Many readers of this journal are familiar with Geerhardus Vos (1862–1949), fairly seen as the father of Reformed biblical theology for his numerous publications in this area. These largely date from the period 1893–1932, when he was the first occupant of the chair of biblical theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, and after that in his retirement. Less well known is that prior to his Princeton years, he taught at the Theological School of the Christian Reformed Church, now Calvin Theological Seminary, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
During this time (1888–1893), when instruction at theTheological School was in Dutch, Vos taught a wide range of subjects, including systematic theology (dogmatics).The latter resulted in the circulation of material that, though originally produced for the classroom, led to the publication, hand- written, of Dogmatiek in 1896. This, in turn, was subsequently transcribed into typescript and printed in 1910.While the 1896 version is apparently in Vos’s own hand, the transcription is almost certainly by some other person or persons. There is no good reason, however, to question that it was done with Vos’s full knowledge and approval. The Reformed Dogmatics is a trans- lation of this transcription, corrected or supplemented in a few places in light of the 1896 version.
