William B. Eerdmans son of a Dutch textile manufacturer, arrived to the United States in 1902 as a Dutch immigrant. He headed for Grand Rapids

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...

, the center of the 19th century Dutch immigration, and center of Calvinism

Calvinism

Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...

. In 1911 with his partner, Brant Sevensma, Eerdmans formed the Eerdmans-Sevensma book dealership, specializing in theological textbooks. In 1915, Sevensma left, and Eerdmans continued as sole owner of the renamed William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

William B. Eerdmans continued his work to the end of his life. He published books of authors:
C. S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis

Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as "Jack", was a novelist, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland...

, Karl Barth

Karl Barth

Karl Barth was a Swiss Reformed theologian whom critics hold to be among the most important Christian thinkers of the 20th century; Pope Pius XII described him as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas...

, Richard J. Neuhaus, Nicholas Wolterstorff

Nicholas Wolterstorff

Nicholas Wolterstorff is an American philosopher and currently the Noah Porter Emeritus Professor of Philosophical Theology at Yale University...

, Richard Mouw

Richard Mouw

Richard J. Mouw is currently President at Fuller Theological Seminary. He also holds the post of Professor of Christian Philosophy.- Education and career :...

, Martin Marty, Rowan Williams

Rowan Williams

Rowan Douglas Williams FRSL, FBA, FLSW is an Anglican bishop, poet and theologian. He is the 104th and current Archbishop of Canterbury, Metropolitan of the Province of Canterbury and Primate of All England, offices he has held since early 2003.Williams was previously Bishop of Monmouth and...

, Joan Chittister

Joan Chittister

Sister Joan D. Chittister, O.S.B., is a Benedictine nun, author and speaker.She is a member of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Pennsylvania, where she served as prioress for 12 years. Sister Chittister writes a web column for the National Catholic Reporter, "From Where I Stand"...

, Dorothy Day

Dorothy Day

Dorothy Day was an American journalist, social activist and devout Catholic convert; she advocated the Catholic economic theory of Distributism. She was also considered to be an anarchist, and did not hesitate to use the term...

, and many others.

After his death in 1966, he was succeeded by his son, William B. Eerdmans Jr. Under the son's leadership, the high literary and intellectual standards were maintained by the company.

External links

• William B. Eerdmans (1880-1966) at the New Netherland Institute