On April 9, Easter Sunday, the theologian and poet Huub Oosterhuis (1933-2023) passed away. Oosterhuis wrote hundreds of songs, many of which became very popular in various churches.
On the Dies Natalis of VU Amsterdam, 18 October 2002, Huub Oosterhuis received an honorary doctorate in theology 'for his very exceptional social services in the field of liturgy, in particular liturgical renewal and ecumenical song culture'.
Oostershuis was initially a priest in Amsterdam, later the predecessor of the independent 'Studentenekklesia' (now: Ekklesia), where faith was given substance in an innovative way. The poetic language of his songs is full of biblical imagery. In the decades that followed, his songs acquired an indispensable place in the liturgy of many churches in the Netherlands and abroad.
Oosterhuis gave words to the faith of a generation that was looking for a new way of believing and a language for it. Oosterhuis's texts also tied in with the development and religious reorientation of the VU since the 1960s. Since the 1980s, his poems and songs have often had a place in the celebrations of the VU's Reflection Center and other public celebrations.
All honorary doctorates of VU Amsterdam can be found on this page.