Tjitze Baarda (8 July 1932 – 23 August 2017) was a Dutch professor of

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

and

Religious Science The Religious Science movement, or Science of Mind, was established in 1926 by Ernest Holmes and is a spiritual, philosophical and metaphysical spiritual movement within the New Thought movement. In general, the term "Science of Mind" applie ...

s. He spent his career at the ''

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam The (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public university, public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in ...

'' (VU) and

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public university, public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of ...

. He specialized in the four

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

s of the New Testament.

Career

Baarda was born on 8 July 1932 in

Vogelenzang Vogelenzang is a village in the municipality of Bloemendaal, North Holland, Netherlands. The name "Vogelenzang" is Dutch for "bird song". Attractions The ''Huis te Vogelenzang'' (House at Vogelenzang) was built circa 1600 by the Counts of Hollan ...

. He studied theology and

Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. They include Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya language, Tigrinya, Aramaic, Hebrew language, Hebrew, Maltese language, Maltese, Modern South Arabian language ...

at the VU. He obtained his doctorate in 1975 with a dissertation titled "''The gospel quotations of Aphrahat the Persian sage''". His doctoral advisors were

Matthew Black Rev Matthew Black (3 September 1908 in Kilmarnock – 2 October 1994 in St Andrews) was a Scottish minister and biblical scholar. He was the first editor of the journal, '' New Testament Studies''. Life He was born in Kilmarnock the son of Jame ...

and R. Schippers. Baarda subsequently became a professor of

Biblical criticism Modern Biblical criticism (as opposed to pre-Modern criticism) is the use of critical analysis to understand and explain the Bible without appealing to the supernatural. During the eighteenth century, when it began as ''historical-biblical c ...

exegesis Exegesis ( ; from the Ancient Greek, Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation (philosophy), interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Bible, Biblical works. In modern us ...

and canon of the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

at the same university. In 1981 Baarda became extraordinary professor (Dutch: ''buitengewoon hoogleraar'') at

, two years later he became a regular professor. During his time in Utrecht he held the chair of Antique Judaism and explanation of the New Testament. In 1990 he returned to the VU and held the chair of New Testament. He retired in 1997. During his career he specialized in the four gospels of the New Testament. Baarda became a member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (, KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam. In addition to various advisory a ...

in 1982. Baarda died in

Amstelveen Amstelveen () is a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands, with a population of 95,996 as of 202 ...

on 23 August 2017.Family notices in ''

NRC Handelsblad ''NRC'', previously called ' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by Mediahuis NRC. It is widely regarded as a newspaper of record in the country. History was first published on 1 October 1970 after a merger of the Amst ...

'', 26 August 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baarda, Tjitze 1932 births 2017 deaths Dutch Christian theologians Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences People from Bloemendaal Academic staff of Utrecht University Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam alumni Academic staff of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam