Thursday, August 13, 2026

It is the 13th of August 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

If I may begin autobiographically… back at the turn of the century, when I was beginning to read theology seriously, I became a bookworm. From the Christian bookstores, the “Spirituality” sections at Barnes and Noble, to the libraries of local colleges and seminaries.

My particular interests were in eschatology- the study of “end times”- given that Y2K and Left Behind had been all the rage. There was one theologian whose books I scrambled to get- couldn’t wait to read- and shaped how I approached Scripture. He was Geerhardus Vos- not a household name, but if you know… you know. And it was, for many of us, his explanation of “the end times” that illuminated the field for us… and I’ll suggest today- the same insight can shed light on his own character. He taught that the Christian was living between the inaugurated kingdom of God- brought with the first coming and we are awaiting the fulfillment of the kingdom of God- to be brought with the second coming. We are in the “Now and Not Yet,” to use the memorable phrase. Living in both kingdoms, and in a way neither.

And perhaps that tension can summarize the life of the great Dutch theologian in America. Geerhardus was born to Altje and Jan in Friesland in 1862. His parents were Germans in the Netherlands who moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1881. Jan was called to pastor a Reformed church there. And so Geerhardus would come as a teen- fluent in Dutch and German he learned English and attended both the theological school at Grand Rapids (now Calvin College) as well as Princeton. He then continued his studies in Berlin and Strassburg. Recognized as a bright young theologian, he was offered a position at the Free University in the Netherlands by Abraham Kuyper but turned it down to teach back home in Grand Rapids.

He was eventually coaxed to Princeton in 1883 amidst that school’s battle with anti-supernatural rationalism. Vos was firmly on the side of the likes of B.B. Warfield and the Hodge’s- but his calm Dutch demeanor and ability to stay above the fray alienated some. He joined the PCUSA and was married in 1894. His life was spent teaching at the seminary and spending summers in the tiny village of Roaring Branch, PA, where he and his family vacationed and he took time to write. His Biblical Theology and the Pauline Eschatology remain foundational texts for an academic but faithful approach to the scriptures, but as the culture wars began to heat up, he was encouraged to enter the fray of denominational politics. He would refuse- his life in the first decades of the 20th century was a cycle of teaching at Princeton, summering in Roaring Branch, and writing. When the Presbyterian church split under the leadership of J. Gresham Machen, the elderly Vos did not join either the new seminary, Westminster in Philly, nor the church that would become the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

He had not waffled on his positions, but decided to stay in the old institutions- to remain salt and light there. And while he was considered by the likes of Machen and Cornelius Van Til to be amongst the most brilliant minds in Biblical Theology, he seemed to be most comfortable out of the spotlight- like his “now not yet” eschatology… he was a man between two worlds.

Perhaps this tension, and his inability to “fit in,” can best be seen in the final earthly picture from the life of Geerhardus Vos. He would die on this, the 14th of August in 1949. His funeral was the following Wednesday- in Roaring Branch, Pennsylvania. James Dennison Jr, a theologian who has written on Vos, wrote, “There were not many present that Wednesday afternoon; not many present at all. No one was there from his denomination; no one was there from the institution he had served for nearly thirty-nine years. Only one person from his family appears to have been there. A man and a woman from the local Methodist Church were there. They sang a hymn.”

The theologian Cornelius Van Til, now at Westminster, was there with the presiding reverend John DeWaard. He was laid to rest next to his wife in a funeral scene that might evoke the Death of a Salesman. Geerhardus Vos was a brilliant theologian stuck between centuries, between nationalities and languages and even orthodoxies about when to leave a church or institution. Born in 1862, Geerhardus Vos died on this day in 1949- he was 87 years old.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and (appropriately) a brief reading from Revelation 15:

I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. 2 And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God 3 and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb:

“Great and marvelous are your deeds,
 Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
 King of the nations.

4 Who will not fear you, Lord,
 and bring glory to your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
 and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 13th of August 2026 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man whose favorite gentleman of Dutch descent is… well… I mean… he hasn’t told me in direct language, I just… kinda assumed… he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man whose people have brought you Vos, and Doughnuts, and Windmills, Wooden Shoes, Coleslaw, Waffles, split doors and splitting the check… 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.