Hans Rookmaaker, son of a well-to-do non-Christian family was converted through reading the Bible in a Nazi prison camp. He later became professor of Art History at the Free University of Amsterdam and an associate of Francis Schaeffer in working with university students. His work, Modern Art and the Death of a Culture, published by Inter–Varsity Press, is a unique contribution to Christian interpretation of the history of art. In his fascinating biography, Hans Rookmaaker, by Linette Martin, also published by Inter-Varsity, we read the account of this little exchange with one of his favorite art students (pp. 140, 141).
One day at the VU (Free University) Winnie complained that she was tired of going over the same arguments about the reliability of Scripture. “It just seems like we never get beyond it, Professor. As soon as someone begins to take the Bible seriously, you meet some other guy who comes along and knocks it all down again. There’s so much more to talk about. I’m tired of fighting for the Bible.”
Rookmaaker rounded on her, his eyes beady and cold, “You are tired! I am sorry for you! I am not tired yet. I have fought for the Bible for most of my life. As for those people there—he jerked the stem of his pipe towards the part of the VU where the theological faculty did their work—“they are tired of it too. Some of them think I am a museum piece because I still talk about t he historical resurrection of Christ and all the great supernatural events of this real world.”
“But I only said – “ The girl’s eyes filled with tears.
“Yes, ‘only.’ And now you are weeping! Never mind. Weep for the right things. Weep because the truth of God is being thrown away and what will our world do without it? Men will find other moral standards that they build society on, never doubt that. Did I ever tell you what I saw in the war? You cannot imagine what it is like when men turn away from God. The thought should make you go cold.
“It begins here. It begins when people say, ‘I can forget what the Bible tells me and I can let it slide away from history.’ It begins when men say that the righteous God does no longer work in history. Or that He never did. Or that He never could because He never was there.” Rookmaaker looked at the girl’s unlined face and honey–coloured hair. “I have fought for the truth of the Bible for thirty years. But you are tired already? How can you be? How do you dare!”
