Friday, July 3, 2026

It is the 3rd of July 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 

Church history is replete with radicals. From the Desert Fathers to Medieval agitators and Reformers to abolitionists of all sorts and modern activists. One needn’t respond to their faith with a personal St. Francis-style abdication of everything- but we can be moved by those who responded to tragedy and war with remarkable, even if possibly misguided, idealism.

 

Such is the caveat to seeing the faith and life of Kees Boeke. It’s spelled K E E S and B O E K E- a Dutchman- “case” “BOO-kuh”. You may know his name from a classic children’s book from the 1950s- but there’s more to the man.

 

He was born Cornelius Boeke in the Netherlands in 1884. His family was members of the Dutch Reformed Church, but his father, a physicist, had left the faith. When Kees’ brother and father both died unexpectedly, it drove the young man and his mother back towards the church. He went to school to become a civil servant but was active as a violinist and as the secretary of a Christian Youth society. He received his degree in 1906 but traveled to England to continue his studies. It was there that he came into contact with the Quakers and became convinced that his life would be best served as a missionary.

 

Before he left for Lebanon in 1912, Kees married an English Quaker, Beatrice Cadbury, an heir of the famed chocolate company. The two served in Lebanon until the outbreak of World War I, and they returned to England. There he became an outspoken pacifist and anti-war agitator. By 1918 he was arrested, and the couple was expelled to the Netherlands.

 

Here Kees and Beatrice would continue to found Christian organizations dedicated to peace. With the end of the war, Kees became an outspoken critic of the modern world- the couple took their Cadbury money and turned it into a trust for Cadbury workers. For a time they renounced the use of money, transportation, and modern infrastructure- living in tents (now with a large family). But support from family and friends grew thin, and the Boeke family began to rethink its radical position. Kees and Beatrice began to direct their attention to education.

 

Their children had attended a Montessori school, but Kees removed them when their tuition had to be sent to the state before any trickled down to the school. This led to the development of “De Werkplaats Kindergemeenschap” or “the Children’s Workshop Community”.

 

During World War II, the community took in Jewish students and refused to identify them as such when the Nazi’s took over the Netherlands- for this heroic activity, Kees and Beatrice have been recognized by Yad Veshem.

 

After the war, the Princess sent her daughters to the school, and it became something of an international story. The school came to the attention of the American Press- Time Magazine did a write-up on Kees in 1954- under the headline “The Rebellious Quaker.” We read:

 

Though the new school taught the sciences and classics, it otherwise resembled no other school. Its pupils were not pupils, but “workers.” Its teachers were “co-workers,” its classes “groups,” its lessons “jobs.” Boeke gave no grades, no punishments and few tests; he never allowed anyone to be flunked. Instead of principal, he called himself “general leader,” and his school became known as a Children’s Workshop Community. Discipline? The workers must impose that upon themselves. “I don’t want them to learn to obey,” said he. “I want them to think.” The type of community he was aiming for: a pure “sociocracy,” in which the whole society would be sovereign.”

 

In an attempt to teach his students about perspective- thinking big and small- he composed a children’s book in 1957; this “Cosmic View: the Universe in 40 Jumps” was a favorite of a young Dan van Voorhis. Perhaps you’ve seen it- a picture of a girl with a cat, then zoomed out in pictures and photographs ultimately to the known universe and then zoomed in through her arm, an ant, and down to the atom.

 

Kees and Beatrice would leave the school in 1955 to move back to Lebanon to finish their lives where they began it together- but his illnesses caused them to move back to Amsterdam, where Kees Boeke- the radical Quaker, pacifist, teacher, author, and school master (er, general leader) died on this, the 3rd of July in 1966. Born in 1884, he was 81 years old.

 

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and more Law talk from Romans 7:

7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 3rd of July 2026 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who uses Cadbury egg filling as moisturizer… he swears by it… he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who knows that when it comes to Cadbury v Hershey, the old world wins this one by a mile… I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.