Philosophia Reformata
Encyclopedia
Philosophia Reformata is the name of an international scholarly journal currently published twice yearly in thick paper volumes, mailed to subscribers both individuals and organizations/institutions—including numerous libraries of universities
, liberal arts college
s, theological seminaries
, a few law school
s in North America
, subscribers similarly in the global British Cultural Zone, and countries of noticeable Anglo-American ethnic affinity as well as mother tongue (which no sociological analysis can afford to ignore).
For instance, it is read in South Africa
where English
is more and more the culturally dominant language, and it is read in other intellectual centers in Africa
where a strong Christian cultural identity
uses English as the intertribal lingua franca
as in the case of Nigeria
n Protestant Christian intellectuals. One of PR's greatest contributors, among many experience-tested wise old philosophical theoreticians, is Dr. Daniel FM Strauss' polytheory and multiilingual approach to philosophical discourse; Prof Strauss retired after remarkable service to his university, thru the Philosophy department of the Humanities Facuilty, of the University of the Free State
, then as an advisor to the Office of the Dean of Humanities, in that university's transition from apartheid days to a reorganized educational Ministry of the Mandela
political party. Dr Strauss was the first director of the Dooyeweerd Centre, Redeemer University College
, Ancaster, Ontario
, Canada
.
Yet, the journal is also read by persons for whom English is even more a Second Language. To many of these contributing scholars whose mother-tongue is other than English, the great calling of translation
beckons then ti service. Some of these are keen to translate faith-books from English into another language (like the philosopher Pierre-Charles Marcel
's book in French on Infant Baptism which has been translated and published in English and from there also into Spanish, whereas Dr Marcel's philosophical disseration in French, has neither been translated into English, nor even published in French. A few published essays in French are known in English-language comment, such as "Pierre Charles Marcel", 'Calvin et la science: common on fait l'histoire', La Revue Réformée 58 (1966) 50-51). Dr Marcel was also a longtime pastor in the Reformed Church of France
, and leader of la Societe calcviniste de France.
Some others want to translate worldview books comparable to that of Canadian contributor Dr Albert Wolters' title, Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Christian Worldview which has found its way into several translations worldwide. Wolters wrote one of the foundational works introducing Vollenhoven's method to English-speaking readers.
The current editors of Philosophia Reformata are 8 in number, as follows:
Bert M. Balk (Division of Macro-economic Statistics and Dissemination of Statistics Netherlands, and professor of business administration, in particular economic measurement, at the Rotterdam School of Management
, Erasmus University Rotterdam. He is the author of a large number of articles, and two books, on price and productivity measurement),
Abraham Bos ( emeritus professor in Ancient Philosophy and Patristic Studies at the Department of Philosophy of the VU-University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. His research is focussed on Aristotle’ psychology and biology. Two of his important revisionist books on Aristotle
, Bos produced in cooperation, first, with professor G. Reale (Miland) a commentary on On the Cosmos (De Mundo) - 1995. Second, together with dr. R. Ferwerda he published a commentary on On the Life-Bearing Spirit (De Spiritu) - 2008.
Dr. Marc J. de Vries (affiliate professor of reformational philosophy at the Delft University of Technology
, professor of science education at the same institution and assistant professor of philososophy and ethics of technology at the Eindhoven University of Technology
. He authored "Teaching About Technology. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Technology for Non-Philosophers" (published by Springer) and co-author of "Denken, Ontwerpen, Maken', a similar introduction in the Dutch language
. He is also the editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Technology & Design Education (Spinger) and series editor of the International Technology Education Studies (Sense Publishers).
Jan Willem Sap (studied law at Leiden University
. In 1993 he received his Ph.D in law from the VU University Amsterdam. He is currently associate professor in European Union Law at the VU University Amsterdam. In 1998 he was a visiting professor of law at Northwestern University School of Law
, Chicago
, Illinois
and he gave lectures at the universities of Pretoria
and Potchefstroom in South Africa. In 2001 he was elected teacher of the year at the Vrije Universiteit. He published many books and articles in the field of European Constitutional Law and political theory. Two of his publications are: Decency versus Justice. The Call for Morality in the Netherlands, Assen: van Gorcum, 1997; The Netherlands Constitution 1848-1998. Historical Reflections, Utrecht: Lemma, 2000. In 2003 he published a book about the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. In 2006 he was member of the National Convention on constitutional reforms in the Netherlands. He is an editor of the European Constitutional Law Review (EuConst). He is also a member of the board of the Association for Christian Lawyers and the Association for a Democratic Europe).
Engineering scholar Jan van der Stoep "studied biology at Wageningen University
and philosophy at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. In 2005 he received his PhD in philosophy from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He is currently professor Religion in Media and Public Space at the Department of Journalism and Communication of the Ede Christian University of Applied Science and lecturer at the Master Christian Studies of Science and Society at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He has published books and articles in the field of sociology
, political philosophy
and Science Technology and Society studies. He is especially interested in the public role of religion in an information society.
orette van der Tholen, MA, "is a Ph.D. student at the Tilburg Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science, Tilburg
, The Netherlands. She received an MA in Philosophy from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam."
Rene van Woudenberg (Prof.dr. René van Woudenberg is a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Vrije Universiteit with special focus on epistemology and ontology
. He graduated in 1991 with a thesis on transcendental arguments in contemporary philosophy. He published several articles and books. Currently he is working on several projects, such as 'Responsible Belief, 'Chance and Design', 'The Philosophy of Thomas Reid' and Philosophy, Science, Christianity).
Remko Muis studied physics and philosophy at the University of Utrecht and is now working for an IT consulting company. He is web editor of both Philosophia Reformata Online, and Beweging online (www.bewegingonline.nl).
Founded in 1932, this specialist organ of top-level scholarly inquiry, has devoted itself to developing the living philosophy of a distinctly Protestant Christian inspiration. It is self-consciously preferential to the works of Vollenhoven and Dooyeweerd, among many others. The trajectory of these early pulses of advanced theoretical thought is rather sparse at first: a kind of johnthebaptist Dr. Abraham Kuyper
, then a founding figure, DHTh Vollenhoven philosopher and historian of philosophy, and his companion Dr juris and brother-in-law Herman Dooyeweerd
, who worked at recovering and comparing the past of Reformation-initiated thought. Besides juried reviews, Philosophia Reformata has conducted scholarly debates among adherents to the philosophical direction founded and pioneered by DHTh Vollenhoven and Herman Dooyeweerd, the latter being generally the philosophical movement's public persona, it's most widely known figure.
The history of philosophy in the line of Vollenhoven's method remains a long-term project of "PR" 's publishing program.
Often, strong critical analyses of individual contemporary, as well as historical, figures (especially analyses of the Greek-rooted Western philosophical tradition with which Christian philosophy
generally over the years has [had] to interact), Vollehnoven's count suggesting there were about 16,000 such figures (by no means an infinite number) until his rather recent cut-off date for his estimate. The only complaint one may have perhaps is that he left Sappho of Lesbos off his list of pre-Socratics at the historical foundation of Western philosophy
.
Book reviews are regularly proferred, usually written by doctorandi (abd) and by full doctors of philosophy and of other disciplines in regard to which Philosophia Reformata presents from time to time "philosophy of a discipline" (Hendrik Van Riessen
was trained as a Doctor of Engineering (D Irg in Dutch).
PR has published articles in other languages than Dutch—English, French, German—but articles in the philosophy's mother-tongue predominated until recently. The process of moving to English as a widest-market standard of communications for an international philosophical and scholarly journal has been pursued very gradually, also as part of a larger pattern in Dutch society toward h+er education. More Dutch university graduates speak and read English fluently as a Second Language. Many professors now write their academic books in English.
As Philosophia Reformata's official website declares:
(a UK teacher of mathematics and an outstanding online archivist).
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
, liberal arts college
Liberal arts college
A liberal arts college is one with a primary emphasis on undergraduate study in the liberal arts and sciences.Students in the liberal arts generally major in a particular discipline while receiving exposure to a wide range of academic subjects, including sciences as well as the traditional...
s, theological seminaries
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
, a few law school
Law school
A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...
s in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, subscribers similarly in the global British Cultural Zone, and countries of noticeable Anglo-American ethnic affinity as well as mother tongue (which no sociological analysis can afford to ignore).
For instance, it is read in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
where English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
is more and more the culturally dominant language, and it is read in other intellectual centers in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
where a strong Christian cultural identity
Cultural identity
Cultural identity is the identity of a group or culture, or of an individual as far as one is influenced by one's belonging to a group or culture. Cultural identity is similar to and has overlaps with, but is not synonymous with, identity politics....
uses English as the intertribal lingua franca
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
as in the case of Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
n Protestant Christian intellectuals. One of PR's greatest contributors, among many experience-tested wise old philosophical theoreticians, is Dr. Daniel FM Strauss' polytheory and multiilingual approach to philosophical discourse; Prof Strauss retired after remarkable service to his university, thru the Philosophy department of the Humanities Facuilty, of the University of the Free State
University of the Free State
The University of the Free State is situated in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State, South Africa. The university also has a satellite campus in Qwaqwa that was, until 2003, part of the University of the North.-Academic Divisions:...
, then as an advisor to the Office of the Dean of Humanities, in that university's transition from apartheid days to a reorganized educational Ministry of the Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
political party. Dr Strauss was the first director of the Dooyeweerd Centre, Redeemer University College
Redeemer University College
Redeemer University College is an undergraduate Christian Liberal Arts and Science University located in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1982, Redeemer stands in the Reformed Tradition and offers Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Education, and Bachelor of Science degrees.-History:The college...
, Ancaster, Ontario
Ancaster, Ontario
Ancaster is a picturesque and historic community located on the Niagara escarpment, within the greater area of the city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. This former town was founded officially in 1793 and was one of the oldest European communities established in present day Ontario along with Windsor...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Yet, the journal is also read by persons for whom English is even more a Second Language. To many of these contributing scholars whose mother-tongue is other than English, the great calling of translation
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
beckons then ti service. Some of these are keen to translate faith-books from English into another language (like the philosopher Pierre-Charles Marcel
Pierre-Charles Marcel
Pierre-Charles Marcel was a leading Protestant Christian pastor and philosopher who had been a student of France's leading evangelical-confessional mind M. Auguste Lecerf...
's book in French on Infant Baptism which has been translated and published in English and from there also into Spanish, whereas Dr Marcel's philosophical disseration in French, has neither been translated into English, nor even published in French. A few published essays in French are known in English-language comment, such as "Pierre Charles Marcel", 'Calvin et la science: common on fait l'histoire', La Revue Réformée 58 (1966) 50-51). Dr Marcel was also a longtime pastor in the Reformed Church of France
Reformed Church of France
The Reformed Church of France is a denomination in France with Calvinist origins. It is the original and largest Protestant denomination in France....
, and leader of la Societe calcviniste de France.
Some others want to translate worldview books comparable to that of Canadian contributor Dr Albert Wolters' title, Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Christian Worldview which has found its way into several translations worldwide. Wolters wrote one of the foundational works introducing Vollenhoven's method to English-speaking readers.
The current editors of Philosophia Reformata are 8 in number, as follows:
Bert M. Balk (Division of Macro-economic Statistics and Dissemination of Statistics Netherlands, and professor of business administration, in particular economic measurement, at the Rotterdam School of Management
Rotterdam School of Management
Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University is the international business school of the Erasmus University Rotterdam located in Rotterdam, Netherlands...
, Erasmus University Rotterdam. He is the author of a large number of articles, and two books, on price and productivity measurement),
Abraham Bos ( emeritus professor in Ancient Philosophy and Patristic Studies at the Department of Philosophy of the VU-University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. His research is focussed on Aristotle’ psychology and biology. Two of his important revisionist books on Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
, Bos produced in cooperation, first, with professor G. Reale (Miland) a commentary on On the Cosmos (De Mundo) - 1995. Second, together with dr. R. Ferwerda he published a commentary on On the Life-Bearing Spirit (De Spiritu) - 2008.
Dr. Marc J. de Vries (affiliate professor of reformational philosophy at the Delft University of Technology
Delft University of Technology
Delft University of Technology , also known as TU Delft, is the largest and oldest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands...
, professor of science education at the same institution and assistant professor of philososophy and ethics of technology at the Eindhoven University of Technology
Eindhoven University of Technology
The ' is a university of technology located in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The motto of the university is: Mens agitat molem . The university was the second of its kind in the Netherlands, only Delft University of Technology existed previously. Until mid-1980 it was known as the...
. He authored "Teaching About Technology. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Technology for Non-Philosophers" (published by Springer) and co-author of "Denken, Ontwerpen, Maken', a similar introduction in the Dutch language
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
. He is also the editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Technology & Design Education (Spinger) and series editor of the International Technology Education Studies (Sense Publishers).
Jan Willem Sap (studied law at Leiden University
Leiden University
Leiden University , located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, leader of the Dutch Revolt in the Eighty Years' War. The royal Dutch House of Orange-Nassau and Leiden University still have a close...
. In 1993 he received his Ph.D in law from the VU University Amsterdam. He is currently associate professor in European Union Law at the VU University Amsterdam. In 1998 he was a visiting professor of law at Northwestern University School of Law
Northwestern University School of Law
The Northwestern University School of Law is a private American law school in Chicago, Illinois. The law school was founded in 1859 as the Union College of Law of the Old University of Chicago. The first law school established in Chicago, it became jointly controlled by Northwestern University in...
, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
and he gave lectures at the universities of Pretoria
University of Pretoria
The University of Pretoria is a multi campus public research university located in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa...
and Potchefstroom in South Africa. In 2001 he was elected teacher of the year at the Vrije Universiteit. He published many books and articles in the field of European Constitutional Law and political theory. Two of his publications are: Decency versus Justice. The Call for Morality in the Netherlands, Assen: van Gorcum, 1997; The Netherlands Constitution 1848-1998. Historical Reflections, Utrecht: Lemma, 2000. In 2003 he published a book about the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. In 2006 he was member of the National Convention on constitutional reforms in the Netherlands. He is an editor of the European Constitutional Law Review (EuConst). He is also a member of the board of the Association for Christian Lawyers and the Association for a Democratic Europe).
Engineering scholar Jan van der Stoep "studied biology at Wageningen University
Wageningen University
Wageningen University and Research Centre is a Dutch public university in Wageningen, The Netherlands. It consists of Wageningen University, the Van Hall-Larenstein School of Higher Professional Education, and the former agricultural research institutes of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture...
and philosophy at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. In 2005 he received his PhD in philosophy from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He is currently professor Religion in Media and Public Space at the Department of Journalism and Communication of the Ede Christian University of Applied Science and lecturer at the Master Christian Studies of Science and Society at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He has published books and articles in the field of sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
, political philosophy
Political philosophy
Political philosophy is the study of such topics as liberty, justice, property, rights, law, and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why they are needed, what, if anything, makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it...
and Science Technology and Society studies. He is especially interested in the public role of religion in an information society.
orette van der Tholen, MA, "is a Ph.D. student at the Tilburg Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science, Tilburg
Tilburg
Tilburg is a landlocked municipality and a city in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of Noord-Brabant.Tilburg municipality also includes the villages of Berkel-Enschot and Udenhout....
, The Netherlands. She received an MA in Philosophy from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam."
Rene van Woudenberg (Prof.dr. René van Woudenberg is a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Vrije Universiteit with special focus on epistemology and ontology
Ontology
Ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality as such, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations...
. He graduated in 1991 with a thesis on transcendental arguments in contemporary philosophy. He published several articles and books. Currently he is working on several projects, such as 'Responsible Belief, 'Chance and Design', 'The Philosophy of Thomas Reid' and Philosophy, Science, Christianity).
Remko Muis studied physics and philosophy at the University of Utrecht and is now working for an IT consulting company. He is web editor of both Philosophia Reformata Online, and Beweging online (www.bewegingonline.nl).
Founded in 1932, this specialist organ of top-level scholarly inquiry, has devoted itself to developing the living philosophy of a distinctly Protestant Christian inspiration. It is self-consciously preferential to the works of Vollenhoven and Dooyeweerd, among many others. The trajectory of these early pulses of advanced theoretical thought is rather sparse at first: a kind of johnthebaptist Dr. Abraham Kuyper
Abraham Kuyper
Abraham Kuijper generally known as Abraham Kuyper, was a Dutch politician, journalist, statesman and theologian...
, then a founding figure, DHTh Vollenhoven philosopher and historian of philosophy, and his companion Dr juris and brother-in-law Herman Dooyeweerd
Herman Dooyeweerd
Herman Dooyeweerd was a Dutch juridical scholar by training, who by vocation was a philosopher and the founder of the philosophy of the cosmonomic idea. He received early support for his work from his brother-in-law D. H. Th. Vollenhoven...
, who worked at recovering and comparing the past of Reformation-initiated thought. Besides juried reviews, Philosophia Reformata has conducted scholarly debates among adherents to the philosophical direction founded and pioneered by DHTh Vollenhoven and Herman Dooyeweerd, the latter being generally the philosophical movement's public persona, it's most widely known figure.
The history of philosophy in the line of Vollenhoven's method remains a long-term project of "PR" 's publishing program.
Often, strong critical analyses of individual contemporary, as well as historical, figures (especially analyses of the Greek-rooted Western philosophical tradition with which Christian philosophy
Christian philosophy
Christian philosophy may refer to any development in philosophy that is characterised by coming from a Christian tradition.- Origins of Christian philosophy :...
generally over the years has [had] to interact), Vollehnoven's count suggesting there were about 16,000 such figures (by no means an infinite number) until his rather recent cut-off date for his estimate. The only complaint one may have perhaps is that he left Sappho of Lesbos off his list of pre-Socratics at the historical foundation of Western philosophy
Western philosophy
Western philosophy is the philosophical thought and work of the Western or Occidental world, as distinct from Eastern or Oriental philosophies and the varieties of indigenous philosophies....
.
Book reviews are regularly proferred, usually written by doctorandi (abd) and by full doctors of philosophy and of other disciplines in regard to which Philosophia Reformata presents from time to time "philosophy of a discipline" (Hendrik Van Riessen
Hendrik Van Riessen
Hendrik Van Riessen was one of the second generation of reformational philosophers arising from the Free University in Amsterdam, after the first generation of Herman Dooyeweerd and D. H. Th. Vollenhoven. Other second generationers were: K. J. Popma, S. U. Zuidema and J. P. A...
was trained as a Doctor of Engineering (D Irg in Dutch).
PR has published articles in other languages than Dutch—English, French, German—but articles in the philosophy's mother-tongue predominated until recently. The process of moving to English as a widest-market standard of communications for an international philosophical and scholarly journal has been pursued very gradually, also as part of a larger pattern in Dutch society toward h+er education. More Dutch university graduates speak and read English fluently as a Second Language. Many professors now write their academic books in English.
As Philosophia Reformata's official website declares:
Philosophia Reformata was founded in 1935 by the Dutch philosophers Herman Dooyeweerd and Dirk Vollenhoven. Since its inception it has carried papers, critical studies and reviews that contribute to the on-going project of Christian Philosophy.The journal has its historical and intellectual background in the so-called neo-Calvinist movement that gained momentum through the work of the 19th century Dutch theologian, politician, university founder and publicist Dr. Abraham Kuyper. One basic idea in this movement is that the pursuit of philosophy is very often, if not always, shaped by religious or quasi-religious motivations--motivations that are often hidden from sight. Another basic idea in the movement is that the Christian faith makes a difference for doing philosophy, as it does for scholarship more generally. A further basic idea in the movement is that various kinds of laws govern our world -- laws that jointly constitute a divinely created orld order. These ideas have found their way into the philosophies of Dooyeweerd and Vollenhoven as well as into numerous papers published in Philosophia Reformata. The journal initially accepted only papers in Dutch, later on it adopted a mixed policy; since 2010 it accepts only papers written in English.Another online resource, the All of Life Redeemed archives of reformational philosophers and worldview thinkers, including an index of all English-language titles published by PR, is the work of Stephen Bishop
Stephen Bishop
Stephen Bishop may refer to:* Stephen Bishop * Stephen Bishop , African American cave explorer* Stephen Bishop , U.S. musician...
(a UK teacher of mathematics and an outstanding online archivist).