Huub Oosterhuis

Hubertus Gerardus Josephus Henricus "Huub" Oosterhuis (; 1 November 19339 April 2023) was a Dutch theologian and poet. He is mainly known for his contribution to Christian music and liturgy in Dutch and also in German, used in both Protestant and Catholic churches. He authored over 60 books and over 700 hymns, songs, psalms (often in an own interpretation), and prayers. Several of his songs were translated, and he received international awards and recognition.

Life and career

Oosterhuis was born on 1 November 1933 in Amsterdam. He attended a high school there and joined the Society of Jesus in 1954. He was ordained as a priest at the Basilica of Saint Servatius in Maastricht in 1964.

In 1965, Oosterhuis was appointed priest of the student parish in Amsterdam, Studentenekklesia. He became one of the major supporters of ecumenism, following the modernist interpretation of the Second Vatican Council. He left the Catholic Church and functioned as an Independent Catholic priest, in charge of a church in Amsterdam, for about forty years. He remained focused on writing liturgy, poetry and essays.

Oosterhuis founded "" ("The Red Hat"), a discussion centre in Amsterdam in 1990, for his student organisation,  and was its director until 1998.

Personal life

thumb|upright|Oosterhuis and Josefien Melief in 1970

In 1970, Oosterhuis married nurse and violist Jozefien Melief. They had two children, Trijntje Oosterhuis and Tjeerd Oosterhuis, who both became musicians. after a short illness. Many songs are part of the hymnal '. His poetry was not valued in the same way; Gerrit Komrij, editor of an influential anthology of Dutch poetry, referred to him as "the firm Christ & Co.", and did not include a single poem of Oosterhuis's in his anthology. Herman Amelink noted in NRC Handelsblad after Oosterhuis died that this should have been done by a Catholic university, but that his history with the Catholic church probably disallowed this—and that the church had further distanced itself from Oosterhuis in 2000 by scrapping all of Oosterhuis's songs from a new edition of the songbook for the Roermond diocese. He had joined the Socialist Party in 1999, and in the 2006 elections Oosterhuis stood for the party as the final candidate, a symbolic position. After his death in 2023, the party published an in memoriam on their website, saying his inspiration continues to live in the party.

Oosterhuis made a translation of the Torah together with , which was released in five separate books, as an attempt to translate the first five books of the Bible as closely to contemporary Dutch as possible without losing the style of the original Hebrew text.

Hymns

The first hymn by Oosterhuis was "Wie als een God wil leven", in 1965. It was translated in 1969 by Johannes Bergsma, and included in the 1975 German Catholic hymnal Gotteslob and its second edition. His song "Heer, onze Heer". written in 1965 to a traditional Dutch melody, was translated to German as "Herr, unser Herr, wie bist du zugegen" (Lord, our Lord, how present you are), and included in several hymnals and songbooks. Lothar Zenetti translated his "Ik sta voor U in leegte en gemis" to "Ich steh vor dir mit leeren Händen, Herr" (I stand before You with empty hands), which was included in German Protestant and Catholic hymnals.

Oosterhuis received the German ecumenical (sermon award) for his life's work in 2014.

Translations

Translations into English include At Times I See, The Children of the Poor Man, and Wake Your Power (CD), and also:

References

External links

Smet, Eric de: De liederen van Huub Oosterhuis: een overzicht in 10 favorieten (in Dutch) kerknet.be 10 April 2023
Ekklesia Amsterdam (in Dutch) 2023