scholarly journals The Most Significant Book of the Netherlands — And Its Ordinary Readers

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Annemarie Foppen ◽  
Anne-Mareike Schol-Wetter ◽  
Peter-Ben Smit ◽  
Eva van Urk-Coster
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Reading Practices ◽  
The Public ◽  
Bible Translations ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Actual Use ◽  
Church Affiliation ◽  
Bible Reading

Abstract Although the Netherlands has become one of the most secular countries in the world, the Bible still plays an important role for many people as a source of cultural and spiritual inspiration. Despite extant empirical research, there remains a pressing gap of knowledge concerning the actual use of the Bible by “ordinary readers.” This makes it more difficult for organizations such as the Dutch Bible Society to engage the public with the distribution of Bible translations and inspirational products. This large-scale mixed-method (qualitative and quantitative) research project aims to provide both practical (or commercial) and academic insights on Bible reading practices and views on the Bible among Dutch “readers” in various ‘ideological’ contexts. One of the most significant results is that biographical factors appear more indicative for how the Bible is approached than more ‘conventional’ denominational factors such as church affiliation.

scholarly journals Jacobus Capitein: Champion for Slavery and Resisting Mimic?

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Hendrik L. Bosman
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
First Year ◽  
Hybrid Identity ◽  
University Of Leiden ◽  
The Public ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Ten Commandments ◽  
Articles Of Faith ◽  
The University

Jacobus Eliza Johannes Capitein (1717-1747) was a man of many firsts-the first black student of theology at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, the first black minister ordained in the Dutch Reformed Church in the Netherlands, the author of the first Fante/Mfantse-Dutch Grammar in Ghana as well as the first translator of the Ten Commandments, Twelve Articles of Faith and parts of the Catechism into Fante/Mfantse. However, he is also remembered as the first African to argue in writing that slavery was compatible with Christianity in the public lecture that he delivered at Leiden in 1742 on the topic, De Servitute Libertati Christianae Non Contraria. The Latin original was soon translated into Dutch and became so popular in the Netherlands that it was reprinted five times in the first year of publication. This contribution will pose the question: Was Capitein a sell-out who soothed the Dutch colonial conscience as he argued with scholarly vigour in his dissertation that the Bible did not prohibit slavery and that it was therefore permissible to continue with the practice in the eighteenth century; or was he resisting the system by means of mimicry due to his hybrid identity - as an African with a European education - who wanted to spread the Christian message and be an educator of his people?

CONFORMITY, NONCONFORMITY, AND CRITICAL SOLIDARITY: The Church-State Issue and the Use of the Bible

2000 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 240-261
Author(s):  
Johannes Nissen
Keyword(s):  
Civil Disobedience ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Nationalism And Identity ◽  
Just Society ◽  
Bible Reading ◽  
The Church

AbstractThe focus of this article is on the church-state issue, particularly in relation to the use of the Bible. The article has three parts. The first introductory part identifies four contemporary challenges: the attitude of Christians toward asylum-seekers and refugees, the question of civil disobedience, the role of the church in nation-building and the problem of nationalism and identity. Then follows some notes on the question of definition and methodology. The way we define the "state" influences our selection of relevant biblical texts. Any use of the Bible must face the risk of "proof texting." The second part offers some historical comments on selected texts. This includes the traditional "state" texts as well as other texts that reveal a critical perspective on the power issue. The third part points at a number of hermeneutical problems: (1) diversity and unity in the New Testament; (2) various levels of authority; (3) selective Bible reading and the method of correlation; (4) three different ways of perceiving the church-state issue: assimilation, alienation and critical solidarity. Both formation and malformation can be the result of the encounter of the churches with the public world. The article concludes with some reflections on the search for a just society in the biblical tradition.

Effects of immigration on labour markets and government budgets: the case of the Netherlands

2004 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-398
Author(s):  
HANS ROODENBURG ◽  
ROB EUWALS ◽  
HARRY TERRELE
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Financial Burden ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Fiscal Impact ◽  
The Public ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Labour Immigration ◽  
The Impact

Employing methods extracted from the literature, in combination with data on the Dutch economy, we assess the impact of immigration on the labour market and the public sector in the Netherlands. Additional labour supply due to immigration will have only a limited positive effect on the total income of natives, though redistribution between native groups is relatively large. The long run fiscal impact of immigrants will only be positive if their labour market performance at least equals that of natives. We conclude that selective labour immigration may contribute to the economic well-being of the host country. However, large-scale immigration of labour is not considered to be effective in alleviating the financial burden of ageing in the Netherlands.

Qiuwen (Bibliomancy): Enlivening the Chinese Union Bible

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-133
Author(s):  
CHRISTIE CHUI-SHAN CHOW
Keyword(s):  
Native Language ◽  
Religious Commitment ◽  
Public Domain ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Textual Authority ◽  
Bible Reading ◽  
Initial Conversion

AbstractThe production of the Union Bible was designed to provide Chinese Protestants with a standardised sacred text to better understand and approach the Christian faith in their native language. While believers regard the translated Scripture as a moral compass that gives spiritual references to everyday challenges, the methods of acquiring these references point to individual creativity and improvisation. When the Union Bible was banned from circulation in the public domain during the Maoist period (1949–1976), Chinese church leaders were jailed and reading the Bible was deemed to be subversive, how did ordinary Protestants draw on their reading of the Union Bible to sustain their religious commitment beyond initial conversion? How did they construct a biblically-centered faith against the socialist indoctrination? This study investigates the centrality of the Union Bible among Chinese Seventh-day Adventists in Wenzhou from the 1950s to 1970s. In particular, it explores how two female Adventists enmeshed the Chinese mode of divination with their daily Bible reading for spiritual insights as they confronted personal and congregational crises in the Maoist era. It argues that this indigenous mode of Bible reading sheds light on the ways in which Chinese Adventists asserted and empowered their scriptural-textual authority, interpretive agency, and personal piety against the state's relentless atheistic propaganda.

scholarly journals The Quest for the Early Modern Bible Reader: The Dutch Vorsterman Bible (1533–1534), its Readers and Users

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-222
Author(s):  
Bert Tops
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
Actual Use ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The One ◽  
Bible Reading ◽  
The Way

Abstract This article investigates a book-archeological approach to early modern Bible reading that maps the complex interactions between the substantive elements of a book (text, paratext, illustrations) on the one hand, and its historical readers and the traces they left on the other. That method is applied to all 43 extant copies of the Dutch Vorsterman Bible of 1533–1534. The editions printed by Willem Vorsterman were for a long time regarded as Protestant. However, the Bibles had the approval of the secular and ecclesiastic authorities and were intended for a Catholic public. The edition of 1533–1534 is a glossed Bible with many historicizing, chronological, linguistic and typological paratextual elements. The former owners of the 43 Bibles and their confessional background are examined. Intended and unintended traces of use give clues to the actual use of the Bible. The article turns at the end to a heavily annotated copy, examining the religious ideas of the annotator and the way in which he used the Bible.

Is economic inequality a universal evil?

2019 ◽  
pp. 91-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rostislav I. Kapeliushnikov
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
The State ◽  
Fair Play ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
The Public ◽  
Discursive Power ◽  
A Current

Using published estimates of inequality for two countries (Russia and USA) the paper demonstrates that inequality measuring still remains in the state of “statistical cacophony”. Under this condition, it seems at least untimely to pass categorical normative judgments and offer radical political advice for governments. Moreover, the mere practice to draw normative conclusions from quantitative data is ethically invalid since ordinary people (non-intellectuals) tend to evaluate wealth and incomes as admissible or inadmissible not on the basis of their size but basing on whether they were obtained under observance or violations of the rules of “fair play”. The paper concludes that a current large-scale ideological campaign of “struggle against inequality” has been unleashed by left-wing intellectuals in order to strengthen even more their discursive power over the public.

Biblical Literacy and the English King James Liberal Bible

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-211
Author(s):  
James Crossley
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Biblical Literacy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Arena ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Liberal Capitalism ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Popular Nationalism ◽  
King James Bible

Using the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible as a test case, this article illustrates some of the important ways in which the Bible is understood and consumed and how it has continued to survive in an age of neoliberalism and postmodernity. It is clear that instant recognition of the Bible-as-artefact, multiple repackaging and pithy biblical phrases, combined with a popular nationalism, provide distinctive strands of this understanding and survival. It is also clear that the KJV is seen as a key part of a proud English cultural heritage and tied in with traditions of democracy and tolerance, despite having next to nothing to do with either. Anything potentially problematic for Western liberal discourse (e.g. calling outsiders “dogs,” smashing babies heads against rocks, Hades-fire for the rich, killing heretics, using the Bible to convert and colonize, etc.) is effectively removed, or even encouraged to be removed, from such discussions of the KJV and the Bible in the public arena. In other words, this is a decaffeinated Bible that has been colonized by, and has adapted to, Western liberal capitalism.

KETERTINDASAN MELAYU DALAM CERPEN “SUKU POMPONG” KARYA FEDLI AZIS DAN CERPEN “RUMAH DI UJUNG KAMPUNG” KARYA HANG KAFRAWI

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Marlina Marlina
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Aspects ◽  
Land Conversion ◽  
The Public ◽  
Historical Reality ◽  
Sociological Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Imaginative Literature ◽  
The Village

Reading short stories “Suku Pompong” (Pompong Tribe) and “Rumah di Ujung Kampung” (House at the End of the Village) is like reading a historical reality that is happening on the ground of Riau Malay. The exploitation of forest resources on a large scale in recent decades in Riau Province has changed the land use of the area of intact forest into plantation area. The exploitation process causes friction in the community. The friction is eventually lead to conflict between communities and plantation companies. Their struggle to resolve conflicts and maintain their ancestral land, the strength of the company that has the license to the land and sadness when the public finally has always been on the losing side. This study objected to describe the objective reality of the Malay community in terms of land conversion, the communal land into plantations and reality of imaginative literature contained in the short stories “Suku Pompong” dan “Rumah di Ujung Kampung”. This study applied the sociology of literature approach, while the sociological approach to literature is a literary approach that specializes in reviewing literature by considering the social aspects. Based on these approaches, it can be concluded that short stories Suku Pompong and Rumah di Ujung Jalan are short stories that raised the reality of the Malay community.AbstrakMembaca cerpen “Suku Pompong” dan cerpen “Rumah di Ujung Kampung” seperti membaca sebuah realita sejarah yang terjadi di tanah Melayu Riau. Ekploitasi sumber daya hutan secara besar-besaran pada beberapa dekade terakhir di Provinsi Riau telah mengubah tata guna lahan dari kawasan hutan yang utuh menjadi kawasan perkebunan. Proses eksploitasi tersebut menimbulkan gesekan-gesekan dalam masyarakat. Gesekan-gesekan inilah yang akhirnya menimbulkan konflik antara masyarakat dengan pihak perusahaan perkebunan. Perjuangan masyarakat dalam menyelesaikan konflik dan mempertahankan tanah leluhur mereka, kekuatan pihak perusahaan yang memiliki surat izin atas tanah tersebut, dan kesedihan ketika masyarakat akhirnya selalu berada di pihak yang kalah. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan realitas objektif masyarakat Melayu Riau dalam hal alih fungsi lahan, dari lahan tanah ulayat menjadi lahan perkebunan, dan realititas imajinatif sastra yang terdapat dalam cerpen “Suku Pompong” dan cerpen “Rumah di Ujung Kampung”. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan sosiologi sastra, yaitu suatu pendekatan sastra yang mengkhususkan diri dalam menelaah karya sastra dengan mempertimbangkan segi-segi sosial kemasyarakatan. Dari pendekatan tersebut dapat diambil kesimpulan bahwa cerpen “Suku Pompong” dan cerpen “Rumah di Ujung Kampung” memang merupakan cerpen yang mengangkat realitas masyarakat Melayu Riau.

Marketing Responsible Drinking Effectively to Young Adults

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Colby Doyle ◽  
Matthew Gaudet ◽  
Dominic Lay ◽  
Amber McLeod ◽  
Robert Schaeffer
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Drinking Patterns ◽  
Major Question ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Third ◽  
Current Consumption ◽  
Sample Data ◽  
Vague Quantifiers ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Alberta Health

The primary goal of this research is to identify and examine the components of responsible drinking advertisements. We will examine industry and government related advertisements as we try to understand one of our major questions: does the source influence the validity of the message? The next group of major questions that we will be looking to answer is how are the vague quantifiers used in responsible drinking campaigns interpreted by the public?  How many drinks do people consider “too much?” What does “drink responsibly” really mean? The third major question is whether or not an individual’s current consumption patterns of alcohol have any effect on how individuals assess responsible drinking campaigns. Our qualitative research has indicated that social influences can be strongly related with drinking patterns; this will be further examined in our quantitative research. Also, we will be looking into some of the psychology behind industry and government sponsored advertisements as well as gathering and interpreting information from a sample of our target demographic. Our target demographic consists of both male and females between the ages 18-24. Our literature review and qualitative analysis gave us good insight into some of the potential answers to our questions. We will use these potential answers from our previous research to guide us as we attempt to conduct conclusive research based on a sample data of 169 individuals. Our findings will aid us in developing conclusions and recommendations for Alberta Health Services.

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