This chapter reflects on a peculiar phenomenon of contemporary religion in the Western world: the... more This chapter reflects on a peculiar phenomenon of contemporary religion in the Western world: the apparent revival of traditional Roman Catholic devotions. This phenomenon is emerging in a situation where the traditional Roman Catholic belief system is losing adherents. The same is true of church membership: the statistics still show a decline. So there is no reason to infer that the revival of popular devotions demonstrates a similar revival of traditional Roman Catholicism. On the contrary, there have to be other causes and motives for the revival of certain traditional devotions. The old forms seem to respond to new motives in present-day popular spirituality. Before broaching these questions, the chapter examines a few definitions of devotions and their relationship with spirituality. It concentrates on the revival of traditional Catholic devotions in the Netherlands in the last two or three decades, and comments on their relationship with present-day forms of spirituality. Keywords: Catholic devotions; Dutch Catholicism; Roman Catholicism; spirituality; Western world
Zijn wij de weg kwijt? Is Nederland of is zelfs de hele westerse wereld van God los? Zijn wij red... more Zijn wij de weg kwijt? Is Nederland of is zelfs de hele westerse wereld van God los? Zijn wij redeloos, radeloos en redde-loos, zoals in het rampjaar 1672, maar dan nu door ons onvermogen om zin en betekenis aan ons bestaan te verlenen? Weten wij simpel-weg niet meer waar wij de zingeving van ons bestaan, de betekenis van ons leven en dat van anderen, moeten zoeken? Het lijkt er sterk op.
In de vorige drie nummers van deze jaargang van Speling stonden goedheid, schoonheid en waarheid ... more In de vorige drie nummers van deze jaargang van Speling stonden goedheid, schoonheid en waarheid centraal. Maar hebben het werken aan het goede, het streven naar het schone en het zoeken naar het ware ook iets met elkaar te maken? Vallen zij in een zinvol verband samen? Of zijn het op zichzelf staande bezigheden? Zin in vele zinnen Wij gebruiken het woord 'zin' in vele betekenissen. De nieuwe Dikke van Dale noemt er veertien. En van die veertien betekenissen is 'bete-kenis' zelf er één. De zin van iets is de betekenis, de strekking of be-doeling ervan. Maar die betekenis, strekking of bedoeling moeten we doorgaans halen uit de samenhang tussen de onderdelen van datgene wat zin geeft. Woorden ontvangen als het ware hun betekenis uit de ordening waarmee ze in een zin-in de betekenis van volzin-zijn ge-plaatst. Die zin is dan een syntactisch verband dat een gedachte of een mededeling uitdrukt. De plaatsing in de zin geeft meerwaarde aan de woorden: samen krijgen ze betekenis, vormen ze een zinvol geheel. De woorden worden meer dan ze in hun afzonderlijkheid zouden zijn. Zouden we de woorden los na elkaar en in een willekeurige volg-orde uitspreken, dan zou dat betekenisloos gebrabbel lijken, of op zijn best een experimenteel gedicht. De woorden zouden 'zinledig' zijn: leeg van betekenis. Maar door de geordende wijze waarop ze met el-kaar verbonden zijn, kunnen ze ons iets zeggen. Ze krijgen zin. Die zinnen kunnen lang of kort zijn, krom of krachtig, helder of ingewik-keld. Maar ze vertellen wel allemaal iets. 'They make sense', zouden we in het Engels zeggen. Die betekenis kan ook ons gedrag beïnvloeden. Zin heeft immers ook te maken met motivatie, met animo, dus met een innerlijke ge-moedsgesteldheid. 'We hebben er zin in.' Dat wil zeggen: we zijn ge-motiveerd om te doen wat we gaan doen. Die motivatie ontlenen we aan de betekenis die we toekennen aan die activiteit waar we zin in moeten hebben. 'Heb je zin om een artikel voor Speling te schrijven?'
A collection of essays on the Devotio Moderna and its contexts — the emergence of inwardness, ind... more A collection of essays on the Devotio Moderna and its contexts — the emergence of inwardness, individualization, and religious agency in the late medieval Low Countries and surrounding areas. Recent scholarship on the Middle Ages has highlighted the importance of individualistic tendencies in devotion in both the lay world and religious communities. This interaction between individualization and religious agency has been scrutinized in numerous studies, focusing on the beginnings during the so-called ‘Twelfth-Century Renaissance’, and further development in the later medieval and early modern periods. However, there has hitherto been relatively little scholarship on the phenomenon in the Devotio Moderna: the flourishing of more personalized forms of devotion in north-western Europe during the later Middle Ages. The essays in this volume redress this gap by exploring the processes of inwardness and the emergent individualization of religious practices in the late medieval Low Countries. The essays explore issues including the early impact of the printing press on devotion; meditational aids such as identification with Christ, prayer cycles, practices of remembrance, and devout songs; and the tension between inner devotion and the ideal of communal piety in male and female religious communities. They also discuss some leading individuals of the Devotio movement.
Abstract In the Dutch migration context, the deployment of Islamic ritual experts in the ritual c... more Abstract In the Dutch migration context, the deployment of Islamic ritual experts in the ritual cleansing of the deceased has become very common. The imams of the local mosques are performing death rites as part of their professional duties but there is a growing number of ‘volunteers’ involved. An upcoming phenomenon in the migration context and although widely deployed, they are the same time rather invisible. What motivates these people to become involved in death rites of people they often do not know? And how is their ritual authority recognised? A multi-layered approach provides insight in the expert’s role and their motivation and authority at a personal level as well as at a social (interpersonal) and a religious (transpersonal) level. It shows the various configurations that make up each expert’s motivation and authority. This approach hands insights in the diversity of Muslim communities in a small town migration context. Tangible leads that can help professionals to provide more tailor made assistance to Muslims and migrants in cases of death. Vignettes are drawn from qualitative research data collected from fieldwork (interviews, observations and participations) conducted in Venlo (NL).
NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion
In her book Material Christianity, published in 1995, the American scholar of religion Colleen Mc... more In her book Material Christianity, published in 1995, the American scholar of religion Colleen McDannell calls attention to the importance of material culture in the everyday religious practice of American Christians in the 19th and 20th century. Her book demonstrates a breakthrough in the study of the history of Christianity: the one-sided emphasis on institutions and convictions gave way to an approach that also includes objects, places, practices, rituals, embodiment, and the senses. In this article McDannell’s book is introduced and situated within her own scholarly work, within the shift from Church history to the history of (Christian) religiosity and within the growing awareness of the importance of the material, physical, and sensory dimensions of religion.
This chapter reflects on a peculiar phenomenon of contemporary religion in the Western world: the... more This chapter reflects on a peculiar phenomenon of contemporary religion in the Western world: the apparent revival of traditional Roman Catholic devotions. This phenomenon is emerging in a situation where the traditional Roman Catholic belief system is losing adherents. The same is true of church membership: the statistics still show a decline. So there is no reason to infer that the revival of popular devotions demonstrates a similar revival of traditional Roman Catholicism. On the contrary, there have to be other causes and motives for the revival of certain traditional devotions. The old forms seem to respond to new motives in present-day popular spirituality. Before broaching these questions, the chapter examines a few definitions of devotions and their relationship with spirituality. It concentrates on the revival of traditional Catholic devotions in the Netherlands in the last two or three decades, and comments on their relationship with present-day forms of spirituality. Keywords: Catholic devotions; Dutch Catholicism; Roman Catholicism; spirituality; Western world
Zijn wij de weg kwijt? Is Nederland of is zelfs de hele westerse wereld van God los? Zijn wij red... more Zijn wij de weg kwijt? Is Nederland of is zelfs de hele westerse wereld van God los? Zijn wij redeloos, radeloos en redde-loos, zoals in het rampjaar 1672, maar dan nu door ons onvermogen om zin en betekenis aan ons bestaan te verlenen? Weten wij simpel-weg niet meer waar wij de zingeving van ons bestaan, de betekenis van ons leven en dat van anderen, moeten zoeken? Het lijkt er sterk op.
In de vorige drie nummers van deze jaargang van Speling stonden goedheid, schoonheid en waarheid ... more In de vorige drie nummers van deze jaargang van Speling stonden goedheid, schoonheid en waarheid centraal. Maar hebben het werken aan het goede, het streven naar het schone en het zoeken naar het ware ook iets met elkaar te maken? Vallen zij in een zinvol verband samen? Of zijn het op zichzelf staande bezigheden? Zin in vele zinnen Wij gebruiken het woord 'zin' in vele betekenissen. De nieuwe Dikke van Dale noemt er veertien. En van die veertien betekenissen is 'bete-kenis' zelf er één. De zin van iets is de betekenis, de strekking of be-doeling ervan. Maar die betekenis, strekking of bedoeling moeten we doorgaans halen uit de samenhang tussen de onderdelen van datgene wat zin geeft. Woorden ontvangen als het ware hun betekenis uit de ordening waarmee ze in een zin-in de betekenis van volzin-zijn ge-plaatst. Die zin is dan een syntactisch verband dat een gedachte of een mededeling uitdrukt. De plaatsing in de zin geeft meerwaarde aan de woorden: samen krijgen ze betekenis, vormen ze een zinvol geheel. De woorden worden meer dan ze in hun afzonderlijkheid zouden zijn. Zouden we de woorden los na elkaar en in een willekeurige volg-orde uitspreken, dan zou dat betekenisloos gebrabbel lijken, of op zijn best een experimenteel gedicht. De woorden zouden 'zinledig' zijn: leeg van betekenis. Maar door de geordende wijze waarop ze met el-kaar verbonden zijn, kunnen ze ons iets zeggen. Ze krijgen zin. Die zinnen kunnen lang of kort zijn, krom of krachtig, helder of ingewik-keld. Maar ze vertellen wel allemaal iets. 'They make sense', zouden we in het Engels zeggen. Die betekenis kan ook ons gedrag beïnvloeden. Zin heeft immers ook te maken met motivatie, met animo, dus met een innerlijke ge-moedsgesteldheid. 'We hebben er zin in.' Dat wil zeggen: we zijn ge-motiveerd om te doen wat we gaan doen. Die motivatie ontlenen we aan de betekenis die we toekennen aan die activiteit waar we zin in moeten hebben. 'Heb je zin om een artikel voor Speling te schrijven?'
A collection of essays on the Devotio Moderna and its contexts — the emergence of inwardness, ind... more A collection of essays on the Devotio Moderna and its contexts — the emergence of inwardness, individualization, and religious agency in the late medieval Low Countries and surrounding areas. Recent scholarship on the Middle Ages has highlighted the importance of individualistic tendencies in devotion in both the lay world and religious communities. This interaction between individualization and religious agency has been scrutinized in numerous studies, focusing on the beginnings during the so-called ‘Twelfth-Century Renaissance’, and further development in the later medieval and early modern periods. However, there has hitherto been relatively little scholarship on the phenomenon in the Devotio Moderna: the flourishing of more personalized forms of devotion in north-western Europe during the later Middle Ages. The essays in this volume redress this gap by exploring the processes of inwardness and the emergent individualization of religious practices in the late medieval Low Countries. The essays explore issues including the early impact of the printing press on devotion; meditational aids such as identification with Christ, prayer cycles, practices of remembrance, and devout songs; and the tension between inner devotion and the ideal of communal piety in male and female religious communities. They also discuss some leading individuals of the Devotio movement.
Abstract In the Dutch migration context, the deployment of Islamic ritual experts in the ritual c... more Abstract In the Dutch migration context, the deployment of Islamic ritual experts in the ritual cleansing of the deceased has become very common. The imams of the local mosques are performing death rites as part of their professional duties but there is a growing number of ‘volunteers’ involved. An upcoming phenomenon in the migration context and although widely deployed, they are the same time rather invisible. What motivates these people to become involved in death rites of people they often do not know? And how is their ritual authority recognised? A multi-layered approach provides insight in the expert’s role and their motivation and authority at a personal level as well as at a social (interpersonal) and a religious (transpersonal) level. It shows the various configurations that make up each expert’s motivation and authority. This approach hands insights in the diversity of Muslim communities in a small town migration context. Tangible leads that can help professionals to provide more tailor made assistance to Muslims and migrants in cases of death. Vignettes are drawn from qualitative research data collected from fieldwork (interviews, observations and participations) conducted in Venlo (NL).
NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion
In her book Material Christianity, published in 1995, the American scholar of religion Colleen Mc... more In her book Material Christianity, published in 1995, the American scholar of religion Colleen McDannell calls attention to the importance of material culture in the everyday religious practice of American Christians in the 19th and 20th century. Her book demonstrates a breakthrough in the study of the history of Christianity: the one-sided emphasis on institutions and convictions gave way to an approach that also includes objects, places, practices, rituals, embodiment, and the senses. In this article McDannell’s book is introduced and situated within her own scholarly work, within the shift from Church history to the history of (Christian) religiosity and within the growing awareness of the importance of the material, physical, and sensory dimensions of religion.
Religiosity was ubiquitous during the later Middle Ages. Divine services influenced both the pubU... more Religiosity was ubiquitous during the later Middle Ages. Divine services influenced both the pubUc domain and the course of each individual's life, and thus established a widely experienced commuaaUty. Individual believers, however, had ample opportunities to develop a highly personalized devotion, side by side with, and sometimes even sUghdy detached from official doctrine. Their creativity and the diversity of their inner beliefs are the main focus of this conference. The transmitted source material is perhaps as diverse as the many forms of personal devotion, and meditational literature and prayer books are on closer inspection often highly individualized products, sometimes sizeable compositions demonstrating personal choices and convictions, and testifying to inner development as well as interchanged experiences. Recent historiography has pointed at this individualization of Western Christianity in the later Middle Ages, and focused on the preponderance of personal devotion at the cost of shared religious practices. Thus, representatives of the Modern Devotion especially propagated that the quality of religious Ufe was determined no less by personal, inner devotion in one's own heart than by shared liturgy. Thomas a Kempis, for instance, emphasizes the importance of an intense, and personal, desire for God. Who lacks this, 'must long for this desire' {Imitation of Christ, III, 14, 8). IndividuaUzation inevitably resulted in greater diversity of religious life, but did not automatically lead to too much divergence. Religious communities, but lay groups also, discussed about beliefs and practices, sometimes very candidly. They could disagree, but nevertheless did not loose touch of one another. This conference aims to establish how individual beUevers were not only children of their age, but shaped this age as weU.
A collection of essays on the Devotio Moderna and its contexts — the emergence of inwardness, ind... more A collection of essays on the Devotio Moderna and its contexts — the emergence of inwardness, individualization, and religious agency in the late medieval Low Countries and surrounding areas.
Recent scholarship on the Middle Ages has highlighted the importance of individualistic tendencies in devotion in both the lay world and religious communities. This interaction between individualization and religious agency has been scrutinized in numerous studies, focusing on the beginnings during the so-called ‘Twelfth-Century Renaissance’, and further development in the later medieval and early modern periods.
However, there has hitherto been relatively little scholarship on the phenomenon in the Devotio Moderna: the flourishing of more personalized forms of devotion in north-western Europe during the later Middle Ages. The essays in this volume redress this gap by exploring the processes of inwardness and the emergent individualization of religious practices in the late medieval Low Countries. The essays explore issues including the early impact of the printing press on devotion; meditational aids such as identification with Christ, prayer cycles, practices of remembrance, and devout songs; and the tension between inner devotion and the ideal of communal piety in male and female religious communities. They also discuss some leading individuals of the Devotio movement.
Zeventig jaar na Willem van de Pol: een fenomenologische benadering van de oecumene, 2018
Zeventig jaar geleden, in augustus 1948, vond in Amsterdam de oprichtingsvergadering plaats van d... more Zeventig jaar geleden, in augustus 1948, vond in Amsterdam de oprichtingsvergadering plaats van de Wereldraad van Kerken. Twee maanden later sprak Willem van de Pol in Nijmegen zijn inaugurale rede uit als hoogleraar Phaenomenologie van het protestantisme. Zijn leeropdracht was wereldwijd de eerste op het gebied van het protestantisme aan een katholieke universiteit. Beide gebeurtenissen zijn met elkaar verbonden: katholieken mochten van Rome niet aanwezig zijn bij de oprichting van de Wereldraad, maar door de Nijmeegse leeropdracht konden zij tonen toch niet afzijdig te blijven bij de oecumenische beweging. Willem van de Pol (1897-1988) bepleitte een fenomenologische benadering van de diversiteit van het christendom: niet oordelend en niet normatief, maar door beschrijving, vergelijking en analyse streven naar begrip. Hij is daar zijn hele leven trouw aan gebleven. Peter Nissen laat de actualiteit van die benadering zien. Hij bepleit onderzoek naar de diversiteit in het geleefde geloof van christenen uit verschillende tradities.
Uploads
Papers
Recent scholarship on the Middle Ages has highlighted the importance of individualistic tendencies in devotion in both the lay world and religious communities. This interaction between individualization and religious agency has been scrutinized in numerous studies, focusing on the beginnings during the so-called ‘Twelfth-Century Renaissance’, and further development in the later medieval and early modern periods.
However, there has hitherto been relatively little scholarship on the phenomenon in the Devotio Moderna: the flourishing of more personalized forms of devotion in north-western Europe during the later Middle Ages. The essays in this volume redress this gap by exploring the processes of inwardness and the emergent individualization of religious practices in the late medieval Low Countries. The essays explore issues including the early impact of the printing press on devotion; meditational aids such as identification with Christ, prayer cycles, practices of remembrance, and devout songs; and the tension between inner devotion and the ideal of communal piety in male and female religious communities. They also discuss some leading individuals of the Devotio movement.
Willem van de Pol (1897-1988) bepleitte een fenomenologische benadering van de diversiteit van het christendom: niet oordelend en niet normatief, maar door beschrijving, vergelijking en analyse streven naar begrip. Hij is daar zijn hele leven trouw aan gebleven.
Peter Nissen laat de actualiteit van die benadering zien. Hij bepleit onderzoek naar de diversiteit in het geleefde geloof van christenen uit verschillende tradities.