REVELATION, HISTORY AND RELIGIOUS PLURALITY OLD TESTAMENT STUDIES FROM THE APELDOORN / KAMPEN REFORMED PERSPECTIVE Koert van Bekkum and Eric Peels 1. INTRODUCTION The foundation of the Oudtestamentische Werkgezelschap in 1939 clearly presupposed the framework of the so-called duplex ordo in the study of theology and religious studies in the Netherlands, as it was organized by the Law of Higher Education in 1876. This law made a clear distinction between theology as a scholarly discipline in terms of the study of religion and theology as education by the church, which was considered to be less objective from a scholarly point of view. In particular the Leiden professor P.A.H. de Boer characterized the 19th century CE decision to separate the scholarly study of the Old Testament from the reading of the Scriptures by the ơƩǀƽơƩ ƞƾ ƞ ‘Ƣƣliǁƣƽƞƹơƣ ƤƽƺƸ EƨDŽƻƿ’. Hƣ ǂƞƾ ƢƣƣƻlDŽ iƹǁƺlǁƣƢ iƹ ƿƩƣ study of the ancient Israelite personal faith and religious experience as expressed in the Old Testament. At the same time De Boer insisted that in order to remain objective, scholarly research of these areas should refrain from theological evaluation and religious judgments. 1 The tools of an Old Testament scholar should be linguistic and historical, not theological. Accordingly, confessional issues could in his view not be discussed in the Oudtestamentische Werkgezelschap. His colleague in Groningen (and later Utrecht), Th.C. Vriezen, had a much more moderate view of the implications of the duplex ordo. 2 Moreover, a confessional approach of the Old Testament was still in use in Roman Catholic theological education and at the seminaries of the Reformed Churches, the Reformed Churches (liberated) and the Christian Reformed Churches. Nevertheless, the possibility of doing scholarly research in Biblical Studies from a confessional standpoint remained a somewhat contested enterprise. This article concentrates on a small part of confessional Old Testament studies in the Netherlands, in particular at the Theological University of Apeldoorn and the Theological University of Kampen (Broederweg), which existed besides the other institution in Kampen (Oudestraat) since 1945, due 1 P.A.H. de Boer, P.S. van Koningsveld, HƶƵơƢƹơ jƞƞƹ ‘UƩƻ EƧǀƷƻƢ’, Leiden 1979. P.A.H. de Boer, Voorbede in het Oude Testament (OTS, 3), Leiden 1943. Cf. also the Leiden PhD-thesis under supervision of De Boer by Henk J. Franken, The Mystical Communion with JHWH in the Book of Psalms, Leiden 1954. 2 See his Th.C. Vriezen, Hoofdlijnen der theologie van het Oude Testament, Wageningen: Veenman 1949. Cf. A.S. ǁƞƹ Ƣƣƽ WƺǀƢƣ, ‘TƩ.C. VƽiƣDžƣƹ ᅬ theoloog en oudtestamenticus: zijn bijdrage aan de oudtestamentische ǂƣƿƣƹƾơƩƞƻ’, iƹ: MƣiƹƢƣƽƿ Dijkƾƿƽƞ, Kƞƽƣl VƽiƣDžƣƹ ᄬƽƣƢ.ᄭ, Hervormd theoloog en oudtestamenticus. Studies over theologie van het Oude Testament, bijbelse theologie en godsdienst van Oud-Israël bij de honderdste geboortedag van Th.C. Vriezen, Kampen 1999, 48.