Theology Professor Publishes The Way to Heaven

Yudha Thianto, professor of theology at Trinity Christian College, delivered an emotional “thank you” to colleagues at a recent celebration of the publication of his new book, The Way to Heaven: Catechisms and Sermons in the Establishment of the Dutch Reformed Church in the East Indies.

Born in Indonesia, the professor called the book his “ecclesiastical autobiography,” explaining the book is his way of thanking and “giving back” to the church some of what it has given him.

Published by Wipf and Stock Publishers, the book explores the introduction and transplantation of Calvinism to the Dutch East Indies in the 17th century.

Working with early Malay translations of Reformed catechisms and sermons written by Dutch ministers working in the archipelago, Thianto conducted a thorough analysis of the texts.

By writing this book on the history of the Reformed church in the East Indies in the 17thcentury, he says. “I am tracing back my own roots, the source of my own theology. Therefore, in writing this book I am writing my “own church autobiography.”

According to the publisher’s website, the book “shows how these ministers introduced, taught, and explained the main teachings of Calvinism to the people of the Dutch East Indies in a language they could understand, as well as the challenges these ministers encountered as they moved forward in their efforts to spread the gospel to the people.”

Thianto received his M.T.S. and Ph.D. from Calvin Theological Seminary and has been on the faculty at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Ill. since 2001.