Abstract
What did the Dutch politician and theologian Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920) think about Jews, and how did he approach them in the context of the Neth-erlands? To answer this question, we focus on one of his key texts related to this subject, his pamphlet Liberalisten en Joden (1878). When he distinguished the Jews as a separate group, he did so mainly because of their non-Christian religion. This approach was complicated, for the Jewish community was quite diverse in its relation to Judaism: some were orthodox indeed, but the majority was not orthodox, or not even religious. In addition, most Jews did not like to be distinguished as a separate group, they preferred to be Dutch like every other citizen in the country. Kuyper struggled with this complication, and combined antisemitic utterances with a defense of Jewish civil rights. This resulted in an ambivalent appreciation of his relation with Jews.
| Translated title of the contribution | Critic and Defender. A talk in connection with Abraham Kuyper’s pamphlet Liberalisten en Joden from 1878.: Reflections on Abraham Kuyper's 1878 brochure Liberalists and Jews |
|---|---|
| Original language | Dutch |
| Pages (from-to) | 183-198 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | Documentatieblad voor de Nederlandse Kerkgeschiedenis na 1800 |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue number | 97 |
| Early online date | 1 Dec 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2022 |