| Hendrik Gerhardus Stoker | |
| Birth Name: | Hendrik Gerhardus Stoker |
| Birth Date: | 4 April 1899 |
| Birth Place: | Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Spouse: | Miriam Francoise du Plessis |
| School Tradition: | Reformational philosophy[1] |
| Doctoral Advisor: | Max Scheler |
| Influences: | Herman Bavinck[2] |
| Discipline: | Philosophy |
| Workplaces: | Potchefstroom University |
| Doctoral Students: | Johan Heyns |
| Notable Works: | Wysbegeerte van die skeppingsidee |
| Influenced: | Cornelius Van Til |
| Nationality: | South African |
| Citizenship: | South Africa |
| Occupation: | Philosopher |
Hendrik Gerhardus Stoker (1899–1993) was a Calvinistic philosopher. He is known for creating his own philosophical system called "Philosophy of the creation-idea." (1933).[3] Johan Heyns said in "Denkers deur die eeue" that Stoker is one of the greatest philosophers that Africa has ever produced.[4] He studied at the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education and the University of Cologne, and he completed his doctoral dissertation on "Nature and the forms of conscience" under Max Scheler.[5]
Stoker was born on 4 April 1899 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Both his parents, Pieter Stroker (born 5 February, 1865 in Assen)[6] and Geertje (Leentje) Nienhuis (born 24 February 1973 in Bedum) are immigrants from the Netherlands, they met in Johannesburg. Six months after Stoker was born the Second Boer War broke out, his father joined the Boer commando's as a Dutch volunteer. During the war his parents saw the horror and suffering of the women and children in the British concentration camps. Because of this the Stoker family developed an anti-British sentiment.[7]
Stoker's parents did not want him to go to an English school, so they sent him to the Deutsche Internationale Schule in Johannesburg. The First World War caused some difficulty for the Deutsche Schule and Stoker's parents were forced to move him to the Potechefstroom Gimnasium, where he matriculated in 1916. While he was a student at the Gimnasium, he attended several open classes of (among others) Jacobus Daniël du Toit also known as Totius. Totius, the professor at the Theological School of the Reformed Church was also known as a poet and one of the leaders of the "Tweede Taalbeweging" (Second Language Movement).[8] Totius' lectures on the book Isaiah finally convince him of the value of the Christian life attitude.[9]
On September 1925 Stoker was married to Miriam Francoise du Plessis by Totius in the Reformed Church, Pretoria. Du Plessis was born on 30 April 1902 and died on 8 March 1994, about a year after her husband. They were survived by four children, Pieter, the eldest became a Professor of Physics at the Potchefstroom University, and David, the second eldest, became vice president at the Human Sciences Research Council.[10]
Stoker taught at Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education from 1925 to 1970. He developed a unique strand of Calvinistic philosophy called "Wysbegeerte van die skeppingsidee" or translated in English "Philosophy of the creation-idea". He's disagreed with Herman Dooyeweerd and D. H. Th. Vollenhoven who called their philosophy "Wijsbegeerte van die Wetsidee" or translated "philosophy of the cosmonomic idea", because the creation was more encompassing principle for Stoker than the laws of creation. The name had the further benefit for Stoker that it was distinctly Christian, while the use of the term "law" instead of "creation" was preferred by Dooyeweerd and Vollenhoven.
The question can be asked why Stoker is relatively unknown. The following possible reasons are put forward by Van der Walt:[11]
Usually his support for the Apartheid policy is what he's criticized most for. Van Wyk in 1994 wrote an article in which he criticized Stoker for considering the nation as a primary social bond and consequently considered the nation more important than the kingdom of God.[12] In a more recent book by Milton Shain, Stoker is also suspected of having Anti-Semitic influences present in him. Shain believes that Stoker would not admit it openly, but that he does notice a form of Jew-hatred in him.[13] Stoker did not agree that Jews should be given full civil rights, but repeatedly notes that Jew-hatred should be rejected.[14]
It is especially B.J. Van der Walt who criticizes Stoker for not succeeding in freeing himself from the scholastic influence of Herman Bavink. Bavink is considered by Van der Walt to be a scholastic thinker and initially Stoker planned to study under Bavink. Van der Walt also believes that Stoker did not succeed in establishing Christian Philosophy, because according to Stoker, Philosophy was still dependent on Theology.[15]
In the article "At the Crossroads: Apartheid and University Freedom in South-Africa" Stoker tried to explain the government's Apartheid policy to the international community. This is one of the few English articles that Stoker wrote. Stoker starts the article by talking about the reality of South Africa's demographics, that the white population is a minority. According to Stoker, the white population was at a crossroads, either they had to integrate with the black populations of South Africa or they had to differentiate. The way of integration according to Stoker would be a Liberalist solution that would lead to the loss of the uniqueness of the Afrikaner community. It is within this context that Stoker opted for differentiation, rather than integration.[16]
Stoker can probably be seen as one of the main theological underpinnings of the apartheid ideology and made statements about it and wrote about it. H.H. William writes about it:[17] There are several people today who blame Stoker for this, such as the following quote from the church archive of the Dutch Reformed Church:[18]
The following awards also bear witness to H.G. Stoker's scientific contributions over almost seventy years:
| Year | Awards | |
|---|---|---|
| 1957 | Master Prize of the Afrikaans Literary Association | |
| 1964 | Stals Prize for Philosophy awarded by the South African Academy of Science and Art | |
| 1987 | Honorary doctorate awarded by the Rand Afrikaans University | |
| 1987 | Decoration for Distinguished Service of the State President (the highest civilian award) |
A list Stoker's academic activities:
In addition, two dissertations on the work of Stoker were accepted, one at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam (1968) and the other at the RAU (1972).
Of his postgraduate students, 9 obtained doctorate degrees and 18 master's degrees under his guidance. Of the postgraduate students, the most important is certainly Prof. J.A. Heyns who studied under Stoker.