POPMA, KLAAS JAN

Klass Jan Popma (1903 – 86), idiosyncratic and creative Reformed Christian scholar, lived in the Netherlands all his life. He received his PhD in classical studies from the University of Leiden and then completed his doctoral comprehensives in philosophy at the Free University in Amsterdam. Classicist, theo- logian, Bible scholar, philosopher and literary critic, Popma also wrote poetry and novels. All of his publications except one were in Dutch. He took his own position on many issues in the Reformed tradition to which he belonged. During a period spanning over half a century, he published at a furious pace, often seeing something in print – for the most part Bible studies and book reviews – twice or more times a month. He taught Reformational Philosophy at the University of Groningen from 1948 and at the University of Utrecht from 1955. Popma’s most important mentor in Reformation thought was D. H. Th. Vollenhoven, who together with his brother-in-law Herman Dooyeweerd, initiated that philosophical tradition in the broader spiritual wake of Abraham Kuyper. Popma’s abiding scholarly interest was the place and task of academic theology. All his other work, in the many fields of expertise, is held together by a pervading sense of his vocation to test the spirits.

The significance of Popma for apologetics is his thematic preoccupation with culture in all its dimensions and in any historical period from the perspective of the gospel. Niehbur’s Christ and Culture could also have been the title of Popma’s life. His desire was to help believers to learn to critically appreciate their cultural heritage as well as the contemporary cultural scene. He neither despised nor uncritically adopted any phase of human culture, whether it had Christian or pagan roots and regarded culture as God’s gift to all, both tainted by sin and redeemed by grace. Hence the need to be both appreciative and critical of both Christian and secular culture.

Popma’s most substantial publication is a seven-volume commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism called Life View. True to the author’s idiosyncratic character, this work displays his erudition in all his fields of expertise, and does not easily fit into any category. It can perhaps best be characterized as a collection of observations about the Christian life of faith, occasioned by the Catechism. A goldmine of worthwhile aphorisms and unique insights, the work must be read on its own merits and could well serve as an apologetic notebook.

H. Hart

From: Campbell Campbell-Jack and Gavin J. McGrath (ed.) New Dictionary Of Christian Apologetics (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 2006).