte) on a special chair instituted by the Gereformeerde Bond in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. In January 2007, Van den Brink succeeded Professor Willem Verboom, who held the chair since its re-institution in 2002. Next to his activities at Leiden University, Van den Brink is associate professor in Christian dogmatics at the Faculty of Theology, VU University Amsterdam (0,8 fte). Van den Brink was trained as a theologian at Utrecht University, where he specialized in analytical philosophy of religion. After his PhD-studies he became a minister in the Protestant Church (1994-2001), and gradually his field of interest shifted towards systematic and historical theology. He served for a couple of years (2001-2006) as a lecturer in systematic theology (dogmatics) at the Protestant Theological University, location Leiden.

Research

Van den Brink’s overall research interest is focused on the intellectual credibility of the Christian faith. From this perspective, he wrote monographs on the problem of evil (Almighty God, 1993), on the question whether the history of Western philosophy has shown that classical Christian belief in God is no longer tenable (Oriëntatie in de filosofie, 2000), and on the challenges posed to Christian faith by modern science (Een publieke zaak, 2004; an English edition will be published in 2009 as Philosophy of Science for Theologians with Peter Lang). Leaving behind the more or less defensive strategy adopted in these books, at this moment Van den Brink has started a new project that focusses on the doctrine of the Trinity. In this project he attempts to elucidate the inner resources and explanatory power of this very heart of the Christian doctrine of God. Part of this research project is a historical inquiry into the trajectories of the doctrine of the Trinity within the Reformed tradition, starting from John Calvin and the 16th century confessions. It is this part of the project – called TTRT: Trinitarian Theology in the Reformed Tradition – that Van den Brink develops in his quality as professor for the history of Reformed protestantism.

Teaching

In his annual series of lectures for bachelor students, Van den Brink alternately concentrates on each of the three confessional documents that have gained authority within Dutch Reformed protestantism. After having introduced the Canons (and more generally the Synod) of Dordt (1618-1619) in 2007, in 2008-2009 the focus will be on the Belgic Confession, and in 2009-2010 on the Heidelberg Catechism. These series of lectures are also accessible to students of other faculties at Leiden University, as well as to a more general audience. Furthermore, Van den Brink biannually offers a more specialized course for master students. In 2007-2008, this course was devoted to “The theology of Herman Bavinck”. The topic for 2009-2010 still has to be selected.

Editorship

Van den Brink is co-editor of the Journal of Reformed Theology and of Theologia Reformata.


Lees verder:
Link PTHU-godgeleerdheid
Link PTHU-theology  

Selected publications

  • Brink, Gijsbert van den & Stephan van Erp (2009), `Ignoring God Triune? The Doctrine of the Trinity in Dutch Theology', International Journal of Systematic Theology.
  • Brink, Gijsbert van den (2009), ‘Reformed Scholasticism and the Contemporary Trinitarian Renaissance’, in: W. Otten, M. Sarot & M. Wisse (eds.), Scholasticism Reformed: Festschrift Willem van Asselt,  Leiden: Brill, pp. 321-339. 
  • Brink, Gijsbert van den (2008), Als een schoon boec. Achtergrond, receptie en relevantie van artikel 2 van de Nederlandse Geloofsbelijdenis (1561) [As a Beautiful Book. Background, Reception and Relevance of article 2 of the Belgic Confession (1561)], inaugural lecture 14-12-2007, Leiden: Leiden University Press, 31 pp. 
  • Brink, Gijsbert van den (2007), ‘De lange lijn van de leer. Katholiciteit en belijdenis’ [The Long Line of Doctrine. The Confession as a Sign of Catholicity], in: J. Kronenburg & R. de Reuver (red.), Ook wij zijn katholiek. Over protestantse katholiciteit, Heerenveen: Protestantse Pers, pp. 99-112. 
  • Brink, Gijsbert van den (2005) ‘De triniteitsleer van Calvijn’ [review-article], Theologia Reformata 48, pp.138-142.

Religious Studies Web Editors
Last Modified: 03-11-2010