My name is drs. Bob van Dijk
On this website I you can find an overview of my background, studies, career, websites, social media and latest blogs, that are related to various topics that interest me as a theologian. I started my preparatory training in Greek and Latin in the illustrious Academy Building at the Domplein in Utrecht in 1980. At the same time, I unofficially started my propaedeutic year. I temporarily interrupted my studies in the spring of 1983, when I did a D.T.S. with Youth with a Mission at Heidebeek between Epe and Heerde in the Netherlands.
Thanks to my marriage to Marja van de Vliert on July 5, 1985, we came to live in Houten and Iresumed my studies in theology at the University of Utrecht, with a major in missiology and a major minor in Religious Education. My doctoral thesis was about Dutch Protestantism in China since Karl Gützlaff. I later posted and edited it online: https://npic.jimdofree.com/. For my studies, I traveled to China in 1988 and subsequently visited friends in Manila and the Asian Theological Seminary, where I obtained in the spring of 1990 my Master of Divinity. Back in the Netherlands, I completed my doctoral studies in August 1990, after completing my minor in Religious Education.
From 1992-1995 I and my family lived and worked in Uzbekistan. I first worked there as an English teacher and later as a teacher of Dutch as a second language at the University for World Languages in Tashkent.
In 1997 I passed my ecclesiastical exam at what is now called the PKN, but was not qualified for office as my profile didn’t match well.
I subsequently managed to get a job as a software trainer and later worked as an ICT teacher at various mbo’s (secondary vocational institutes), see my LinkedIn profile.
As a software engineer I worked for various companies and helped with various migrations. I am now back in education, but now as a NT2 teacher at an ISK (International Schakelklas in Utrecht.
In November 2011 I visited my sister and her family in Israel for the first time. That visit marks a paradigm shift in my life, which can be briefly characterized as follows: The question during the first council in Jerusalem was not: “what should we do with Israel?” but “what should we do with the Gentiles?” [Acts 15].
As a theologian, I now have often say: “I thought I knew something.” A result of that breakthrough is my book “De Vergangingsleer, wat nu?” See: https://about.me/bvdijk and https://voorbijdevervangingsleer.nl/.
Another consequence was that I wanted to qualify as a tour guide and could lead several trips to Israel. I was also an observer at two international conferences, on which I reported at my blog. The first WTKOG was in Nazareth in 2019 and the second WTKOG in Jerusalem in 2023.
Another consequence is that I have several courses for the Shoresh foundation and have now developed my own course based on the book of the same name “Roots of our faith” by Chuck and Karen Cohen, published by CGI-Holland.
Afterwards I also developed a 7-part course on the book of Revelation: Foot traps, clamps, hints and keys. See my blog ‘What should be discussed in a course about the book Revelation’.
In the future I hope to continue working on a course inspired by Matthias Heinze’s book with the title ‘Mind the Gap’: about the period of that one blank page between the so-called Old and New Testament, now better known as the Second Temple period;
At this website of Academia you will find a description of my profile and an overview of my more academic publications: https://universiteitutrecht.academia.edu/BobvanDijk