Louis Berkhof (1873-1957) emigrated with his family to Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1882. He graduated from Calvin Theological Seminary in 1900 and accepted the call to be the pastor of the Allendale, Michigan First Christian Reformed Church. In 1902 he went to Princeton University for two years earning a B.D. degree. He then accepted the pastorship of the Oakdale Park Church in Grand Rapids.  In 1906 he was appointed to the faculty of Calvin Theological Seminary. He assumed the presidency of the seminary in 1931 and served until retirement in 1944. A talented teacher and hard-working author, among his twenty-two books is Systematic Theology, which has been translated into several languages and used in many conservative colleges and seminaries.