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book reviews; positions papers; D. H. Vollenhoven and H. Dooyeweerd material; creation/evolution debate material; an unpublished book, Perspectives in Philosophy, material; subject files with comments and reflections; Association for the Advancement of Christian Scholarship (AACS),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 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

Box 31

Folder 1: History of the ARSS --- 1961-1966
Folder 2: Booklet: "The ARSS - Its History, Basis, and Program" --- 1963
Folder 3: ARSS Report: "Place and Task of an Institute of Reformed Scientific Studies" --- 1965
Folder 4: Booklet: "Place and Task of an Institute of Reformed Scientific Studies" --- undated
Folder 5: Miscellaneous material re: ARSS --- undated
Folder 6: Notes from lecture on logic at ARSS Conferences --- 1965
Folder 7: Speech: "The ARSS and its Reorganization" --- 1961-1962
Folder 8: Lectures for ARSS Unionville Conferences --- undated
Folder 9: Lecture given in London (Ontario) for the ARSS --- undated
Folder 10: Speeches to the ARSS 5th Unionville Conference --- 1963
Folder 11: Notes on subjects for future Unionville Conferences --- undated
Folder 12: Reflections on the ARSS and its council --- undated
Folder 13: Speech to retired ministers re: ARSS --- 1974
Folder 14: Speech to the AACS in Chatham (Ontario) --- 1975
Folder 15: AACS lectures --- 1969
Folder 16: Editorial in Christian Renewal re: AACS --- 1984
Folder 17: Notes on the AACS and historic Reformed Christianity --- undated
Folder 18: Critical articles re: AACS in The Banner --- 1974-1975
Folder 19: Articles re: AACS in Perspective --- 1969-1989
Folder 20: AACS executive board minutes and related material --- 1983
Folder 21: Report of ICS Review Committee re: philosophical direction --- 1993
Folder 22: Newsclippings re: ICS --- 1974-1981
Folder 23: Material re: NACPA --- 1969-1974
Folder 24: Notes on Christian political action --- undated
Folder 25: Material on Christian political action --- undated
Folder 26: Notes on meeting to discuss possibility of a Christian University --- 1964
Folder 27: Material re: ideas for a Christian University in California --- 1999

Box 32

Folder 1: Syllabus: Systematic Philosophy - Volume I (H. Hart) --- 1979

Folder 2: Syllabus: Systematic Philosophy - Volume II (H. Hart) --- 1979

Folder 3: Article by Bernard Zylstra of ICS "Thy Word our Life" --- undated

Folder 4: Paper "The Struggle for a Christian Philosophy: Another Look at Dooyeweerd" by Jacob Klapwijk of ICS --- 1982

Folder 5: Paper "Modal Aesthetics" by Calvin Seerveld for ICS --- undated

Folder 6: Paper "Reflections on Herman Dooyeweerd" by Bernard Zylstra for ICS --- undated

Folder 7: Paper "Nature and Grace in Bavinck" by Jan Veenhof (translated by A. Wolters of ICS) --- 1968

Folder 8: Paper "Reflections on Christianity and Chemistry" by Robert VanderVennen of ICS --- 1983

Folder 9: Paper "Schelling's Philosophical on Dogmatism and Criticism" by John Cooper of ICS --- 1973

Folder 10: Paper "The Word of God and Hermeneutics" by J. Olthuis of ICS --- 1972

Folder 11: Paper "The Struggle for a Christian Philosophy: Another Look at Dooyeweerd" by Jacob Klapwijk of ICS --- 1982

Folder 12: Speeches for ICS meetings --- 1992

Folder 13: H. Evan Runner "Writing to Do" for ICS --- undated

Folder 14: ICS pamphlet: "Organizations for Calvinist Philosophy in the Netherlands" --- undated

Folder 15: Speech to Calvin CRC Men's Fellowship re: AACS and ICS --- 1974

Folder 16: Paper "History and Ideology of the Dutch Labor Movement" by H. Evan Runner --- undated

Folder 17: Christian Labor Association Items --- [1967]

Item 1: Speech for Christian Labor Association “Can Canada Tolerate the CLA?” --- [1967]
Item 2: Pamphlet, Can Canada Tolerate the CLA?, [HERH HD8103.C55 R8] --- [1967]

Folder 18: Material re: CLA --- 1953-1967

Folder 19: Material re: Christian Labour Association of Canada (CLAC) --- undated

Folder 20: Paper "The Word of God, the Bible, and the AACS" by Bernard Zylstra --- undated

Folder 21: ICS course taught by H. Evan Runner "Philosophical Prolegomena" --- 1997