About me
My name is Geert de Korte. Together with my wife Lianne and our four children, we live and work in Jerusalem. On behalf of the Dutch Center for Israel Studies, I participate in the Jewish-Christian dialogue here.
In 2005, I started my bachelor’s degree in theology at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, following the track of the ‘Hersteld Hervormde Kerk’. After my bachelor’s degree, I got a master degree ‘Living Reformed Theology’.
In 2009, I was appointed as a teacher of religious education at Wartburg College, location ‘Guido de Brès’. As a school, we went to Israel for the first time with a group of students in 2016. During this trip it was Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year. A trip that left a lasting impression.
Under the guidance of Prof van Willigen, I began PhD research on Ambrose of Milan and his relationship to Judaism and the Jews in 2019. In 2023, our lives took an unexpected turn as we were appointed by the Dutch Center for Israel Studies (www.hetcis.nl/english). I can now conduct my research in a context where my research is not only defined by history, but also by the present.
On 2 October 2023, we landed at Tel-Aviv with the family. On Black Saturday, 7 October 2023, we woke up in the morning to the sound of sirens. Since then, our time in Israel has been dominated by October 7, 2023, and the war that followed. We have remained in Israel, to give concrete shape to the ‘unfailing commitment to Israel’, as the Church Order of the Protestant Church of the Netherlands puts it. On behalf of CIS, I am involved in various dialogue groups and study at the Schechter Institute and the Fuchsberg Center. I am also available for lectures, both in Israel and in the Netherlands. You can contact me for that via ‘Contact’.