How Calvinistic is modern Dutch society?

The influence of Calvinism in Dutch culture was the theme of a recent lecture at Maastricht University by Dutch author Han van der Horst. A review by Amandine de Rosnay.

Ironically or not the lecture was hosted in a former Catholic church which now serves as a lecture hall at the Faculty of Economics.

Dr van der Horst, who is the author of several books on Dutch history and culture, including The Low Sky: Understanding the Dutch, attempted to reconcile a seemingly contradictory trait of the Dutch, which leaves many of us foreigners puzzled: the co-existence of a liberal open minded attitude with a need for control and a sober approach to life. This, said Van der Horst, can be explained through the influence of Calvinism in Dutch society.

Using enthusiastic bodily gestures and pacing the stage as if he owned it, Van der Horst quickly took his audience into the heart of the matter. “Who here would define themselves as Christians?” he asked.

A show of hands revealed that most of the audience, perhaps not surprisingly in this part of the world, was Christian. A minority was Catholic, which the lecturer found somewhat strange given the fact that Maastricht and Limburg are prominently Catholic.

As it turned out, the majority of the audience was Protestant (including myself), but only a few people called themselves Calvinists. There were also a couple of Muslims and atheists in the hall.

This quick survey helped members of the audience recognise each other, and created a friendly atmosphere which remained for the rest of the talk.

Before embarking upon a complicated and long history of how Calvinism came about and flourished in the Netherlands, Van der Horst first defined the Dutch as being “Calvinists at heart”.

He characterised them as “hard working, modest and distrustful of luxury, with a certain despisal for decadence.”

Dike workers

In order to understand how these distinctive features came about, Van der Horst argued that it was necessary to go back to the historical roots of Christian faith in Europe.

One criticism I may have about this historical overview is that it required the audience to possess a sound prior knowledge of the development of Christianity or risk being lost from time to time. Van der Horst was asked several times to provide more detailed explanations about certain historical aspects. These interruptions made the lecture seem disorganised at times.

Although this historical overview was very interesting and proved useful to understand the influence of Calvinism in Dutch culture in the second part of the lecture, I think that a power point presentation with a simplified timeline would have been easier to follow. Nevertheless Van der Horst clearly mastered his subject and his enthusiasm was contagious.

He emphasised that Jean Calvin, the French theologian and religious reformer who helped develop the Christian theological system later called Calvinism, was an intellectual at heart and a revolutionist. He urged his fellow Christians to go back to the Bible as the true source of Christian faith and to establish a personal relationship with God.

Jean Calvin

In Calvinism there were no authorities but preachers or experts, no leaders but organisers. It was a bottom-up movement, a real revolution from previous ideas. “This was starting to look a lot like democracy, wasn’t it?” noted the lecturer.

At the time, Van der Horst explained, most states in Europe had a strict form of government. In a couple of odd places however, such as Switzerland and the Netherlands, citizens enjoyed more independence and were allowed to organise themselves, among others around the new Calvinist ideas.

“Read the Bible, the book for you”

The legacy of Calvinism in Dutch society
The second part of the lecture turned into a a lively exchange between Van der Horst and members of the audience. The lecturer’s open minded attitude towards the first questions relaxed the audience and was much appreciated.

One point of discussion that I found particularly interesting was the question of predestination. This seemed to have been a difficult concept for Calvin, and apparently for the audience as well. Van der Horst explained the Calvinist approach to the idea as follows: “God is all powerful and all knowing. God is outside of time and knows past, present and future. Man has free will, but God, in his greatness, already knows who is going to make it to heaven and who isn’t.”

This is a view I don’t share, but have always found difficult to argue against. I was therefore relieved when a member of the audience stood up to voice his objection and state his belief: “God predestined us all to heaven, and it is up to us to take it into our own hands.”

In Calvinism, Van der Horst went on, truth can be known by reading the Bible and it is every Christian’s duty to study the Bible. Thus developed the idea of knowledge as the basis for freedom. “In the Netherlands, Calvinism taught people to think for themselves,” said Van der Horst. “This is why the Dutch are so opinionated and have strong view-points about things. They organise a lot of meetings, debates, communal decisions and learn to compromise.”

“The Dutch organise a lot of meetings”

“On the other hand,” the lecturer noted, “shops close on Sundays; a reminder of the punishment awaiting those who are sinful and enjoy life a little too much.” Calvinism also applied very hard norms and values dictated by what was sinful and not. “Hard work is good, but enjoying life is not. No sex before marriage or on Sundays. No dancing, no music or card games.”

Coming to terms with the Dutch dichotomy between freedom and control
As a foreign student living in Maastricht for the past two years, I have always found this contradictory attitude rather unsettling. I like the freedom that allows people to be whoever they want to be whether it is a hippie or a business man. I think this is a rare quality that I will always respect this country for.

Flower Power in the Netherlands

But up until now I could never understand where the more hardline behaviour came from, which in my opinion sometimes can reach the point of rudeness.

Where I grew up in East Africa, when there are rules that do not seem to make sense in a particular situation, we just work around them and try to find an acceptable compromise for all parties.

In the Netherlands however, rules are rules. And this is something one learns in a very direct and unceremonious way that has always sent chills through my blood. There are no buts, no maybes or perhaps. “This is the way it is and do not think of arguing with me young lady!”

Rules, rules, rules

Before attending the lecture it had never crossed my mind to link this attitude to Calvinism. In fact, I was quite unaware that Calvinism had left such a strong influence in the Netherlands. The little I knew about Calvinism was that it was a strict form of Protestantism that spread a long time ago in this country. It is fascinating to discover that a two-century-old religious stream can still explain modern attitudes.

Although I am not sure whether everything in the Netherlands can be related back to Calvinism, the lecture gave me a new insight into the Dutch psyche. And correct me if I am wrong, but this seems to be quite applicable to Maastricht and perhaps the whole of Limburg as well: tolerance co-existing with strict attitudes.

I think I will be able to understand the Dutch better now, and perhaps take less offence at their brusque ways.

By Amandine de Rosnay

Amandine de Rosnay is a Mauritian/French student at University College Maastricht. She is now focusing her studies in Social Sciences, more specifically in international relations and law.

Further reading:

• Calvinism
• Jean Calvin
• History of religion in the Netherlands

St John’s Church in Maastricht
(Photos by André Machado)

St. John’s, named after St.John the Baptist, was originally built as a baptistery for the St.Servaas Chapter of Maastricht. In 1633, after a period in which it functioned as an autonomous parish church, it came into the possession of the Dutch Reformed Church, established in 1632. This as a result of the capture of Maastricht from the Spanish army in 1632 by the troops of the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands under the command of Prince Frederik Hendrik of Orange. After the establishment of a state-church, i.e. the Dutch Reformed Church, all catholic churches had become protestant in the regions already conquered.

The Prince Bishop of Liège, the Duke of Brabant and Prince Frederik Hendrik agreed that in Maastricht in principle only smaller chapels should be handed over to the protestants. The bigger churches remained catholic, which was exceptional from a national point of view. However, already in 1633 the protestant chapels proved to be too small and after new discussions two churches, one of which was St.John’s, came into the possession of the protestants. The first service of the Dutch Reformed Church took place on the 1st of January, 1634.

Since 1987 the church has been in the use of the ‘Protestantse Gemeente St. Jan’, a federation of two different reformed communities.

Source: Saint John’s Church Maastricht