Sierk Coolsma
| Sierk Coolsma | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
26 January 1840 Leeuwarden, Netherlands |
| Died | 20 March 1926 (aged 86) Apeldoorn, Netherlands |
| Occupation | Missionary and writer |
| Years active | 1869–1926 |
| Spouse(s) | Maria Johanna Gerretson (m. 1866; d. 1917) |
Sierk Coolsma (Dutch pronunciation: [sirk ˈkoːlsmaː]; 26 January 1840 – 20 March 1926) was a Dutch Protestant missionary who wrote extensively on the Sundanese language. Born in the Netherlands, he became a missionary in his early twenties and arrived in the Dutch East Indies in 1865. First tasked to Cianjur, he studied Sundanese in more detail than his contemporaries, gaining an appreciation for the language. Further missionary activities in Bogor, begun in 1869, were a failure, and in 1873 he was tasked with translating the New Testament into Sundanese. Although the Sundanese people highly valued poetry, he did the translation in prose hoping that it would help readers entertain new ideas.
In 1876, Coolsma returned to the Netherlands and became the leader of the Netherlands Missionary Union, promoting further missionary activity in the predominantly Muslim western portion of the East Indies. He also wrote extensively on Sundanese, including a grammar and two dictionaries. Although his Bible translation had little lasting impact, these later works have remained in use.
Sierk Coolsma was born in Leeuwarden in the Netherlands, on 26 January 1840, as son of worker Foppe Coolsma and Maaike Nauta.
Coolsma first worked in a printer's office, but began training to be a missionary in Rotterdam in 1861, after having studied several months under Rev. Witteveen in Ermelo in the previous year. He finished his training on 5 May 1864; that December he left for Batavia (now Jakarta), the capital of the Dutch colony in the East Indies.
Upon arrival in April 1865, Coolsma was sent by the Netherlands Missionary Union (Netherlandsche Zendingsvereeniging, NZV) to the town of Cianjur. There, on 5 April 1866, he married Maria Johanna Gerretson, six years his younger. He also baptised the NZV's first Sundanese Christians, a husband and wife named Ismael and Moerti. Ismael continued to treat Coolsma as his teacher and help the missionaries spread Christianity until his death in 1872.
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