Amsterdam School (Theology)

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In theology, the Amsterdam School describes a group of predominantly Protestant Reformed theologians in the Netherlands in the second half of the 20th century who consciously included Jewish perspectives and encouraged learning from the Hebrew Bible. They postulated that Christians had no monopoly on Bible translations, understanding the Bible and biblical studies because Jewish scholars had already contributed independent and essential contributions.

The Amsterdam School is not a well-defined movement, but rather brings together people who have gained similar perspectives on the Bible. Four directions can be distinguished:

  • old testament direction
  • biblical-theological direction
  • political Direction
  • liturgical direction

Some of the people involved can be assigned to more than one direction.

Historical background and development

Exchange and mutual learning between Christians and Jews has a long tradition in Amsterdam . After the expulsion from Spain in 1492 and Portugal in 1497, Amsterdam had become a new, safe home for many Jews, the “Jerusalem of the West”. They also called the city "Mokum", "the first place" ( Hebrew "Maqom Alef"). The Christian-Jewish coexistence was only suddenly interrupted in 1942 when the National Socialists deported the Jews from the Netherlands and killed them. However, it continued to work and was partially rebuilt after the Second World War.

From 1960 to 2000 the inspiring center of the Amsterdam School was in the Theological Faculty of the Free University of Amsterdam . Theology professors, lecturers, staff and students came together there, who influenced and inspired one another so that the “Bible could become a school”. This had an impact in the Netherlands, Germany and the Czech Republic.

Old Testament direction

The inner city of Amsterdam was the common place and living space of Jews and Christians; the common holy scripture was the Hebrew Bible. The initially evangelical-reformed dominance turned into a coexistence and finally a coexistence that made mutual acceptance, respect and learning from one another possible. In 1924, Jehuda Lion Palache was appointed from the Israelite-Portuguese congregation to the theological faculty of the Free University of Amsterdam. As a Jewish linguist, he taught the Old Testament in a predominantly Protestant-Reformed environment. He considered the literary criticism of the Old Testament to be exaggerated, because he had a great literary understanding of its stories and writings. In 1944 he was deported to Theresienstadt via Westerbork and murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp .

In 1946 Martinus Adrianus Beek (1909–1987) was appointed to the chair of the Old Testament. He had studied with Bernardus Dirk Eerdmans , Albrecht Alt and Gerhard von Rad . He was also influenced by L. Seeligmann and Martin Buber . Beek were literary methods and late dating important, but at the same time he criticized the document hypothesis and the source separation .

In 1975 Karel Adriaan Deurloo succeeded Beek as Professor of the Old Testament. He was also a pupil of Breukelman and thus embodied the first two directions of the Amsterdam School. Deurloo is considered to be their most important representative. His main field of activity included sermons, church lectures, advanced training seminars for pastors, scientific and popular publications, radio and television programs and texts for musicals and church songs.

Biblical-theological direction

This is about the main direction of the Amsterdam School. In addition to dealing with the Hebrew Bible, this direction is also about reflecting on Protestant-Reformed dogmatics and tradition. Frans Hendrik Breukelman was the one who embodied and disseminated these two approaches most strongly. From 1968 to 1981 he was a research assistant for dogmatics and hermeneutics at the Theological Faculty of the Free University of Amsterdam. The initiative for this came from theology students, however, as the extraverted and eloquent Breukelman had met with skepticism in academic circles. Breukelman set the following premises:

Bible understanding

The Amsterdam School's understanding of the Bible is about the dialectic of reading and listening (based on Nico Adriaan van Uechelen ):

  • literary eye for the text
  • theological ear for the word
  • reading by hearing, listening to reading and learning
  • Make text sound so that it can be heard and addressed (hear in the real sense)

Further premises

  • The diversity of the Bible has many internal relationships
  • The biblical texts have grown together from different elements, nevertheless they are to be understood as an organic unit (according to Martin Buber )
  • We will always remain in deficit in relation to the Bible text
  • Scripture will speak to people anew in every situation
  • God speaks intelligibly through biblical texts
  • We can only interpret the Scriptures if the Scriptures also interpret ourselves
  • The text may say it is to be respected in its final form, it is a meaningful whole, a unit, even if it should be put together. He is the authority that criticizes our life. Through him, God's word and actions come to be spoken
  • The Bible interprets itself and criticizes itself
  • The biblical text in its unity is more important than any method; this also applies to the historical-critical method; there is no such thing as an unbiased interpretation.
  • Anyone who seeks scriptural training can learn and teach at the same time
  • The interdisciplinary is important, the conversation between the different directions

"Approach" (procedure)

  • preliminary translation
  • Context and parallel passages
  • highlight stylistic phenomena
  • Subjects: Who? and outline
  • content-related questions: topics and meaning
  • theses
  • Recognize associations and allusions
  • What happens to me when I write, read and listen?
  • Include comments late or not at all

Political Direction

This direction asks about the political significance of reading and interpreting the Bible. The representatives also establish a relationship between biblical theology, criticism of religion , materialistic and Marxist philosophy. Dick Boer and Rinse Reeling Brouwer were the founders of this direction.

Liturgical direction

There is a connection between literary and liturgical form and the meaning of the Bible. This resulted in an intensive collaboration with the Dutch liturgy movement. The Prof. Dr. G. van der Leeuw Foundation, Pastor S. de Vries, Pastor Dirk Monshouwer and Professor Joop P. Boendermaker .

Representatives and related parties

  • Dick Boer (* 1939), reformed pastor, professor of systematic theology in Amsterdam
  • Frans Hendrik Breukelman (1916–1993), Reformed pastor, research assistant and lecturer at the Theological Faculty of the University of Amsterdam 1968–1980
  • Karel Adriaan Deurloo (1936–2019), Reformed theology professor and successor to Breukelman in Amsterdam from 1978
  • Bernd J. Diebner (* 1939), Protestant Old Testament scholar and Coptologist in Heidelberg
  • Jan Heller (1925–2008), Protestant Old Testament scholar in Prague
  • Kleijs H. Kroon (1904–1983), Reformed theologian and pastor in Amsterdam
  • Nico ter Linden (1936–2018), reformed pastor at the “Westerkerk” in Amsterdam
  • Friedrich Wilhelm Marquardt (1928–2002), Protestant theologian, pastor, student pastor and theology professor in Berlin
  • Kornelis Heiko Miskotte (1894–1976), Reformed pastor in Kortgene, Meppel, Haarlem and Amsterdam, professor of theology in Leiden 1945–1959
  • Huub Oosterhuis (* 1933), philosopher and theologian, former Jesuit and priest, now lives in Amsterdam as a poet
  • Andreas Pangritz (* 1954), Protestant theology professor in Bonn
  • Robbert Adrianus Veen (* 1956), Protestant-Mennonite theologian, in Amsterdam and Ter Apel, Groningen
  • Ton Veerkamp (* 1933), former Jesuit and priest, student pastor in Berlin, publicist, lives in Northern Germany

literature

  • Texts & Contexts - Exegetical Journal , Association for Political and Theological Education LEHRHAUS e. V., Dortmund 1978 (founded)
  • Anke Wolff-Steger: The Bible is a great story - and the story goes on. Frans Breukelman on his 100th birthday. in texts & contexts No. 150, Dortmund 2016, ISSN 0170-1096, pages 21–31

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Uwe Bauer: All these words. Impetus for scripture interpretation from Amsterdam. Frankfurt am Main 1991. ISBN 3-631-44373-0
  2. ↑ Klaas Spronk: Biblical Theology in the Netherlands. Effects of the "Amsterdam School"
  3. ^ German Bible Society: Amsterdam School
  4. ↑ Anke Wolff-Steger: Frans Breukelman: A master of the word
  5. ↑ Anke Wolff-Steger: The Bible is a great story - and the story goes on. Frans Breukelman on his 100th birthday. in texts & contexts no. 150, Dortmund 2016, pages 21–31
  6. ^ A b French Reformed Congregation Potsdam: The Amsterdam School
  7. ↑ Leerstoel Miskotte / Breukelman
  8. ↑ Van der Leeuw Stichting ( Memento from April 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ↑ Kornelis Heiko Miskotte
  10. ↑ Texts & Contexts - Exegetical Journal , Association for Political and Theological Education LEHRHAUS e. V., Dortmund 1978 (founded)