Pope Leo XIV released his first papal encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, on May 25, a roughly 42,000-word document outlining a Catholic response to recent developments in AI. I had been eagerly anticipating this encyclical and spent much of the release day poring over the text. While there have been other Christian efforts to release statements about…
My grandparents, together with other post-WWII Dutch immigrants animated by Kuyperian thinking, immediately began building Christian schools in their new land of Canada. Eventually, they also built Christian universities. Redeemer College was established in 1981, just down the road from the Christian day schools my grandparents helped build. Reformed colleges had already been established in…
To my dear grandchildren, If God blesses you with a normal life span, you will live to see the year 2100. At that time, I will have passed and been buried next to your Oma (who is already in glory), awaiting the day of resurrection. This letter is my encouragement to you, to be read…
The early Greeks saw the essence of education as Paideia: the process of forming a whole person into an ideal citizen. They emphasized the formation of virtues like prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance in preparation for active citizenship. Later, in the Medieval era, the Christian tradition saw education as formation for the glory of God,…
“. . . but test everything; hold fast what is good.” 1 Thess. 5:21 (ESV) I teach computer science students how to program computers, and testing is a crucial component of learning to program. In fact, the modern approach to software engineering advocates a Test Driven Development where testing is simultaneously intertwined with the writing…
After my dear wife Carina passed away in December 2023, I quickly learned about grief. The words of Psalm 42:3 – “tears have been my food day and night” – took on new meaning. Some Bible verses are best appreciated after you have experienced lament and grief. Recent developments in the world of Artificial Intelligence…
This summer I will take on the responsibility of chair of the Department of Computer Science at Calvin University. This part-time administrative role comes with many responsibilities: guiding the hiring and reappointment of faculty, scheduling classes, ensuring academic quality, managing budgets and generally keeping the “trains running on time” in the department. To be sure,…
In mid-March I had the opportunity to travel to Indonesia with a group of faculty from Calvin University. Indonesia is an archipelago made up of over 17,000 distinct islands and with a population of 250 million people, it makes up the fourth most populous nation in the world. Its people represent a variety of faith…
I am the son and grandson of Dutch immigrants to Canada who arrived shortly after the end of the second world war. They took a “kist” across the Atlantic, a large crate containing their modest household possessions. Along with their kist, many Dutch immigrants brought their Reformed Christian tradition. This tradition, sometimes referred to as…
In the days surrounding the funeral of my dear wife, Carina, I was encouraged by a steady stream of guests, casseroles, flowers and notes. As I prepared to return to an empty house in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a close friend from childhood and his wife offered to accompany me back home. For a few days…
The other day, I chatted with Abraham Kuyper. The conversation went something like this: Derek: “Hi, Dr. Kuyper. What do you think of Christian Courier?” Kuyper: “Ah, Christian Courier. While I am not directly acquainted with this publication, I can certainly appreciate any endeavor that seeks to bring the light of Christ into the public…
We first met when we were both first-year university students. Carina was a fine arts major at the new campus of Redeemer College, and I was an engineering major at a nearby university. I had travelled to Redeemer to visit some friends and I can still picture the spot in the hallway where our eyes…
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