1895.22

Publicatie van den Senaat der Vrije Universiteit, in zake het onderzoek ter bepaling van den weg die tot de kennis der Gereformeerde beginselen leidt.

Amsterdam, J.A. Wormser 1895 (Amsterdam, J.R. Vrolijk). 16 pp., 23cm.—ƒ0.10.

This publication by the Senate of the Vrije Universiteit, which was introduced with a brief word to the reader signed by J. Woltjer, who was rector at that time, and A. Kuyper, then secretary, put forward eighteen theses concerning the Reformed principles upon which the Vrije Universiteit was founded. These theses were intended to stimulate additional reflection among the professors and to serve as guidelines for the application of the university’s basic principles in their teaching. The theses aimed above all to point the way toward the discovery of Reformed principles that could form the foundation of scientific inquiry in its various branches. The idea of articulating these theses arose in response to growing concern within the Association for Higher Education on Reformed Principles that professors at the Vrije Universiteit were not teaching in full conformity with Article 2 of the association’s statutes (see 1878.10). Article 2 stipulated that all instruction was “to rest entirely and exclusively on the foundation of Reformed principles.” The pivotal thesis affirms that the “Reformed principles” referred to in this article are, in fact, the principles of Calvinism.

A senate commission, for which Kuyper was the reporter, submitted these eighteen theses for consideration. Kuyper was most likely the principal author of the theses (cf. a printed report to the senate [KA 278.7], signed by Kuyper, Fabius, and Woltjer). The senate adopted all the theses with only a few editorial changes. Only A.F. de Savornin Lohman (professor since 1884) and his eldest son, W.H. de Savornin Lohman (1864–1932, professor since 1890) voted against their acceptance.

A hectographic version of the theses (6 pp., 33cm.) preceded the printed edition. The theses were subsequently published because A.F. de Savornin Lohman had quoted some of them in his apologia De aanval op Seinpost en mijn antwoord [The attack at Seinpost and my answer] (Utrecht, 1895). Seinpost was the building where the annual meeting of the Association for Higher Education on Reformed Principles had taken place on June 27, 1895 and where thirty-four members of the association had submitted a request that the university look into their greviences against the instruction of A.F. de Savornin Lohman. The theses were also published (with a brief afterword by Kuyper) in De Heraut, no. 941, January 5, 1896, under the apposite heading “Een baken op de kust” [A beacon on the coast].