DNK : Documentatieblad voor de Nederlandse kerkgeschiedenis na 1800 - Volume 42, Issue 90, 2019

The famous Dutch author G.K. van het Reve (later: Gerard Reve) converted to Catholicism and was baptized in 1966. This surprising move was a cause célèbre in the Netherlands in the 1960s. In his Reve-biography Nop Maas refers to Reve’s early contacts with Roman Catholics, but did not elaborate on it due to lack of sources. Jan Peet found reports on one of these contacts in the archives of the Katholieke Actie, a center of reflection on Dutch Catholicism. This article gives an account of the meetings in the years 1962-1964, based on these reports. Reve was present several times at meetings on modern literature, where the content of the Catholic faith was discussed, and the relation of this faith and modern literature, including one of Reve’s poems. The notes of the meetings are sometimes ad verbum, and they show Reve’s involvement in the debates. Though he could be ironic in tone and blasphemic in his expressions, Reve was met with respect in these circles, and it is clear that he is serious in his personal reflections on Roman Catholicism and modern culture. The meetings may have contributed to his artistic development.

From 1933 to 1939 a series of eight books was published, titled ‘Psychologie van het ongeloof’ (psychology of unbelief). This article pays attention to Ph.A. Kohnstamm, the initiator and editor of this series, and gives an overview of his religious and scientific development. Kohnstamm was a scientist who converted to Christianity. He developed a Biblical personalism and focused on pedagogy in his later life. This article deals with the genesis of this series on this modern subject, and gives a description of the different authors – from various religious backgrounds and sometimes friends of Kohnstamm – and the contents of each issue, of which H.C. Rümke’s on the relation of character and predisposition to unbelief became famous. Kohnstamm wrote a general introduction to the series. Arie Molendijk questions the psychological character of the series and qualifies the series overall as apologetic.

Rev. B. Telder served the Reformed Church (liberated) of Breda in de mid-twentieth century, and came into trouble with ecclesial authorities because of his opinions on the afterlife. He was somewhat critical of the authority the Reformed confessions had in his denomination, and focused strictly on the text of the Bible. He concluded that body and soul belonged together even after death. Until Jesus Christ’s second coming the dead were not with Christ yet, but in a state of sleep. This opinion conflicted with the Reformed confessions, and Telder was sued. Geert van Dijk situates Telder’s conflict in the wider context of tensions within his denomination. In the end Telder was not deposed, but he left the denomination in 1964 with a part of his congregation.

At the end and in the aftermath of World War I, Hungary’s situation was very difficult: the war had been lost, the country was tormented by hunger and revolution, and the victoring countries were about to assign two-third of Hungary’s territory to neighboring countries. In this situation Hungary’s Protestant churches asked their Dutch sister churches for help and support in late 1918. A Hungarian delegation led by the theologian J. Sebestyén visited the Netherlands. What could the Dutch do? Articles in favor of the Hungarian cause were published, lectures were given, rallyes were organized. The Reformed Churches in the Netherlands took the initiative of a joint declaration on behalf of the Hungarians. The declaration, signed by many other Dutch Protestant churches, offers a rare example of ‘ecumenic’ collaboration in those days.

In 1944, the most difficult year of the war for the Netherlands, a conflict in the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands resulted in a split, the Vrijmaking. Often people have wondered – to say the least – why the Reformed were busy with their internal struggles in a time when national suffering and conflict required all hands to be on deck? A common explanation refers to innere Emigration: focusing on ecclesial issues was a kind of escape from national distress. In church they were like under a glass bell. The participants were aware of the incongruency of the situation, but proceeded with the Vrijmaking nonetheless. Van Langevelde proposes to replace the image of the glass bell by a bee hive, a more porous distinction between church and nation.