Protestant Theological University

About: Protestant Theological University is a education organization based out in Kampen, Netherlands. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Religious education & Protestantism. The organization has 86 authors who have published 188 publications receiving 889 citations.

Calvinists among the Virtues: Reformed Theological Contributions to Contemporary Virtue Ethics

Abstract: Since virtue and the virtues have been important in Reformed theology for most of its history, this essay is devoted to the question of how this tradition may contribute to and interact with contemporary virtue ethics (MacIntyre, Hauerwas). Reformed concepts of sanctification as open to moral growth, covenant as a narrative context of divine commandments, and unio cum Christo as defining human teleology and virtuousness provide valuable contributions to the development of such an ethics. On the other hand, Reformed conceptions of (social) reform, natural law, common grace (Calvin) and christological eschatology (Barth) offer theological arguments for overcoming Hauerwas’s problematic overemphasis on the distinctiveness of the church’s ethic.

Loving Later Life: Aging and the Love Imperative

Abstract: The biblical love imperative—reframed as “Care for the aging other, as you care for your aging self”—is fundamental for an ethics of aging. Kantian, utilitarian, and eudaemonist theories assume an ageless, rational, active individual. Frail old age, however, comes with dependency and decay. An ethics of aging therefore needs to be relational and must account for the fear of aging. The elderly remind us that death is inescapable; the body, fallible; and self-esteem, transitory. The love command offers a relational ethics that overcomes the fear of aging and enables us to see that love for our aging self makes good elderly care possible.

Schools and Religious Communities' Contributions to the Religious Formation of Christian Youth.

Abstract: This article questions the implications of tribal forms of religious socialization for (religious) schools’ and communities’ contributions to the religious formation of Christian youth. It clarifie...

Turning East. Turning Exit? Turning to the Music! : Spatial Practice in Choral Evensongs in the Netherlands

Abstract: Since the 1980s, increasingly more choral evensongs are organized in the Netherlands, outside of the context of the Anglican Church. The evensongs attract a lot of people. Sometimes these performances are ‘staged’ as a (mostly reformed) worship, sometimes as a concert, or as a worship and a concert at the same time. Most evensongs are performed in monumental churches, which due to the 16th Century Reformation have been ‘dispositioned’. The changed disposition of the inside of these churches has considerable consequences for the spatial practice of the evensongs. Research questions in this article are: What are the consequences of the spatial practices in the Anglican choral evensong in the Netherlands regarding (religious) meaning making? Four sub questions will be answered: (1) In which church buildings are evensongs performed? (2) What is the disposition in these churches? (3) How is space used in the evensongs? (4) How to interpret this? We will interpret the Dutch spatial practices taking into account the secular-sacred tensions which are so characteristic for the Netherlands as a secularized, or rather: post-Christian country.

The sense of God’s presence in prayer

Abstract: The awareness of God’s presence and the experience of his works – key notions in practices of prayer – find reasonable doubt in our secular age. Meanwhile, there are, worldwide, many communities of faith where people enthusiastically pray and hold that they hear the voice of God. How can we understand this sense of God’s presence? In prayer, people express their hope and fear, and they do so with heart and mind. This subjective involvement is characteristic for prayer. At the same time, supplicants address God in the conviction that God is present and active. Critics of religion, however, criticise this ‘external’ realm of the divine and consider prayer a superstitious delusion. Passages of William James and John Calvin help us to get some insight in the ‘object’ of our religious consciousness. Furthermore, William Alston defends a non-sensory mystical perception of the divine. Using these insights, the author explores prayer as a conversation with God and reflects on the notion: hearing the voice of God.