Biography:S. U. Zuidema

Sytse Ulbe Zuidema (22 April 1906, Kampen - 28 September 1975, Amstelveen) was one of the second generation of reformational philosophers arising from the Free University of Amsterdam, after the first generation of Herman Dooyeweerd and D. H. Th. Vollenhoven. Other second generationers were: Hendrik Van Riessen, K. J. Popma and J. P. A. Mekkes. Prior to teaching philosophy at the Free University, Zuidema held a chair of Calvinistic philosophy at the University of Utrecht. He had also been a minister in the Reformed Churches and a missionary in Indonesia. His doctoral dissertation was on William of Ockham.

Robert Knudsen and Hendrik Hart both completed their doctoral dissertations in philosophy under Zuidema.

Timeline

• 1925-1930 Studied at the Free University of Amsterdam
• 1931-1934 Pastor in Gereformeerde Kerk (Dutch Reformed Church) in Anna Paulowna Polder
• 1935-1945 Missionary for the Mission in Central Java, Indonesia (Dutch East indies)
• 1936 Received doctorate from the Free University

• Dissertation: The nominalistic philosophy of William of Ockham

• 1936-1946 Missionry minister at Soerakarta (Solo). During World War II he was held at a Japanese prisoner of war camp on Java.
• 1946 returned to the Netherlands
• 1948 Chair of Christian Philosophy at University of Utrecht and at the Free University
• 1954 onwards taught only at the Free University.

Publications

• Kierkegaard in Modern Thinkers, an International Library of Philosophy and theology (Presbyterian & Reformed: Philadelphia)
• Sartre in Modern Thinkers, an International Library of Philosophy and theology (Presbyterian & Reformed: Philadelphia)
• Communication and Confrontation: A Philosophical Appraisal and Critique of Modern Society and Contemporary Thought. Assen/Kampen Royal VanGorcum Ltd, 1972