Abstract
Van Baal is one of the first anthropologists who attempted to carry out research on certain aspects of Dutch religion and compare them with the same aspects of other religions studied in the field, in Indonesia1). His concern was not only to establish a documentary record, but to interrogate the data as an anthropologist with the question in mind as to why these Dutch people, as one of the varieties of mankind, expressed themselves religiously, why they did it in this way, and what was implied in the way they did it from a comparative point of view. The problem is legitimate, and the investigation of the “home religion” also belongs to the tasks of the scholarly study of religion. The interesting question is rather why at present, more than twenty-five years after Van Baal’s publication, Dutch science of religion, with a few exceptions, has hardly paid any attention to the scholarly study and interpretation of present-day religion among the Dutch themselves.2)
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Notes
See J. van Baal, Over wegen en drijfveren der religie. Een godsdienstpsychologische studie (On ways and motivations of religion. A study in psychology of religion). Amsterdam: Noord-Hollandsche Uitgeversmaatschappij, 1947
) Studies have been made by Dutch sociologists of religion and something is done now in psychology of religion on this subject. Historians and phenomenologists of religion, however, have remained largely unaware of the work being done, since they have been concerned with the study of religions other than Christianity and Judaism.
An excellent first attempt in this direction is the little volume edited by Dr. R. Boeke, Verder dan de Oekumene. Een kwart eersù ver-kenning in Nederland van religies der wereld (Wider than the Ecumene.A quarter of a century of exploring religions of the world in the Netherlands. Rotterdam, Wereldgesprek der Godsdiensten, 2nd edition 1975). The ecumenical movement itself has resulted already in a much better information about the participating churches. A survey of the churches in the Netherlands is given in C.N. Impeta, Kaart van kerkelijk Nederland, 3rd edition (Kampen: Kok, 1972, 319 pp.).
A number of data in this and also some other sections have been taken gratefully from the study by Leo Laeyendecker, The Netherlands“ which appeared in Hans Mol, ed., Western Religion: A Sociological Inquiry (Religion and Reason, Vol. 2; The Hague & Paris, Mouton, 1971), pp. 325–363. It also contains a good bibliography on the subject (pp. 356363).
L. Laeyendecker, “The Netherlands”, p. 330.
The author is indebted to Dr. R.C. Kwant and Dr. P.H. Vrijhof for discussing at length ideas of this section, and the typology given later This article would not have been written without the stimulation of these discussions.
Also at the level of higher education, the (neo-Calvinist) Vrije Universiteit (Free University) in Amsterdam was founded in 1880, the Catholic University of Nijmegen in 1923.
The dates at which the most important political parties were founded are: Anti-Revolutionaire Partij (Anti-Revolutionary Party) 1878; Roomsch KathoZieke Staatspartij (Roman Catholic State Party) 1883; Sociaal Democratische Arbeiders Partij (Social Democratic Workers Party) 1893; Christelijk Historische Unie (Christian Historical Union) 1895. Three of these parties are explicitly religious parties.
L. Laeyendecker, “The Netherlands”, p. 337.
Until 1947 the average number of living born children in the one hundred first marriages of Catholics surpassed that same number of the Gereformeerden (neo-Calvinists) with 13.6%, of the Hervormden (Dutch Reformed Church) with 44.6%, and that of those not affiliated with a church with 63.2%. On the Protestant side this has been interpreted (and I think correctly so:) as a conscious birth policy on the side of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, following its doctrine of natural law, in order to have in the end a Catholic majority in the country. If realized (and it still went into that direction during the fifties), this would have been a catastrophe for the country from a demographic point of view. The “binding advice” in the so-called mandement (1954) of the Catholic bishops in the Netherlands imposed on Catholic citizens to vote for the Catholic political party. In the Netherlands the rules of the Roman Catholic Church with regard to mixed marriages, as valid until the new decisions at Vaticanum II, were obeyed conscientiously. As far as the Netherlands are concerned, the “pill” came just in time
L. Laeyendecker, “The Netherlands”, p. 342
See the Appendix.
At the moment that this is written, the discussion on the possible definite cooperation of Protestants and Catholics in this Faculty is still going on and the result cannot be foreseen. Among the many considerations, those of scholarship and education seemed to be less than might be expected at a faculty of a regular State University (Rijksuniversiteit). During this period, weaknesses and deficiencies were critically exposed: personal honesty, administrative competence, democratic policymaking were put on trial; and the dependency on decisions taken by a professorial Männerbund or by Vatican authorities made the trial more painful. Events show to what extent such a faculty can be subject to fears from the inside, pressures from the outside, power manipulations and incompetencies, not less than other faculties.
J. van Baal, Symbols for Communication. An introduction to the anthropological study of religion (Assen, Van Gorcum & Comp. N.V. -Dr. H.J. Prakke & H.M.G. Prakke, 1971), especially Chapters X and XI.
Compare the author’s “Grundsätzliches zur Religionsphänomenologie”, Neue Zeitschrift fur Systematische Theologie and Religionsphilosophie, XIV, 3 (1972), pp. 315–335.
Both Van der Leeuw and Van Baal, in their thought on religion, pay attention mainly to nonliterate religions and enter from there into the discussion of man as a religious being. The approaches themselves are of course completely different.
It is interesting to note that at present Van Baal has an appointment in the two Faculties of Social Sciences (section of anthropology) and of Theology (section of godsdienstwetenschappen) at the University of Utrecht. It is indeed the author’s firm conviction that the study of religion and scholarship in this field should not be limited to the Faculties of Theology. The best solution would be to establish an inter-Faculty program (Arts, Social Sciences, Theology) in which students from all three faculties can obtain degrees in godsdienstwetenschap (study of religion), be it with different kinds of emphasis. In such a program scholars can work together on an interdisciplinary basis.
For a bibliography of studies related to the subject (until 1969), see L. Laeyendecker, “The Netherlands”, pp. 356–363. A recent study of the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands is Walter Goddijn, The Deferred Revolution. A Social Experiment in Church Innovation in Holland, 1960–1970 (Amsterdam-New York: Elsevier, 1974, VI + 202 p.). Compare for Belgium: K. Dobbelaere and J. Billiet, “Gods-dienst in België - Een Sociologische verkenning”, De Gids op Maatschappelijk Gebied, Vol. 64, Nr. 11 and 12 (November and December 1973), pp. 879–894 and 983–998, and Vol. 65, Nr. 1 (January 1974), pp. 39–56.
“Ingesteld in opdracht van De GeTllustreerde Pers nv. Inleiding prof. G.H.L. Zeegers, commentaren dr. G. Dekker, drs. J.W.M. Peters”. Amsterdam: Van Ditmar, 1967, pp. 312+12. Similar polls were held in Germany and among Austrian military. See: Werner Harenberg, ed., Was glauben die Deutschen? Die Emnid-Umfrage, Ergebnisse und Kommentare (München: Christian Kaiser, and Mainz: Matthias Grünewald, 1968, 242 p.) For Austrian soldiers, see: Adolf Höll and Gerhard H. Fischer, Kirche auf Distanz. Eine religionspsychologische Untersuchung über die Einstellung österreichischer Soldaten zu Kirche und Religion (Wien-Stuttgart: Verlag Braumüller, 1968, 114 p., For the Netherlands, see also Ontkerkelijking en buitenkerkelijkheid in Nederland tot 1960. Eindrapporteurs: H. Faber en T.T. ten Have (Series “Bouwstenen voor de kennis der maatschappij”, Nr. 65; Assen-Amsterdam: Van Gorcum, 1970, X + 550 p.). A review of some important studies of Dutch Protestant religious history is given by Hans Mol, “Towards a Sociology of Religious Orthodoxy”, Sociologia Neerlandica, Vol. X, Nr. 2 (1974), pp. 202–211. For the religious situation in the United Kingdom, see A Sociological Yearbook of Religion in Britain, which appears annually since 1968.
God in Nederkand, p. 292.
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Waardenburg, J.D.J. (1975). Religion and the Dutch Tribe. In: Van Beek, W.E.A., Scherer, J.H. (eds) Explorations in the anthropology of religion. Verhandelingen. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-4902-2_15
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