IN MEMORIAM: Rev. Marvin P. Hoogland

September 21, 1935 – June 15, 2010

Rev. Marvin Hoogland, 74, a thoughtful theologian, able counselor, compassionate advocate of the needy, and loving family man, died June 15 following an attack of pneumonia complicated by sepsis.

Hoogland was born in Decatur, Mich., where his father, Jacob, was the pastor of the local Christian Reformed Church.

He attended a Christian grade school in Muskegon, Mich., continued his education at Grand Rapids Christian High School, and completed secondary school at the Woodstock Collegiate Institute of Woodstock, Ontario.

His theological education was provided by Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in 1962.

He interrupted his years at Calvin for a year of postgraduate study in philosophy at the University of Indiana. He married Thelma Vanden Bosch in l959.

In 1962 he was awarded a Fulbright grant for further theological study at the Free University of Amsterdam where, in 1966, he completed requirements for the Th.D. degree, including his graduate dissertation “Calvin’s Perspective on the Exaltation of Christ.”

Marvin and Thelma began the gospel ministry in the Kanawha, Iowa, Christian Reformed Church in l966. From 1969-75 they served the university congregation of Hessel Park CRC of Champaign, Ill.

In l975 Hoogland embarked on a new challenge that would become his life’s calling: the counseling ministry. After completing a year of CPE training he joined the staff of the Chicago Christian Counseling Center. For nearly a quarter century he devoted his considerable talents to accompanying individuals and small groups in their quest for emotional and spiritual health.

The last ten years of that ministry he served CCCC as its director. Retirement followed in 2000.

Hoogland’s life and ministry were marked by a high degree of intellectual honesty. Already as a seminarian he asked unsettling questions with reference to the denomination’s understanding of infallibility as applied to Scripture.

His life was marked by keen intellectual interests, including an interest in astronomy, as well as championing the causes of justice and mercy. He will readily be remembered for his sense of humor, his gentle tweaking of human foibles, his sincere godliness, and his thoughtful interest in people’s well-being.

Rev. Hoogland is survived by his wife, Thelma; their children Sandra and James Melia, Denise Hoogland, Robert and Susan Hoogland, Darryl Hoogland; and four grandchildren.