Church Ordinances and Regulations of the Dutch Synods ‘Under the Cross’ (1563-1566) Compared With the French (1559-1563)

1991 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 187-205
Author(s):  
F. R. J. Knetsch
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Elizabeth I ◽  
Philip Ii ◽  
Charles V ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Church

In 1559 Philip II left the Netherlands for Spain, where, from then on, he was to rule his empire. The government of the Provinces united by his father, Charles V, was left to his bastard sister Margaret, Duchess of Parma. Although she faithfully followed the Habsburg line, which in religion meant opposing Protestantism, her reign was characterized by a certain lack of firmness, enabling opposing factions to assert themselves. Shortly before Philip’s departure, Henry II, his French rival, had died in a tournament. His children and widow were as unable to quell the religious unrest in France as Margaret was in the Netherlands. In this situation, Calvinism grew irresistibly: from around 1555, it had already increased greatly in strength under Henry II, and in 1559 it had managed to hold a synod in Paris. That synod, as well as drawing up a Confession of Faith, produced its Discipline or Church Ordinance; and the best way of tracing the growth of Calvinism is to examine how rapidly the synods met, and to see how the Church Ordinances were adjusted to meet particular circumstances. That this development in the French Reformed Church had repercussions in the adjoining Netherlands, where the same language was spoken, at least in part, needs scarcely to be emphasized. Besides, during the reign of Elizabeth I, Calvinist refugee congregations were established in England, and these, in turn, could be used as bases for serving the Netherlands.

Christians, Jews and Muslims in the Same Society: The Fall of Convivencia in Medieval Spain

1978 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 121-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Highfield
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Medieval Spain ◽  
Philip Ii ◽  
Charles V ◽  
Crown Of Aragon ◽  
Christian Brothers ◽  
The Government ◽  
Council Of State

On 1 March 1492 the Jews were expelled from Spain. Ten years later the Moorish inhabitants of Castile were offered the alternative of conversion or emigration. The fate of the Moors in the kingdoms of the Crown of Aragon was deferred until the reign of the emperor Charles V. But though he kept the inquisition out of Aragon for forty years, he did not succeed in reconciling his Morisco subjects with their Christian brothers. Philip II failed much more notably. For his policy stimulated the great Morisco revolt of 1568–70. Thereafter they were scattered round the kingdom in a forced diaspora. In 1582 their expulsion was proposed in the council of state. Finally in 1609–10 the government of Philip III, chastened by the twelve years truce in the Netherlands, set about the expulsion of all the three hundred thousand or so Moriscos who remained.

Non-Geographic Classes? Reformed Geography

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-68
Author(s):  
Leon van den Broeke
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Reformed Church In America ◽  
Theological Perspective ◽  
Reformed Churches ◽  
The Church

Abstract The Reformed Church in America is wrestling with an interesting question in ecclesiology and church order: is there a place within the church for so-called non-geographic classes. Non-geographic classes are classes which are not formed around a geographic regional principal, but by agreement in theological perspective or a peculiar way that a congregation is shaped. The question central to this article is then: is there a place in Reformed churches for non-geographical classes? In answering this question, the following will be considered: a similar proposal from the Gereformeerde Bond in the Netherlands Reformed Church in 1998; the geographic-regional principle; the Walloon Classis; the Classis of Holland; the Reformed Church in America; Flying, diocesan and titular bishops and finally a conclusion.

White Brothers–Black Strangers: Dutch Calvinist Churches and Apartheid in South-Africa

Exchange ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 365-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Meijers
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Church History ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Protestant Churches ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Reformed Churches ◽  
The Church

AbstractAfter apartheid was abolished in 1994, fierce discussions within the Dutch churches on the theme of apartheid were quickly forgotten. However, we could still learn from this important chapter of church history. Erica Meijers argues that the debates during the 1970s and 1980s have their roots in the changes which the churches underwent in the 1950s and 1960s. Apartheid confronted protestant churches with their own images of black and white, their role in the colonial area and their view of the role of the church in society. All this led to a decreasing solidarity with the Afrikaners and a growing focus on black reality in South Africa. White brothers became strangers and black strangers became allies. This is in essence the transformation of attitude which both the Netherlands Reformed Church and the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands underwent between 1948 and 1972.

II. The Low Countries

1956 ◽  
Vol 12 (03) ◽  
pp. 234-245
Author(s):  
Gordon Griffiths
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Low Countries ◽  
Philip Ii ◽  
Charles V ◽  
Unique Outcome ◽  
The Middle Ages

The contest between monarchy and representative institutions had a unique outcome in the Netherlands in the sixteenth century as a result of several factors. The most obvious of these is the fact that their rulers had inherited a royal title in Castile and Aragon. The financial and administrative institutions of the modern state which the monarchs attempted to introduce into their possessions in the Low Countries were therefore bound to be regarded as foreign importations. They conflicted with the representative institutions which had grown up in the Netherlands as elsewhere in Europe during the Middle Ages. The chief of these, the Estates-General, continued to flourish in the Low Countries long after they had entered upon hopeless decline in France and Spain. Moreover, the wealth of the Low Countries, industrially, commercially, and financially the most advanced region of sixteenth-century Europe, made them an attractive target for the Hapsburg bureaucracy, harried as it was by the gargantuan task of financing the wars of Charles V and Philip II.

Die Bedeutung der Reformation Luthers für die kirchenrechtliche Entwicklung in den Niederlanden

2016 ◽  
Vol 102 (1) ◽  
pp. 381-405
Author(s):  
Herman J. Selderhuis
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Church Members ◽  
Active Involvement ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Church Polity ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Church Law ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Church

Abstract The Impact of Luther’s Reformation on the development of Church Law in the Netherlands. This essay describes how essential the specific history of the reformation in the Netherlands was for the developments of reformed church law in that country. The Dutch reformation was relatively late and was more Calvinistic than Lutheran. Calvin’s model of structuring the church, the essential effect of the refugee situation of many reformed believers and the fact that the revolt as well as the reformation were movements mainly ,from below‘, result in a church polity with the following characteristics: self-government of each individual congregation, active involvement of all church members, independence towards political authorities and a presbyterial-synodical church organisation. This church model was reached through a series of synodical meetings that started in the 1560ies and came to a conclusion at the Synod of Dordt in 1618/1619.

Die Bedeutung der Reformation Luthers für die kirchenrechtliche Entwicklung in den Niederlanden

2016 ◽  
Vol 102 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Herman J. Selderhuis
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Church Members ◽  
Active Involvement ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Church Polity ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Church Law ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Church

AbstractThe Impact of Luther’s Reformation on the development of Church Law in the Netherlands. This essay describes how essential the specific history of the reformation in the Netherlands was for the developments of reformed church law in that country. The Dutch reformation was relatively late and was more Calvinistic than Lutheran. Calvin’s model of structuring the church, the essential effect of the refugee situation of many reformed believers and the fact that the revolt as well as the reformation were movements mainly ,from below‘, result in a church polity with the following characteristics: self-government of each individual congregation, active involvement of all church members, independence towards political authorities and a presbyterial-synodical church organisation. This church model was reached through a series of synodical meetings that started in the 1560ies and came to a conclusion at the Synod of Dordt in 1618/1619.

Family Matters: William of Orange and the Habsburgs after the Abdication of Charles V (1555–67)*

2010 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 459-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liesbeth Geevers
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Common Ground ◽  
Family Identity ◽  
Philip Ii ◽  
Charles V ◽  
Dutch Revolt

AbstractThe Habsburgs and the Nassaus, who collaborated during the reign of Charles V, clashed sharply during the reign of Philip II: William of Nassau, Prince of Orange, became the leader of the Dutch Revolt. Instead of focusing on religious and political matters in the Netherlands, this article examines the underlying development of both men's dynastic identity to explain this new hostility. I argue that Habsburg family affairs — the division of the dynasty into two branches — led to an increasingly Spanish dynastic identity on Philip's part, while William could not, or would not, break free from his German-focused family identity, leading to a crucial loss of common ground between the two men.

scholarly journals Die “kerklike gesag” van kerkvergaderings soos in die kerkorde van die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk

2008 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. Strauss
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Ecclesiastical Authority ◽  
Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk ◽  
Reformed Churches ◽  
The Church ◽  
Dutch Reformed Church

The ecclesiastical authority of the assemblies in church as in the church order of the Dutch Reformed Church The point in discussion in this article is Article 20.1 of the church order of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC). In accept- ing the first version of this church order, the first general synod of the DRC in 1962 used the church order of 1959 of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (RCN) as an example. The exact wording of Article 20.1 happened to be part of the latter.   Article 20.1 gives an indication of the authority of assemblies because this is nowhere else attended to in the church order of the DRC. It explains that the authority of church governing bodies like assemblies comes from Christ. He as the actual Head of the church lends authority to these assemblies, without abdicating his position as the Head of his church. He remains the Source and Owner of ecclesiastical authority.  This means that ecclesiastical authority is founded and based on the Word of God by which it sumultaneously is limited. In exercising it’s authority, an assembly is also bound to do it in accordance with the character of the church. To speak of authority in the church is not in conflict with the character of the church as a community of believers connected by love.

The Reformed Church and Education During the Golden Age of the Dutch Republic

2005 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-70
Author(s):  
Leendert F. Groenendijk
Keyword(s):  
Elementary Education ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Dutch Republic ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The People ◽  
The Government ◽  
Public Church ◽  
The Church

AbstractFrom the very first, the Dutch Reformed Church addressed the issue of education. If the people were to be confessionalized in a Reformed direction, then the place to start was with the young. Its greatest concern was to ensure elementary education for boys and girls in the vernacular. The Reformed primary schools were expected to impart reading and writing skills, and, above all, to instill the Reformed faith by means of school catechization. The Reformed Church continually urged the government to banish all "papist" schools and to appoint only Reformed teachers. This essay discusses two major opportunities (namely, the Synod of Dort and the Treaty of Munster) to strengthen the positions of the Reformed schools and of the Reformed Church in the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic. For several reasons the Reformed "public" Church never became the church of all. School catechization was in all probability not the hoped-for popularizer of the Reformed faith.

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