The 1886 Dutch Reformed Church split, also known as Doleantie (from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

''dolere'', 'to feel sorrow') was the name of a prominent

schism A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...

in the

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

(''Nederlands Hervormde Kerk'') which took place in 1886 and was led by the renowned minister

Abraham Kuyper Abraham Kuyper (; ; 29 October 1837 – 8 November 1920) was the Prime Minister of the Netherlands between 1901 and 1905, an influential neo-Calvinist theologian and a journalist. He established the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, which u ...

. The Doleantie was not the first schism in the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1834 another schism, the Secession of 1834 ''(Afscheiding van 1834)'', had led to the formation of the Christian Reformed Church in the Netherlands ''(Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerk in Nederland)''. In 1885 the first moves towards schism were made when Kuyper and his supporters issued a formal complaint about liberalizing practices in the Dutch Reformed Church. Their complaint never won broad support within the church, and in the winter of 1885-1886 the call for schism grew stronger amongst a large number of conservative congregations, most of which were located in the

Veluwe The Veluwe () is a forest-rich ridge of hills (1100 km2) in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands. The Veluwe features many different landscapes, including woodland, heath, some small lakes and Europe's largest sand drifts. The Ve ...

area and elsewhere in what is today the Dutch Bible Belt. The first congregation to secede was

Kootwijk Kootwijk (West Low German: ''Kodek'') (population estimate: 280) is a small village in the municipality Barneveld, located in the middle of the Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland. History It was first mentioned between 1333 and 1334 as ...

, on 7 February 1886 appointed a minister trained at the

Free University of Amsterdam The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, being founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research ...

without waiting for permission of its classis. The following day the congregation in Voorthuizen followed suit. The seceded congregations united in the ''Low German Reformed Church (Dolerende)'' (''Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk (Dolerende)''). ''Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk'' had been the official name of the Dutch Reformed Church until 1816 and with this name the seceded churches wanted to show that they thought of themselves as the legitimate continuation of this church, which was highly prominent in the Dutch Republic. The suffix ''(Dolerende)'', meaning 'those who feel sorrow', was added to show their disapproval with the Dutch Reformed Church. Later in 1886 Kuyper and his supporters occupied the New Church in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

, the seat of the governing body of the Reformed Church, to force a settlement in the conflict over church property that had followed the Doleantie. In July 1886 the ''dolerenden'' had to accept a verdict against them. In 1892 the ''Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerken (Dolerende)'' merged with the Christian Reformed Church in the Netherlands to form the

Reformed Churches in the Netherlands {{Infobox Christian denomination , name = Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Dutch ''Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland'') , image = , caption = , main_classification = Protestant , orientation = Calvinist , polity = Presbyterianism , ...

External links

Description of the history of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PKN)Information about the Dutch Reformed Church ''(Nederlands Hervormde Kerk)'' in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PKN)

Information about the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands ''(Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland)'' in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PKN)
{{Authority control History of Calvinism in the Netherlands Dutch Reformed Church 19th-century Calvinism 1886 in Christianity

See also

External links