An Endowed Chair and the Faithfulness of God

Dr. Wilson de Angelo Cunha was recently appointed the John H. Stek and Martin J. Wyngaarden Professor of Old Testament here at Calvin Seminary. For someone who doesn’t know Cunha’s story, an endowed chair is a deep honor to celebrate. For Cunha, this endowed chair is a celebration of God’s faithfulness over the course of his life.

Born and raised in Brazil, Cunha graduated from José Manoel da Conceição Presbyterian Theological Seminary with a Bachelor of Theology, and came to Calvin Seminary as a student in 2004. As a Master of Theology (ThM) student, Cunha’s Old Testament studies were guided by professors John Stek (who led the Old Testament club at Calvin Seminary, which Cunha participated in during his studies), Carl Bosma, Arie Leder, and Michael Williams. These faculty members quickly noticed Cunha’s aptitude for reading and interpreting Old Testament texts, and encouraged him to pursue doctoral studies in the Netherlands. With an acceptance letter in hand, Cunha’s next obstacle was even greater: finding funding to study and live overseas with his wife, Katie. 

Over the next few years, the very faculty members who encouraged Cunha in his studies were the ones that financially supported him. Cunha explains, “Carl Bosma identified an anonymous donor who gifted us (my wife Katie and me) a substantial amount that covered the first two years of my Ph.D. studies in the Netherlands. Keeping the donor anonymous was quite an operation. Carl had arranged for a deacon at CRC East Paris to be the point person. So, I would write letters to the anonymous donor and hand them to the deacon, who would give them to the donor.”

Each time Cunha and his wife returned to Grand Rapids to visit her family, he would meet with John to update him on his progress and discuss his studies. In 2009, at the halfway point in Cunha’s Ph.D. studies, John Stek passed away. It was at that time that Carl Bosma revealed the truth to the Cunha’s: John Stek was the anonymous donor who’d generously funded those first two years in the Netherlands. Even though they couldn’t thank John personally, they were able to thank his wife, Nadine, in person. 

As Cunha’s time in the Netherlands concluded, it was time to find a job and relocate back to the United States. With a wife and young son in tow, Cunha moved to Longview, Texas, where he taught at LeTourneau University for a decade. In 2022, the Cunha family–now with two more kids–moved from Texas to Grand Rapids, Michigan, as Calvin Seminary had extended Cunha a job offer in the Old Testament department. The student who’d arrived from Brazil almost 20 years earlier was now the professor, occupying the role and teaching in the classrooms he’d once studied in with Bosma, Leder, and Williams. 

Cunha reflects, “When I moved to Texas in 2011, I could not imagine ending up at Calvin Theological Seminary as an Old Testament professor in 2022, let alone carrying a chair with John’s name in 2024. Despite the many twists and turns, I occupy the chair with a deep sense of how God orchestrated all the events that led to my current role at CTS. I now know that God was working behind the scenes, even when I had no hint of how his plans would unfold. I hope that my teaching and research will continue the excellent and faithful work of John Stek, Martin Wyngaarden, and the other faculty members who had a hand in my formation during my time as a student at Calvin Seminary.”

For some, endowed chairs are a deep honor, but with little backstory. For Cunha and his family, his appointment as the John H. Stek and Martin J. Wyngaarden Professor of Old Testament is an ongoing reminder of God’s faithfulness. Even when finances were uncertain and the future was unknown, God was still at work: through the mentoring of Carl Bosma, the generosity of John Stek, and others who shaped Cunha into the professor he is today.