It is with sadness that we have to inform our readers of the decease of three highly valued senior members in the movement of Reformational philosophy

Glas, Gerrit

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VU Research PortalIn memoriam. Jaap Klapwijk, John Kok, Henk HartGlas, Gerritpublished inPhilosophia Reformata2021document versionPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of recorddocument licenseArticle 25fa Dutch Copyright ActLink to publication in VU Research Portalcitation for published version (APA)Glas, G. (2021). In memoriam. Jaap Klapwijk, John Kok, Henk Hart. Philosophia Reformata, 86(2), 131-136.https://brill.com/view/journals/phir/86/2/article-p131_131.xmlGeneral rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright ownersand it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.            • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.            • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain            • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ?Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediatelyand investigate your claim.E-mail address:vuresearchportal.ub@vu.nlDownload date: 03. Mar. 2023In MemoriamJaap Klapwijk, John Kok, Henk HartIt is with sadness that we have to inform our readers of the decease of three highly valued senior members in the movement of Reformational philosophy.Jaap KlapwijkJacob (Jaap) Klapwijk (24 October 1933–19 March 2021) studied theology and philosophy at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam (vu) and obtained, under the supervision of S.  U.  Zuidema, his doctorate cum laude from that same university on a dissertation entitled Tussen historisme en relativisme (Klapwijk 1970), which was later translated into English by H.  D.  Morton (Klapwijk 2013). The main part of this work was devoted to Ernst Troeltsch, a German philosopher of religion and history and a liberal politician who is today almost forgotten, but who was rather influential during his lifetime. Troeltsch’s concern about the changing and declining role of Christianity under the influence of historicism and modernism became one of Klapwijk’s own key themes of interest, expressed in many articles and book chapters and in a vu research program on pluralism, supervised by him and Sander Griffioen. Positively formulated, his deep involvement with historicism led to a lifelong fascination with historical dynamism and formed the background of his conviction that philosophers should situate their work within this dynamic. In one of his last articles, Klapwijk (2018) says that ahistorical typologies, like that of Ian G.  Barbour, will not offer solutions for the science–religion debate. Barbour (1997) developed a typology with four types of interaction between science and religion: conflict, independence, dialogue, and integration. The science–religion debate itself has a historical dimension and should be considered against the background of lived religion.As lector (from 1974) and professor of history of modern and contemporary philosophy (1980–1994), he became an expert not only in historicism and neo-Kantianism but also in phenomenology, hermeneutical philosophy, neo-Marxist theory, and continental philosophy of religion (Pannenberg, among others). This background can be recognized in the themes he focused ©  koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2021 | doi:10.1163/23528230-bja10033Philosophia Reformata 86 (2021) 131–136Downloaded from Brill.com03/18/2022 09:43:42AMvia Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Stichting Christelijke FilosofieIN MEMORIAM132on in his contributions to Reformational philosophy. The first theme is how we can interpret and connect with “the universal,” given the diversity and plurality of interpretations, practices, and cultures. Here, Klapwijk stayed close to the idea of intrinsic normativity. Norms for social, juridical, economic, and aesthetic practices are structurally given and manifest themselves as regulative moments in human experience. Their positivization is plural, a multiverse, but this positivization builds on intuitions about the universal. As an example, Klapwijk (1994, 168) describes how seventeenth-century ceramists in Delft were thrilled upon being introduced to the refined porcelain and decorative arts of the Ming dynasty in China. The second theme concerns the well-known divide between antithesis (rejection of all non-Christian thinking and acting) and synthesis (accommodation to non-Christian thinking and acting). Klapwijk developed what he called a transformative philosophy that claims to offer a view that transcends both synthesis and antithesis. The term transformative was coined somewhat earlier by Karl-Otto Apel, who used it for slightly different purposes. Transformative thinking gives a modern twist to the old Augustinian idea of the spoliatio Aegyptiorum, the idea that the cultural and intellectual treasures of other traditions can be brought into captivity and molded into something that corresponds with and fits into the Christian mindset. Klapwijk advocates reformation by transformation rather than pillarization or merging with the surrounding world. In this regard, Klapwijk shows a sensitivity to the deeper spiritual background of the turn to postmodernism. The pluralism of norms and values, he says, is more than just subjectivism or a new theoretical perspective—it expresses a deep desire to stand up for human dignity, freedom of conscience, and tolerance of diversity in an age in which (in my own words) big industry, applied sciences, and governments have increasingly subtle ways to intrude in the lifeworld of individuals and to exclude and oppress voices that are not like-minded.After his early retirement, Klapwijk surprised students and colleagues with a book on evolution in which he defends the idea of emergent evolution. This idea implies that at unpredictable, critical points in the course of evolution, entirely new properties such as consciousness may emerge as a result of reorganization of existing material entities. Klapwijk himself saw a continuum with his previous work, especially with the idea of transformational philosophy. His (2008) book Purpose in the Living World? is an attempt to show that belief in creation is compatible with evolutionary theory. Distancing himself from creationism, intelligent design theory, and theistic evolution, he attempts “to reformulate the Darwinian view of life in such a manner that evolution is not just a blind process of mutation and natural selection but also testifies Philosophia Reformata 86 (2021) 131–136Downloaded from Brill.com03/18/2022 09:43:42AMvia Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Stichting Christelijke Filosofie133IN MEMORIAMto the notions of directionality and purpose in the living world.”1 Klapwijk was also a guest lecturer at the Freie Evangelisch-Theologische Akademie in Basel, Switzerland. There he lectured and wrote (mainly in German) about a fourth theme, namely, philosophy of religion and the prospects of systematic theology.I have listened to Jaap Klapwijk many times, as a student and later as a colleague. His approach to philosophy has greatly helped me in understanding the role of the philosopher as a thinker who intuits the cultural-historical and spiritual atmosphere of a time and who thoroughly analyses the building blocks of any argument. Jaap could lucidly explain why a philosopher had arrived at the position he or she defended. He would argue for this position forcefully and convincingly, so that his audience would believe the view in question to be the argumentation’s inevitable outcome. Then, when he had built the edifice and had convinced most of his listeners that that was indeed the view one should endorse, he would go on to question it until the untenability of the philosophical position was obvious to everybody.John KokThis is also the place to commemorate the life and work of John Kok (19 December 1948–5 July 2020). Most readers of this journal will know him because of his pioneering work on the early development of D.  H.  Th.  Vollenhoven, founding father of the Reformational-philosophical movement, president of the Association for Calvinistic Philosophy for many years, and former editor of this journal. John Kok was born in Grand Rapids and graduated in 1971 from Trinity Christian College in Chicago, where he studied under Calvin Seerveld, Peter Steen, Martin Vrieze, Robert Vandervennen, and others. Between 1971 and 1983, he lived in the Netherlands to obtain a degree in philosophy at the Vrije Universiteit and to pursue a PhD, initially under the guidance of Hendrik van Riessen (Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam) and Jaap Klapwijk (Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam), later under the supervision of Henk Hart (Institute for Christian Studies, Toronto) and Bram Bos (Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam). His dissertation, entitled Vollenhoven: His Early Development (Kok 1992), meticulously analyzed and described Vollenhoven’s initial ideas about the relation between mind and matter, being and thinking, intuition and interaction, and things and relations, as well as the concepts of space, time, and number. In later years he put much effort into collaborative projects with Tony Tol and Kor Bril, aiming to republish Vollenhoven’s key texts in English and to make an inventory of Vollenhoven’s work (see, for instance, Vollenhoven 1 https://jacobklapwijk.nl/professional-interests/.Philosophia Reformata 86 (2021) 131–136 Downloaded from Brill.com03/18/2022 09:43:42AMvia Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Stichting Christelijke FilosofieIN MEMORIAM1342005). Kok had in the meantime acquired a position at Dordt College in Sioux Center, where he started in 1983 and remained active in various capacities until his retirement in 2014. He taught in the Department of Philosophy until 1997 and became dean of the Faculty of Humanities and, somewhat later, dean of Research and Scholarship and director of the Andreas Center for Christian Scholarship. Moreover, he served as editor of Dordt College Press from its very start and became indispensable in this role, both for Dordt College and for the larger Christian community. Dordt College Press would become one of the main vehicles for the transmission of Reformational-philosophical work in the United States and Canada. His execution of these many roles bears witness to his great organizational skills—skills that he used generously, wisely, and humbly, always with his eyes on the good cause rather than on himself. In the late 1990s, he invited me for a visit and lectures at Dordt College, where I met him, his wife and children, and the small staff of the Department of Philosophy. He translated and published my inaugural address when I was appointed professor at the Dooyeweerd chair, and he considered it a matter of course to do this without compensation. Such generosity and willingness to help others were typical of John, as I learned over the years from other people’s experiences with him. We will miss his kindness, wisdom, and presence in the international meetings and intellectual debates.Henk HartFinally, I have to inform our readers about the passing away of Hendrik (Henk) Hart (14 December 1935–5 March 2021). Hart studied under D. H. Th. Vollenhoven at the Vrije Universiteit in the 1960s and wrote a dissertation on John Dewey’s philosophy of verification under the direction of S. U. Zuidema (Hart 1966). In 1967 he became professor of systematic philosophy at the Institute for Christian Studies (ics), which had just been founded. He taught there until his retirement in 2001. In 1984 he published Understanding Our World, the crystallization of 15 years of course work in systematic philosophy at the ics. Even today, this is still one of the most readable, thorough, and communicative expositions of Dooyeweerdian systematic philosophy. It develops a modern vocabulary and reaches out to analytical philosophical metaphysics and epistemology, among other things. Hart found a discussion partner in Nicholas Wolterstorff, who is explicitly mentioned in the acknowledgements of Understanding Our World. In Philosophia Reformata, Hart extensively discussed two of Wolterstorff ’s publications: On Universals: An Essay in Ontology (Wolterstorff 1970) and Divine Discourse: Philosophical Reflections on the Claim That God Speaks (Wolterstorff 1995). He also wrote about the problem of time in a (1973) article entitled Philosophia Reformata 86 (2021) 131–136Downloaded from Brill.com03/18/2022 09:43:42AMvia Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Stichting Christelijke Filosofie135IN MEMORIAM“Problems of Time: An Essay,” which is, coincidentally, topic of discussion in Chris van Haeften’s article in this issue.Like Jaap Klapwijk, Henk Hart was concerned about the role of Christianity in a postmodern context. These concerns came to expression in several ways. By the end of the 1980s, he began to question the central position of the idea of creation order in Reformational-philosophical circles and started to emphasize the concept of love as foundational for Christian commitment in our times. For Hart, this was not only in line with the classic (Reformational) critique on the presumed autonomy of reason, but also, in fact, a radicalization of it. The belief in the autonomy of reason was, after all, not just a theoretical position: in its consequences for technology, industry, economy, public administration, and global distribution of opportunities, it was responsible for all sorts of injustice and marginalization. These should not be counteracted by an (abstract) idea of creation order, but by a shift in focus toward living a Christ-centered life by fighting against oppression and social injustice, even in academia. He reinterpreted the notion of law as indicating the foundational gift (or promise) of God’s love, which implies a call to us humans. He founded aware, an organization promoting full acceptance of gay and lesbian Christians into the church. He also published about his new ideas. On a personal note, I remember vividly the few meetings we had, at the international conference of the Association for Reformational Philosophy in Hoeven in 1995, and later in Toronto, where I visited him several times. He impressed me as a courageous and passionate thinker and above all as an ardently believing Christian. He told me about at least seven books he still had in mind. We also spent time in the woods around Lake Ontario, where Henk, an enthusiastic amateur ornithologist, taught me the specifics of Canadian sparrows and ducks. An overview and discussion of his work can be found in Philosophy as Responsibility: A Celebration of Hendrik Hart’s Contribution to the Discipline (Kuipers and Wesselius 2002).Gerrit Glas | orcid: 0000-0002-8216-0934Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlandsg.glas@vu.nlReferencesBarbour, I.G. (1997). Religion and Science: Historical and Conceptual Issues. Revised and expanded edition of Religion in an Age of Science. New York: HarperCollins.Philosophia Reformata 86 (2021) 131–136 Downloaded from Brill.com03/18/2022 09:43:42AMvia Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Stichting Christelijke FilosofieIN MEMORIAM136Hart, H. (1966). Communal Certainty and Authorized Truth: An Examination of John Dewey’s Philosophy of Verification. Amsterdam: Swets & Zeitlinger.Hart, H. (1973). Problems of Time: An Essay. Philosophia Reformata 38 (1), pp. 30–42.Hart, H. (1984). Understanding Our World: An Integral Ontology. Lanham: University Press of America.Klapwijk, J. (1970). Tussen historisme en relativisme: Een studie over de dynamiek van het historisme en de wijsgerige ontwikkelingsgang van Ernst Troeltsch. Assen: Van Gorcum.Klapwijk, J. (1994). Pluralism of Norms and Values: On the Claim and Reception of the Universal. Philosophia Reformata 59 (2), pp. 158–192.Klapwijk, J. (2008). Purpose in the Living World? Creation and Emergent Evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Klapwijk, J. (2013). Between Historicism & Relativism: Dynamics of Historicism and the Philosophical Development of Ernst Troeltsch. Translated by H.D. Morton. https://www.allofliferedeemed.co.uk/Klapwijk/JK2013Troeltsch.pdf.Klapwijk, J. (2018). Religion and Reason in the Grasp of Basic Models. KOERS—Bulletin for Christian Scholarship 83 (1). https://doi.org/10.19108/KOERS.83.1.2288.Kok, J. (1992). Vollenhoven: His Early Development. Sioux Center: Dordt College Press.Kuipers, R.A., and Wesselius, J.C., eds. (2002). Philosophy as Responsibility: A Celebration of Hendrik Hart’s Contribution to the Discipline. Lanham: University Press of America.Vollenhoven, D.H.Th. (2005). Introduction to Philosophy. Translated by J. Kok. Sioux Center: Dordt College Press.Wolterstorff, N. (1970). On Universals: An Essay in Ontology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Wolterstorff, N. (1995). Divine Discourse: Philosophical Reflections on the Claim That God Speaks. New York: Cambridge University Press.Philosophia Reformata 86 (2021) 131–136Downloaded from Brill.com03/18/2022 09:43:42AMvia Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Stichting Christelijke Filosofie

In memoriam. Jaap Klapwijk, John Kok, Henk Hart

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In memoriam. Jaap Klapwijk, John Kok, Henk Hart

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