Dedication

Abstract

This special issue of NGTT is dedicated to the work of Prof. Vincent Brümmer (Utrecht/Stellenbosch) on the occasion of his 80th birthday on December 30, 2012. Twenty years ago, Prof. Vincent Brümmer already received a Festschrift to honour him at the occasion of the silver jubilee of his professorship at Utrecht University (Gijsbert van den Brink, Luco van den Brom & Marcel Sarot (eds.), Christian Faith and Philosophical Theology Kampen: Kok Pharos, 1992, 21995). That liber amicorum was written by his pupils and by a selection of colleagues from the Netherlands and abroad. In Prof. Brümmer’s continued academic activities, his pupils have found a reason to honour him again with a collection of scholarly articles. Apart from a number of pupils of Prof. Brümmer, who contribute for the second time, we have aimed to attract authors who did not contribute to the previous book, among whom are a number of younger scholars. Moreover, we have tried to make visible Brümmer’s involvement in the theological scene in South Africa, an involvement that has only grown after his retirement. Not only did Brümmer begin to publish in Afrikaans (which he had not done since the 1960s) but also did he – after many previous visits to South Africa – spent in 2011-12 two longer periods as a research fellow at the STIAS (Stellenboch Institute for Advance Studies). Moreover, at the age of 79 he was appointed as an extraordinary professor in theology at Stellenbosch University. Though our invitation came late, a wide range of students and colleagues of Prof. Brümmer willingly accepted our invitation to contribute a paper to honour him and show their debts to his work. We are grateful to all authors, editors and reviewers who cooperated with us during the past couple of months in composing this issue and getting the work done, often within tight time constraints. The articles show a large variety of topics, disciplinary backgrounds and theological orientations; even more articles will be posted on the online-edition of NGTT. All in all, this issue testifies to the seminal influence Brümmer has exerted throughout the years on so many academics in theology and beyond. We hope this issue displays part of the harvest of what he has sown during the past decades by his dedicated work in the philosophy of religion, systematic theology, spirituality, and (most lately) historical theology.