Self-Profile

Abstract

I was born November 15, 1932 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where my father, Cornelius A. Plantinga, was then a graduate student in philosophy. My mother, Lettie Plantinga (neé Bossenbrock), was born near Alto, Wisconsin. On her mother’s side her family had come to the US about the time of the Civil War; her father’s family came some twenty years later. Both groups came from the villages of Elspeet and Nunspeet in the province of Gelderland, the Netherlands, then distinguished for prosperous dairy farms and now also for the Kröller-Muller Museum. My father was born in Garijp, a small village in Friesland. The Dutch think of Friesland as their northernmost province. Frisians, however, know better. Friesland has its own culture, its own flag, and its own language, a language closer to Middle English than to Dutch (in fact of all the Germanic languages, Frisian is closest to English). Among the Dutch, Frisians are half-seriously reputed to be unduly stubborn: there is a Dutch expression “Friese Stijfkop” which means (literally) “Frisian Stiff- head”. In this respect, the Frisans may resemble the Ancicnt Jews, who are frequently referred to in the Old Testament as “a stubborn and stiff-necked people”. Of course the Frisians themselves view the matter differently: what the Dutch call undue stubbornness. Frisians think of as courageous perseverance. Many Frisians claim that Friesland never surrendered to the Germans during either World War I or World War II. Whether this story is true I do not know. It should be added, however, that the Germans may not have wanted Friesland.