In college, I would often think to myself, I want to see what Burkhoff has to say.

I was referring to Lewis Burkhoff's systematic theology.

Well, let's look at Burkhoff, both at the life of Lewis Burkhoff and at his book, his systematic theology.

Lewis Burkhoff was born in the Netherlands in 1873.

His father was a baker, and his family was part of the Christian-reformed church.

This stretches back to 1834.

In 1881, the family immigrated to Grand Rapids,

and a young Lewis Burkhoff blossomed.

He was very active in the church as a teenager,

and he threw himself into the study of theology,

specifically the Dutch Calvinist tradition.

He ended up studying at Calvin College and then Calvin Seminary.

He pastored briefly before heading off to Princeton for more study

with baby warfield and gear hardest boss and the other great old Princeton faculty.

He pursued further graduate studies at the University of Chicago in philosophy,

and by 1906, he was installed as a professor of theology at Calvin Theological Seminary.

In those days, the instruction was both in Dutch and English, and mostly in Dutch.

That was the case up until 1924, and from then on, it was in English.

Burkhoff retired from teaching in 1944.

He wrote and wrote prodigiously in his retirement,

as he did in the decades that he was active in his career.

Back in the year 1900, he married Rika.

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