Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. observed its 100th anniversary Aug. 11, the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based company recently announced.

The milestone also has been celebrated throughout the year, beginning with the Jan. 3 launch of EerdWord, a company blog at eerdword.wordpress.com that it says “exists to provide a platform on which contributors illustrate how today’s philosophies and theologies relate to everyday life” because “philosophizing and theologizing matter.” 

In September, the company also published An Eerdmans Century: 1911-2011 by Larry ten Harmsel with Reinder VanTil, a corporate history tracing the growth of the company throughout its first 100 years. Drawing from first-person interviews, historical documents and newly discovered information, the hardcover book relates how William B. Eerdmans Sr. started the company and how his son, William B. Eerdmans Jr., has continued its work.

Gala events have included a staff celebration; an open house for authors, employees, company retirees and friends of the company; and a series of events at Eerdmans Bookstore where the public was invited to meet such authors as Nicholas Wolterstorff, D.G. Hart, Mark Noll and Richard Mouw.

This year Eerdmans also plans to be a platinum sponsor of the annual American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature meeting, where the company will host a reception and its plans to unveil a new website before the end of the year.

Early in its development, Eerdmans published numerous volumes on and about John Calvin, developing a reputation for excellent theological and reference works. Since then, it has published literary and intellectual works from a myriad of viewpoints on ethics, politics and social criticism from across the faith spectrum.

President Bill Eerdmans explained the company’s broad approach to publishing: “We feel that any book that expresses something humanly important and does it well is a candidate for our company.”

Eerdmans also plans further expansion in the area of digital publishing for an even wider audience of academics, lay and ministry leaders, and general readers.

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