Ontstaansgeschiedenis van kerken in Nederland

The Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (, abbreviated ''Gereformeerde kerk'') was the second largest Protestant church in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and one of the two major

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

denominations along with the Dutch Reformed Church since 1892 until being merged into the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PKN) in 2004. The PKN is the continuation of the Dutch Reformed Church, the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

History

The Reformed Churches in the Netherlands was founded in 1892 as a merger of two groups that had split off from the Dutch Reformed Church: * a part of the Christian Reformed Church in the Netherlands (''Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerk in Nederland'', CGKN), which had originated in the 1834 Dutch Reformed Church split, and * the group around Abraham Kuyper, which was formed in the 1886 Dutch Reformed Church split. The other part of the CGKN that stayed out of this union remains independent; it was renamed to " Christian Reformed Churches" in 1947. Abraham Kuyper was the most important leader of the movement, and under his leadership the ''gereformeerden'' became a separate so-called " pillar" in Dutch society, next to the ''hervormden'' and the Roman Catholics. Part of the ''gereformeerde'' pillar were for example the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Anti-Revolutionary Party, a political party now part of the Christian Democratic Appeal. Since its founding in 1892, two groups have separated from the GKN (Gereformeerde Kerk Nederland). The first split was in 1926, over a conflict about biblical interpretation: the orthodox majority maintained the historicity of the account of

Adam and Eve Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...

, while the more liberal wing deemed it merely allegorical and left to form the '' Gereformeerde Kerken in Hersteld Verband''. In 1971/1972, the GKN renounced the historic position. The second schism, called the ''Vrijmaking'' ("Liberation", that is: from synodal authority), occurred in 1944, when the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Liberated) split off from the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands. The long process of reuniting with the Dutch Reformed Church began in 1962 and ended on May 1, 2004, when the GKN, the NHK and the Evangelical Lutheran Church merged to form the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. At that time, the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands had around 675,000 members, 400,000 of whom were churchgoers. There were 857 congregations, with some 1,000 church buildings. Seven congregations did not agree with the merger and founded the Continued Reformed Churches in the Netherlands on May 8, 2004.

Theology

Until

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the ''Gereformeerde Kerk'' was characterized by a classical neo-Calvinist belief. The church thought of itself as the most true church of Christ. The main influence on the theological views was from Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck. After World War II, the character of the church changed. After 1962, it became an open church, with space and freedom for various beliefs. Modern theologians in the ''gereformeerde'' church are Gerrit Cornelis Berkouwer (1903–1996) and Harry M. Kuitert (1924–2017).

References

{{Reflist Reformed denominations in the Netherlands History of Reformed Christianity in the Netherlands Former Christian denominations Calvinist denominations established in the 19th century Christian organizations established in 1892 Christian organizations disestablished in 2004 1892 establishments in the Netherlands 2004 disestablishments in the Netherlands sv:Nederländska reformerta kyrkan