William Hendriksen

Who was William Hendriksen?

William Hendriksen was a New Testament scholar and writer of Bible commentaries. He was born in Tiel, Gelderland, but his family moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1911. Hendriksen studied at Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary before obtaining an S.T.D. degree from Pike's Peak Bible Seminary, as was common for on-the-job pastors seeking doctorates in the 1930s and 1940s. It is there that he wrote the thesis More than Conquerors. This book has never gone off the market since it was then privately printed and Herman Baker issued it as the first publication of the new Baker Book House in 1940. He received a Th.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary.

Hendriksen served as a minister in the Christian Reformed Church, with a stint as Professor of New Testament at Calvin Theological Seminary from 1942 to 1952. He started the New Testament Commentary, completing commentaries on half of the New Testament books. This series was published by Baker and completed by Simon Kistemaker after Hendriksen's death. Hendriksen was awarded a posthumous Gold Medallion Book Award for his commentary on Romans. He also translated the Book of Revelation for the New International Version. His granddaughter Dawn Wolthuis now serves as President of the Institute for Christian Studies.