"Perfect Peace for Mind and Will": How Dutch Neo-Calvinists Did (Not) Remember John Calvin
Ever since the sixteenth century, John Calvin has been remembered and commemorated in the context of what scholars call "collective memory cultures." But what exactly was collective about such collective memories? With examples drawn from Dutch neo-Calvinism, this article shows that Calvin...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2010
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| In: |
Toronto journal of theology
Year: 2010, Volume: 26, Pages: 13-26 |
| Further subjects: | B
John Calvin
B Abraham Kuyper B neo-Calvinism B Dutch Protestantism B Collective Memory |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | Ever since the sixteenth century, John Calvin has been remembered and commemorated in the context of what scholars call "collective memory cultures." But what exactly was collective about such collective memories? With examples drawn from Dutch neo-Calvinism, this article shows that Calvin representations brought in circulation by high-profile "memory managers," such as Abraham Kuyper, were not always appropriated as intended. In fact, in a number of autobiographies and other ego-documents written by non-elite members of Kuyper's neo-Calvinism, the name of the Reformer is even entirely absent. This suggests, first, that scholars must be sensitive to how individuals appropriated Calvin, how they challenged and changed the repertoires of Calvin images, and how they related their memories to each other. Second, it suggests that, despite all neo-Calvinist rhetoric, Calvin may have played a less important role in how Kuyper's followers understood themselves than the politician and church leader himself might have wished. |
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| ISSN: | 1918-6371 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Toronto journal of theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3138/tjt.26.suppl_1.13 |
