Calvin Seerveld (1930-2025)

Calvin Seerveld was the longtime senior member in aesthetic philosophy at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto. I myself was a junior member (student) there in the late 1970s and had the privilege of sitting in one of his seminar courses. Although he was not my principal mentor, I recall his inimitable teaching style and the enthusiasm he brought to the subject matter.

As I write, I am looking at my notes from one of Seerveld's lectures from 20 September 1978. In my youthful handwriting, I quoted him: "The world is a created theatre of God," and "One finds meaning in Jesus Christ." Seerveld was above all a faithful servant of Christ and a memorable teacher.

Again, although Seerveld was not my principal mentor at the ICS, he profoundly influenced me in one significant way. One day in the course of a lecture, he performed a metrical psalm whose text he himself had written. This was Psalm 128 sung to the proper Genevan tune. I was so taken with this that soon thereafter I wrote my own metrical versification of Psalm 133 to my own tune. It wasn't nearly as good as Cal's effort, but it started me on the road to a project that has come to occupy a good portion of my adult life. Cal's text would eventually find its way into the Christian Reformed Church's grey Psalter Hymnal:

How blest are all the people who fear and trust the LORD.
Your faithful work will bring you rich fruit as your reward.
Rich as a budding vineyard your wife will grace the home;
like olive shoots your children will grow both wise and strong.

Yes, God will bless the people who gladly serve the LORD.
From heaven may he prosper your days with rich reward,
so that your happy eyes see the new Jerusalem
and see your children's children! Shalom be rich on them.

Jesus said: "I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25). We part with Cal for a moment and look forward to a joyful reunion at the resurrection of the righteous.