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Rev. Frans Jozef van Beeck, SJ, a member of the Theology Department for 17 years and a respected expert on systematic theology, died Oct. 12 in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. He was 81.
Fr. van Beeck served on the BC Theology faculty from 1968-85, and was recalled as a charismatic teacher, a popular presider at liturgies, and an influential spiritual director during the period.
A prolific writer on theology and other subjects, Fr. van Beeck was known in particular for his works of systematic theology, Christ Proclaimed: Christology as Rhetoric and a multi-volume work, unfinished at his death, God Encountered: A Contemporary Catholic Systematic Theology.
One of his distinctive contributions to theology derived from his training in literature, an exploration of Christian proclamation as rhetoric. He summed up much of his thinking in this area in an influential article, “Divine Revelation: Intervention or Self-Communication,” in Theological Studies.
A native of the Netherlands, Fr. van Beeck graduated in 1948 from the Aloysius College, the Jesuit gymnasium in The Hague. He entered the Jesuit novitiate, Mariendaal, at Grave, The Netherlands, and did philosophy studies at the Berchmanianum, Nijmegen, from 1951-54. He earned a doctorate in English and Italian literature from the University of Amsterdam in 1961, and an STL degree from the Canisianum, Maastricht in 1964.
Ordained a priest in 1963, Fr. van Beeck served as director of studies for the Netherlands Province and taught at the Jesuit gymnasium in Amsterdam, Ignatius College, from 1964 until he left to join BC in 1968. In 1986, he was invited to take the John Cardinal Cody Chair of Sacred Theology at Loyola University in Chicago where he remained until 2006, when health issues led to his return to the Netherlands.
He is survived by his brother, Dr. J. A. van Beeck, and his sister, Wilhelmina van Stratum-van Beeck. Funeral services took place Oct. 17 at Nijmegen. Condolences may be sent to his sister at Van Egmondlaan 6NL - 5583 VB WAALRE or via email at pv.stratum@iae.nl.