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Willem Hendrik Velema

Dutch theologian and university professor (1929-2019)

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionDec 8, 2025
Entity authorityQ2128600 ↗
Source-derived summary

Willem Hendrik Velema (November 15, 1929 – April 18, 2019) was a Dutch professor, pastor and theologian. He was a member of the Christian Reformed Churches.

Life and work

Wim Velema was born in Drachten in 1929 as a son of the pastor Hendrik Velema (1889–1948). His brothers Jan (1917–2007) and Koen (1922–1997) were also pastors. After high school he studied theology and obtained his doctorate in 1957 at the VU University Amsterdam on the dissertation The Holy Spirit with Abraham Kuyper. He started his career as a pastor in Eindhoven and then he worked in Leiden.

In 1966 Velema was appointed professor of New Testament courses. He did this until Johannes Pieter Versteeg was appointed Professor of New Testament in 1969. In 1969 he succeeded Willem Kremer as professor of practical theology and became also professor of civil service courses and ethics at the Theological University Apeldoorn in 1966. In 1996 he retired.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Willem Hendrik Velema” as dutch theologian and university professor (1929-2019). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Willem, Hendrik and Velema.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1929, 2019, 1889, 1948—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1929-11-15. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Willem, Hendrik and Velema providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Willem Hendrik Velema”, the useful work is to connect “dutch theologian and university professor (1929-2019)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 8, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q2128600. VIAF identifies the subject as 311183792. The Library of Congress control number is n93027982. 4 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1929, 2019, 1889 and 1948.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Willem Hendrik Velema”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Willem Hendrik Velema primary sources, Willem Hendrik Velema archive and Willem research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Willem Hendrik Velema” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.