08-11-'07 | N.H. Bijleveld

Pastors promote national unity

Dutch Reformed pastors raised nationalist sentiments in the Netherlands in the first half of the nineteenth century, during the Batavian Republic, in the French era and under King William I. Thus far, little attention has been paid to the role the Church played in the emergence of nationalism in the nineteenth century.

Nikolaj Bijleveld investigated the activities conducted by pastors, both within and outside the Church, and emphasizes their strong national involvement. Pastors had been active in the civilian civilization offensive since the late eighteenth century. The government attached great value to the role of the Church as the cement of society and the nation state. Pastors let themselves be guided by feelings of patriotism. Interest in the past and the landscape was increasing. Bijleveld also studied a great number of sermons and concluded that they contributed strongly to the process of nation-building.

Nikolaj Hein Bijleveld (Denmark, 1974) studied Scandinavian languages and literature and religious studies at the University of Groningen. He will be awarded his PhD on the same day as his partner Hanneke Muthert. Bijleveld works as a lecturer in sociology of religion and an internationalization officer at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies.

Date and time

8 November 2007, 2.45 p.m.

PhD student

N.H. Bijleveld

PhD thesis

Voor God, Volk en Vaderland. De plaats van de hervormde predikant binnen de nationale eenwordingsprocessen in Nederland in de eerste helft van de negentiende eeuw [For God, people and country. The position of the Dutch Reformed pastor in the process of national unification in the Netherlands in the first half of the nineteenth century]

Supervisor

Prof. A.L. Molendijk