Howard Evan Runner Collection, 1928-2004 | Heritage Hall, Hekman Library

By Paul Bremer, March 2011

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Collection Overview

Title: Howard Evan Runner Collection, 1928-2004

ID: COLL/509

Primary Creator: Runner, Howard Evan (1916-2002)

Extent: 35.0 Boxes. More info below.

Arrangement: Folder level description

Date Acquired: 00/00/2008

Abstract

Professor of philosophy at Calvin College. The collection includes biographical and autobiographical information; course notes; correspondence; speeches, lectures, and sermons; materials regarding the Groen van Prinsterer Club; articles and book reviews; positions papers; D. H. Vollenhoven and H. Dooyeweerd material; creation/evolution debate material; an unpublished book, Perspectives in Philosophy, material; subject files with comments and reflections; Association for the Advancement of Christian Scholarship (AACS), Association of Reformed Scientific Studies (ARSS), Christian Labor Association (CLA), Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC ), National Association for Christian Political Action (NACPA), and Institute for Christian Studies (ICS) materials; and select papers written by other authors. [See also the Campus Titles Database.]

Biographical Note

Howard Evan Runner, known as H. Evan Runner or simply Evan Runner, was born in 1916 in Oxford, Pennsylvania, to Howard Clinton Runner and Sara Mabel Watterson. In his early years Runner had a love of philosophy and language-and a desire to be a missionary. He graduated from West Philadelphia High School in 1932; from Wheaton College in 1936. Although he received a scholarship to study at the University of Illinois, he went to Westminster Seminary for advanced studies. Cornelius Van Til of Westminster convinced him to learn the Dutch language so he would be able to pursue some significant thinkers of the Netherlands. Runner went to the Netherlands in 1939 and studied with Klaas Schilder and Seakle Greijdanus at the Theological School in Kampen. He returned to the US in early 1940 and went to Harvard, studing with Werner Jaeger and was a Junior Fellow of the Society of Fellows at Harvard University from 1941-1943.

After leaving Harvard he taught English and Latin at Eastern Academy in Paterson, New Jersey. He returned to the Netherlands in 1946 to study at the Free University and began to appreciate the work of reformational philosophers Herman Dooyeweerd and Dirk Hendrik Theodoor Vollenhoven. He received his doctorate in1951 cum laude.

In 1950 he joined the Philosophy Department at Calvin College. He taught with zeal and gathered students from various disciplines into the Groen van Prinsterer Society. These students became his friends and collegues. His dedication and teaching a new vision of Christian Philosphy earned Runner the Faith and Teaching Award from the Calvin Alumni Association.

He developed a program of study which included "who the Puritans were, the meaning of the Enlightenment, its influence in America, the basic ideas of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, the nature of Scholasticism, particularly as manifested in Reformed theology, the concept of natural law, the religious ground-motives that have successively given order to the experience of Western man, the origins of capitalsm, the rise of the labor movement, etc."

Runner was instrumental in formation and leadership of the Association for the Advancement of Christian Scholarship. Many of his students established their own careers, often at Christian colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.

Runner was married to Elisabeth Hendrika Wichers. They had three children, Evan, Cathy, and Jocelyn. He died in 2002.

Administrative Information

Repository: Heritage Hall, Hekman Library

Alternate Extent Statement: Boxes

Acquisition Source: Evan W. Runner, June 2008

Related Materials: Audio recordings of some of Evan Runner's classroom lectures were recorded on cassette tape and can be found in the Campus Titles database. For more information please see https://calvin.edu/offices-services/information-technology/contact/audio-visual/titles/.

Other Note: Acc. No. 08.31

Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Runner Biographical and Autobiographical, 1928-2004],
[Series 2: Seminary Course Notes, undated],
[Series 3: Correspondence, 1930-1999],
[Series 4: Groen van Prinsterer Society, 1951-1976],
[Series 5: D. H. Vollenhoven Material, 1942-1981],
[Series 6: H. Dooyeweerd Material, 1933-1994],
[Series 7: Creation/Evolution Debate Material, 1953-1994],
[Series 8: Lecture Notes, 1952-1984, undated],
[Series 9: Speeches, Lectures, and Sermons, 1953-1990],
[Series 10: Papers Written, 1951-1981],
[Series 11: Perspectives Material, undated],
[Series 12: Subject Files and Comments/Reflections, 1954-1987],
[Series 13: Material re: National Association for Christian Political Action (NACPA), Association for Reformed Scientific Studies (ARSS), Institute for Christian Studies (ICS), and Christian Labor Association (CLA), 1961-1997],
[Series 14: Papers by Authors Other than H. Evan Runner, 1938-1992],
[Series 15: Varia, 1939-1981],
[Series 16: Photographs],
[All]

Series 7: Creation/Evolution Debate Material --- 1953-1994

Box 14

Folder 1: Evolutionary research material, including article by J.J. Duyvené de Wit "The Paleontological Record and the Origin of Man," and "Explanatory Supplement" --- 1963

Folder 2: Booklet by J. Lever "Creatie en Evolutie" --- 1968

Folder 3: Article by Tom Bethell in Harper's Magazine "Agnostic Evolutionists: The Taxonomic Case against Darwin" --- 1976

Folder 4: Review of Neal C. Gillespie's Charles Darwin and the Problem of Creation by Kenneth W. Hermann --- 1979

Folder 5: Article in Theological Forum "Creation and Science: Fundamental Questions Concerning Evolutionism and Creationism" by Egbert Shuurman, with responses by Aaldert Mennega, Richard Russel, B.J. Oosterhoff, Sierd Woodstra, and reply by Egbert Schuurman --- 1980

Folder 6: Articles by Davis A. Young in The Christian Educators Journal, Eternity, and Christianity Today --- 1982

Folder 7: Paper by Raymond A. Blacketer "An Examination of the Teachings of Dr. Howard J. Van Till as Represented in The Fourth Day" --- 1987

Folder 8: Evolution research material, article by J. J. Duyvené de Wit "Evolutionisme in Scheppingsopenbaring" --- undated

Folder 9: Evolution research material, including newsclippings from Grand Rapids Press, The Christian Science Monitor, Christian Renewal --- 1968-1983

Folder 10: Notes on H.M. Kuitert re: creation versus evolution --- undated

Folder 11: Magazine articles re: evolution

Item 1: Torch and Trumpet --- 1967
Item 2: The Plain Truth --- 1977 and 1994

Folder 12: Miscellaneous evolution research material

Item 1: Article from Life --- 1953
Item 2: Article by John R. Howitt entitled "Man, The Upright" from Creation Research Society Annual --- 1968
Item 3: Article by Magnus Verbrugge in Creation Research Society Quarterly --- undated
Item 4: Issue of Anakainosis --- 1984
Item 5: Creation Social Science and Humanities Quarterly --- 1990
Item 6: "Evolution and Genesis 1" by William White Jr. --- undated
Item 7: "Evolutionism and Creationism" by Egbert Schuurman --- undated
Item 8: Booklet "Is Evolution A Fact?" from the International Christian Crusade --- undated

Folder 13: Articles on evolution from The Banner and De Wachter --- 1959 and 1984

Folder 14: Paper by George Vandervelde "Creation and Cross in the Christology of Edward Schillebeekx: A Protestant Appraisal" from the Journal of Ecumenical Studies --- 1983

Folder 15: Paper by Don Sinnema "The Toledoth of the Sons of Noah" --- 1973

Folder 16: Paper by Henry Vander Goot "Creation and Differentiation" --- undated

Folder 17: Outline by William White Jr. "Evolution and Genesis 1" --- undated

Folder 18: Paper by Robert D. Knudsen "The Encounter of Christianity with Secular Science" --- 1990