Kornelis Heiko Miskotte

Vocation

Notable

Traits

Dutch Protestant theologian and an influential representative of dialectical theology. His theology helped to free the once Protestant Church from their inhered or by Zeitgeist immersed (by)roots of nationalism, idealism and narrow minded civility. What is basic and for ever lasting was his parole when he wrote his Biblical ABC in 1941. Miskotte was born to a conservative Reformed Protestant family in the Netherlands. After attending Christian Gymnasium, he studied theology in his home city of Utrecht from 1914 to 1920. Theologically, he came under influence of the ethical theology of Johannes Hermanus Gunning (1858-1940), who taught an artful synthesis of modern culture and biblical revelation. Philosophically, Miskotte was also influenced by the Neo-Kantian B.J.H. Ovink and the dialectical theologist Karl Barth. Miskotte experienced from childhood a great love for nature (forests, trees) and cherished and knew the romantic tendency to go for and into the Only One. But as a student of theology, he began to mistrust these romantic feelings as pagan. Feeling good and protected was not the same as thus automatically being on the right way. Oceanic feelings could be deceptive. Under the influence of the inspiring female socialistic poet Henriëtte Roland Holst, he became a socialist. The theologian in him got inspiration from the male prophets of the Old Testament yearning for Justice for All to serve G'd. But Henriëtte Roland Holst (and his mystical wife Kor) drew him also back to his roots in nature and mysticism. From those diverse inner and outer sources he could fight against the doctrine of fate and for a Messianic world (a state of personal salvation). In his writings, he frequently drew on socialism and the Old Testament to argue against the concepts of fate and nihilism. After the war the family was invited for a wedding. The feast in Hotel American turned out a tragedy as the food was poisoned with Salmonella. His wife and daughter died of Typhoid fever. His son Hermannus Heiko Miskotte (17 December 1932) survived and became a professor of theology like his father. Miskotte lived in Voorst until his death in 1976. In 1964, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Glasgow. He left behind an enormous archive of diaries, letters, sermons, and opinion pieces; his archive is located at the University of Leiden. In 2012, the Miskotte/Breukelman chair for theological hermeneutics of the Bible was established at the Protestant Theological University in order to encourage and maintain the study of Miskotte's theology. Currently, the chair is occupied by Dr. R.H. Reeling Brouwer. Link to German Wikipedia