G. Ch. Aalders

{{Infobox writer

| name = G. Ch. Aalders

| image = Gerhard Charles Aalders, 1931.jpg

| image_size = 200px

| caption = G. Ch. Aalders in 1931

| pseudonym =

| birth_name = Gerhard Charles Aalders

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1880|03|25}}

| birth_place = London, England, U.K.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1961|01|30|1880|03|25}}

| death_place = Heemstede, North Holland, Netherlands

| occupation = Author, professor

| language = Dutch

| nationality =

| citizenship = Kingdom of the Netherlands

| alma_mater = Free University of Amsterdam

| genre =

| subject = Young Earth creationism

| notable_works = A Short Introduction to the Pentateuch

| spouse = {{marriage|Maria Westerink|25 September 1903}}{{cite web |title=Gerhard Charles Aalders |url=https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/K8VL-SXD/gerhard-charles-aalders-1880-1961 |website=FamilySearch |access-date=28 March 2023}}

| children = 4

| years_active = 1920s-1961

| module =

| website =

| portaldisp =

}}

Gerhard Charles Aalders (25 March 1880 – 30 January 1961), usually styled as G. Ch. Aalders, was a Dutch Old Testament scholar. He was born in London to an English mother and a Dutch father. He studied from 1897 to 1903 at the Free University of Amsterdam.{{cite web |title=Aalders, Gerhard Charles (1880-1961) |url=https://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/bwn1880-2000/lemmata/bwn1/aalders |website=Huygens Institute |access-date=28 March 2023 |language=nl |date=2013}} He served as a minister of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands from 1903 to 1920, and as Professor of Old Testament at the Free University from 1920 to 1950."[http://www.tyndalehouse.com/TynBul/Library/TynBull_1961_09_01_Aalders.pdf Gerhard Charles Aalders]," in Tyndale Bulletin 9 (1961), p. 2. {{Archive url|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120115025944/https://www.tyndalehouse.com/TynBul/Library/TynBull_1961_09_01_Aalders.pdf|date=2012-01-15}} He was rector magnificus of that institution twice.

Aalders is best known for his books A Short Introduction to the Pentateuch (which I. Howard Marshall says kept him going during his student days){{cite book |last1=Marshall |first1=I. Howard |title=Beyond the Bible (Acadia Studies in Bible and Theology): Moving from Scripture to Theology |date=1 July 2004 |publisher=Baker Books |isbn=978-1-4412-0663-3 |page=17 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KVAB1EMxSBAC |access-date=28 March 2023 |language=en}} and The Problem of the Book of Jonah. He also wrote a number of commentaries in the Korte Verklaring series: Genesis, Daniel, Esther, Jeremiah, and Lamentations.{{cite web |title=K .V. (Korte Verklaring) |url=http://www.mullerbook.nl/catagorie.php?catagorieId=171 |website=Antiquariaat Müller |access-date=28 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626155057/http://www.mullerbook.nl/catagorie.php?catagorieId=171 |archive-date=26 June 2012 |language=af}} He was an editor of the series "Commentaar op het Oude Testament" and wrote the commentary "Het Hooglied".{{cite journal |last1=Verhoef |first1=Pieter A. |editor1-last=Aalders |editor1-first=G. Ch. |title=Commentaar op het Oude Testament |url=https://www.google.com/search?q=Commentaar+op+het+Oude+Testament#ip=1 |access-date=28 March 2023 |trans-title=Commentary on the Old Testament |language=nl |oclc=3372136}} He played a mayor role in creating the Dutch translation of the Bible of the Dutch Bible Society.

Historian George Harinck suggests that, along with Seakle Greijdanus, F. W. Grosheide, and Jan Ridderbos, Aalders "took the lead in Neo-Calvinist exegetical production."{{cite book |last1=Meer |first1=Jitse M. van der |last2=Mandelbrote |first2=Scott |title=Nature and Scripture in the Abrahamic Religions: God, Scripture and the rise of modern science (1200-1700) |date=2008 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-17192-3 |page=346 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=znj8lmrgUhIC&pg=PA346 |access-date=28 March 2023 |language=en}} According to historian of science Abraham Flipse, Aalders introduced American-style Young Earth creationism into the Netherlands in the 1930s.{{cite journal |last1=Flipse |first1=Abraham C. |s2cid=145383231 |title=The Origins of Creationism in the Netherlands: The Evolution Debate among Twentieth-Century Dutch Neo-Calvinists |journal=Church History |date=2012 |volume=81 |page=126 |doi=10.1017/S000964071100179X |hdl=1871.1/4bcb3d89-70f0-49b8-8434-7a9352a67507 |url=https://research.vu.nl/ws/files/149485846/Flipse_OriginsOfCreationism.pdf }}