Journal: Reformation and Revival
Volume: RAR 13:1 (Winter 2004)
Article: A Reformation & Revival Journal Interview with M. Eugene Osterhaven and I. John Hesselink
Author: John Hesselink

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RAR 13:1 (Winter 2004) p. 147

A Reformation & Revival Journal
Interview with M. Eugene Osterhaven and I. John Hesselink

John Hesselink

&

Eugene Osterhaven

In 2003 I visited with two of my favorite Reformed theologians, in Holland, Michigan. Both Eugene Osterhaven and John Hesselink have served the Church well for decades. And one, Eugene, was the teacher while the other, John, was once the student. They have worked from within an evangelical Dutch Reformed tradition for a lifetime but they have remained open to the wisdom of the whole Church as the interview will show, since the interview was conducted, Eugene Osterhaven went to be with the Lord he so loved on January 24, 2004. John Hesselink gave a tribute to Gene at his funeral service on January 28. This message appears in Final Thoughts in this issue.

Eugene and John both studied God deeply and they also love him more deeply every day. Rarely have I enjoyed the company of two brilliant and godly men quite like Eugene and John. I believe the interview we conducted will glorify Christ and help many think about how to do good orthodox theology in the modern age.

R R J—Eugene, please tell us about your childhood and early years of life.

RAR 13:1 (Winter 2004) p. 148

M E O—I was born and reared in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I came from a tradition that was strongly rooted in the Church and one that was particularly Reformed. My mother was an especially devout woman who read the Bible diligently, studied it faithfully, and taught a Sunday school class for fifty years. She also had a strong prayer life. My father’s family was different. They were also Reformed but strangely my dad and most of his siblings never made a confession of faith until before the time they were married, some even a little later than that. Some of them were afraid that they would be hypocrites, or inconsistent in living their faith, so they held off on a confession of faith. This wasn’t true on my mother’s side. On her side there was a different type of Dutch Calvinism than my father’s family knew. I was thus taught to pray from my childhood. We had regular prayers in the home. My mother loved nothing more than to sit with the Bible and two or three commentaries at the kitchen table and go over them and try to ponder the real meaning of God’s message.

I made confession of my faith when I was sixteen and it meant quite a bit to me. I had always prayed because I had been brought up that way. The first time I really remember struggling in prayer was when I was seventeen. I was on a long, twenty-six day canoe trip. Most of it was upstream and quite difficult. I was so disturbed during this trip that I had to go to the wood...

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