Gerard Van Groningen Collection, 1951-2007 | Heritage Hall, Hekman Library

By Ed Gerritsen, February 2004 and April 2011

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Collection Overview

Title: Gerard Van Groningen Collection, 1951-2007

ID: COLL/291

Primary Creator: Van Groningen, Gerard, Sr. (1921-)

Extent: 19.0 Cubic Feet. More info below.

Arrangement: Folder level description

Abstract

Minister of the Christian Reformed Church; professor at Reformed Theological College at Geelong, Australia; Dordt College at Sioux Center, Iowa; and Reformed Theological Seminary at Jackson, Mississippi; president of Trinity College at Palos Heights, Illinois; chairman of the Old Testament department at Andrew Jumper Theological Graduate Center, Sao Paulo, Brazil; and president of Christ for Russia. The collection includes addresses; sermons; chapel talks; devotionals; lectures; conference messages; articles; college materials; periodical clippings; general and family correspondence; family diaries; memoirs; papers; scrapbook; course materials; study guides; book manuscripts; and letters of call; correspondence and documents detailing Christ for Russia and International Theological Evangelical Ministries (ITEM); materials on the Latvia/RIGA program; and materials detailing various committees and positions served. Among the topics included are missions, various form of modernism facing the church, biblical revelation, and covenant. [See also the Campus Titles Database.]

Biographical Note

An ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church, Dr. Gerard Van Groningen Sr. earned his doctorate from the University of Melbourne in 1970. He was born in Leota, Minnesota on 25 March 1921 to Hendrick and Jennie. The family later moved to Ripon, California. Van Groningen enrolled at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan. When he received his BD at Calvin Theological Seminary, he began his active ministry in the Borculo (Michigan) Christian Reformed Church, preaching his inaugural sermon Sunday, 2 October 1955. Classis Zeeland had admitted him to the ministry in a session 14 September 1955.

The ministry in the Borculo congregation ended when he and his family moved to Australia in 1958. The work in Australian continued until 1971. During that period, he served as minister of the Christian Reformed Church of Geelong, 1958-1961; Professor of Old Testament at the Reformed Theological Seminary, Geelong, Australia, 1961-1971.

Next the family moved to Iowa where he served as Professor of Bible at Dordt College from 1971-1973. The next few years, 1973-1980, he was professor of Old Testament at the Reformed Theological Seminary at Jackson, Mississippi. Before his retirement in 1984, Van Groningen was President of Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois. While a heart condition limited his activities, he served as Adjunct Professor Emeritus at the Covenant Theological Seminary from 1985.

Among his writings are "Messianism in the Old Testament" and chapters in symposiums: "Genesis" in Interpreting God's Word Today (Baker); "The Final Question" in The Law and the Prophets (Reformed and Presbyterian Press); and "Australia and New Zeeland" in Lengthened Cords (Baker), in addition to Theological essays in Encyclopedia of Christianity, Theological Handbook of the Old Testament, and Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (Ed. W. Elwell).

Van Groningen married Harriet Stuitje in 1949 and they have eight children, Betty Jane, Gerard Jr., John Philip, Willis Dean, Jay Henry, Beverly Grace, David Tom, and Charles Neil.

Administrative Information

Repository: Heritage Hall, Hekman Library

Alternate Extent Statement: 38 Boxes

Acquisition Source: G. Van Groningen

Other Note: Acc. No. 03.25 and 11.06

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Ministerial Activities. Addresses],
[Series 2: Addresses. College Material],
[Series 3: Diaries, Scrapbook],
[Series 4: The Unfinished Book],
[Series 5: Letters, 1967-1976],
[Series 6: Letters from Parents, 1954-1971],
[Series 7: Letters to Parents from Australia, 1959-1971],
[Series 8: Correspondence, 1958-1997],
[Series 9: Papers],
[Series 10: Sermons and Lectures],
[Series 11: Correspondence],
[Series 12: Course Materials],
[All]

Series 8: Correspondence --- 1958-1997

Box 7

Folder 1: General Family Correspondence
Folder 2-3: Family Correspondence (son Chuck)
Folder 4: Correspondence from Granddaughters
Folder 5-6: Family Correspondence (son Jerry)

Box 8

Folder 1-7: Monthly Letters to Children --- Oct. 1976 - Dec. 1986

Box 9

Folder 1-4: Monthly Letters to Children --- Jan. 1987 - Nov. 1995
Folder 5: Correspondence --- 1958
Folder 6: Correspondence --- 1960
Folder 7: Correspondence --- 1966
Folder 8: Correspondence --- 1969
Folder 9-22: Correspondence --- 1973-1986

Box 10

Folder 1-10: Correspondence --- 1987-97
Folder 11: Correspondence between "Sacred Seven"
Folder 12: Correspondence re: Banner Articles by G.V.G.
Folder 13: Correspondence re: Reformed Ecumenical Synod
Folder 14: Correspondence with "Trowel and Sword"
Folder 15: Correspondence re: "Renewal" Publication
Folder 16: Correspondence with Potchefstroon University
Folder 17: Correspondence with Westminster Seminary re: N. Shepherd Termination --- 1982
Folder 18: Correspondence re: Van Groningen's Resignation as President of Trinity Christian College
Folder 19: Correspondence re: Mid-America Seminary
Folder 20: Correspondence re: Appointment to President of Trinity Christian College --- 1980

Box 11

Folder 1-5: Family Correspondence (son Bill)
Folder 6-8: Family Correspondence (daughter Beverly)

Box 12

Folder 1-2: Family Correspondence (son John)
Folder 3-4: Family Correspondence (son Jay)
Folder 5: Family Correspondence (son Willis)
Folder 6: Family Correspondence (son David)
Folder 7: General Family Correspondence

Box 13

Folder 1-5: Family Correspondence (son Jerry)

Box 14

Folder 1: Correspondence/Documents re: Lodge Membership Study Committee
Folder 2: Correspondence re: The Outlook
Folder 3: Correspondence with The Banner
Folder 4: Correspondence re: AACS