Protestantism

It cannot be said that any reformed tradition took the Netherlands by storm. “The victory of the Reformed church in the Netherlands came slowly, amid the upheavals of the Dutch Revolt…Furthermore, the church’s triumph was only partial.”[1] Protestantism was heavily prosecuted in the Spanish-controlled provinces. In some ways, however, this helped the growth of reform ideas; “institutional features of [Reformed] churches that developed in opposition to the governing authorities turned out to equip them well to organize the political and military defense of their interests against hostile rulers.”[2] Calvinism survived in the cracks, out of sight and all-too-aware of the constant shifts in levels of religious tolerance. Even when it gained the upper hand, the margin was miniscule. Schama claims that “an upper figure of around fifty-five percent” of the population were Calvinists, which left “a substantial minority of the population…as members of the unreformed Catholic Church, or different (and in many cases hostile) denominations of the Reformation.”^[3]

Given the harsh oppression, it seems shocking that the Reformed church persisted; the fact that it did is largely thanks to its focus on morality—what it means to be a good Christian. The Netherlands exists in a constant state of conflict with nature itself. Its prosperity hangs in a delicate balance with the ocean, reliant on it for trade and commerce while simultaneously exerting control over it through feats of engineering to reclaim valuable land. This fostered a certain attitude that was by no means tied directly to Protestantism. “The type of scriptural idiom developed in the Netherlands had always been much concerned with the regulation of social manners. This had applied as much to sixteenth-century Antwerp humanists as to seventeenth-century Leiden Calvinists.”[4] Thus, rather than introducing a new worldly outlook, the Reformed church seemingly took advantage of the anxieties already present in Dutch culture and borrowed established humanist rhetoric to encourage conversion. Calvin was deeply aware of humanist learning, as a product of it himself, and wove certain humanist ideals into his ecclesiastical ordinances in Geneva.

Since it is impossible to profit by such instruction without first knowing languages and the humanities, and also since it is necessary to prepare for the future so that the church will not be neglected by the young, it will be necessary to establish a school to instruct the youth, to prepare them not only for ministry but also for government service.[5]

One of the largest points of appeal for humanism was the preparation of young men for public office. Along with instilling personal values, the ancient Latin and Greek texts set forth philosophical guidelines for good behavior in leadership roles, allowing learned men to become lawyers, doctors, or magistrates.