The Study of Religion in the Netherlands

This essay outlines the major issues and tensions in the field of theology and religious studies in the Netherlands. The institutional variety of the field is huge and one of the reasons why it is hard to come to fruitful cooperation. Moreover, as one research assessment formulates it, ‘the research landscape of theology and religious studies in the Netherlands has in a very short time gone through an amazing, and for a sound scholarly research climate barely acceptable number of changes, fusions, mergers, transfers’. This time-consuming process has put a lot of pressure on scholars. Now it is time to join forces and contribute to the future of the academic study of religion as it serves the general public interest in the Netherlands and abroad