Publications

This page contains a complete overview of all my non-Dutch publications. See the Dutch page for publications in Dutch.

On the Construction of Religious Texts. The Case of Writing a Catechism

Religious texts represent a specific rhetorical genre. What does it mean to construct these texts? In order to answer this question we reflect upon our experience of co-authoring a religious text, the Ordinary Catechism (Gewone Catechismus), published in 2019. The findings …

You Can Remove a Person from the War, But Not the War from a Person

The following case description touches on a painful chapter in the Netherlands’ national history: the deployment of Dutch soldiers in the Dutch East Indies. The description deals with an army chaplain`s home visit to 89 years old Mr Klaas2, a veteran of World War II as …

The Personal Presence of the Preacher in Preaching: An Explorative Study on Self-Disclosure in Sermons at Pentecost

How does self-disclosure work in preaching? This study explores that question empirically, using a variety of data collection methods such as sermon analysis, focus groups, and interviews. Self-disclosure is an ambiguous concept in homiletical and theological literature, and …

Response to Anathea Portier-Young

The fear of the Lord should be understood as an emotional response to divine power (PortierYoung). Equating fear of God with worship or with obedience reduces it to a pious spirituality on the one hand or to a political-ethical agenda on the other. Both options, …

Predigen erinnert Gott an sein erstes Wort. Homiletische Überlegungen zu einer Predigt von Martin Luther

Jedes Jahr beginne ich den Kurs Feiern und Predigen (Vieren en preken) innerhalb der Pfarrerausbildung an der Protestantse Theologische Universiteit mit der Predigt von Martin Luther über die Kanaänitische Frau nach Matthäus 15. Luther predigte häufiger über diese Perikope, …

Legal Euthanasia in Pastoral Practice: Experiences of Pastors in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands

This representative survey amongst 653 ministers in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands (PKN) maps their experiences and views with regard to euthanasia. We found that three-quarters of the ministers have experience with euthanasia requests from their parishioners. …

Do Military Chaplains Preach? Exploring Sermons for Soldiers by Protestant Military Chaplains in the Dutch Army

This paper provides an introduction to the study of the sermons of military chaplains based on 10 sermons by Army and Navy chaplains within the context of peacekeeping missions. Three concepts emerge from these data, focusing upon the homiletical activity of military …

Comparing Multiple Case Studies of (Military) Chaplaincy Care: Methodological Issues

[…] In the military chaplaincy research community that we are both involved in as researchers, the issue of case comparison emerged while discussing single cases. This research community consists of six military chaplains, working in multiple contexts of the Dutch …

Preaching (as) Atonement

Atonement is a central doctrine in Christian theology. Even though preaching is not about doctrines, doctrine does operate in and through preaching. In this essay the relationship between atonement and preaching is explored. Based upon a contemporary theological analysis of …

Do Military Chaplains Preach? Exploring Sermons for Soldiers by Protestant Military Chaplains in the Dutch Army

The practice of Military Chaplains has been studied from various angles (sociological, historical, ethical) except from an empirical homiletical perspective. What do military chaplains do when they preach, if `preaching’ is the correct label for their (religious) …

Bookreview: Kevin J. Vanhoozer and Owen Strachan, The Pastor as Public Theologian. Reclaiming a Lost Vision (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2015), Xi + 221 Pp., US$21.99. (ISBN 9780801097713).

The urgency for this book is felt throughout as the identity of the pastor is at stake. Who is the pastor, what is the pastor’s role, not only in church but also in representing the Christian faith in wider society? And even more pressing: what does it entail that …

Using the Bible as a Protestant Religious Practice

[…] In order to address the question of how the use of the Bible in Protestantism interacts with culture, I depart from two assumptions. First, Protestantism stimulated a specific use of the Bible, indicated by practices like the authority of biblical texts in …

Researching the Listener? The Paradox of the Individual in Sermon Reception Research and a Reassessment of Preaching as Caring for the Community of Faith

Empirical research in homiletics tends to focus upon the individual listener. This seems equally true for earlier quantitative as well as for the current dominant paradigm of qualitative research. This paper explores the boundaries between the interest in the (meaning …

Reforming Preaching. Refugees in European Sermons from the Perspectives of Space, Body and Politics

Preaching has been a means of moral and political communication. In this article we address the question how preaching addresses societal issues, focusing upon the case of what has been called the ‘European refugee crisis’. Relating to the conference theme, the perspectives …

In Spirit and Truth. Practical-Theological Considerations on Israel in Christian Spirituality

Christian theology, though, aims to focus on the subject of the uniqueness and the essence of the revelation of Jesus Christ. In this essay I approach this question from the perspective of Christian spirituality. ‘Salvation is from the Jews’, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman …

Homiletic Transitions in The Netherlands

Preaching is in transition, so is homiletics as the theory of preaching. In this article the development of homiletics in the Low Countries is explored as a case-study within the dynamics of international homiletical thought. The material for this case-study consists of the …

Die Verwendung Des Heidelberger Katechismus in Der Glaubensunterweisung

Auch wenn der konfessionelle Status sicher zur weltweiten Verbreitung des Lehrbuchs beigetragen hat, ist die Brauchbarkeit für die Glaubensunterweisung im 21. Jahrhundert auf dem Kontinent, wo der HK zuerst gedruckt wurde, nicht mehr selbstverstn̈dlich. Die vier …

A Future for the HC in Tomorrow's Instruction?

[…] this article is about the Heidelberg Catechism and not about the presentation of a new Goudse Catechismus. I would like to bring forward a thesis at the end of this contribution, but first I would like to share a few personal experiences with you. These will then …

Preaching as Picturing God in a Fragmented World

The Ninth meeting of Societas Homiletica was held from August 1 to 5, 2010, on the campus of Yale Divinity School. In this collection you will read the presidential and keynote addresses that were delivered as well as the papers that were submitted and presented on the …

Hearing Sermons and the Vision of God

The theme of our conference explores how the pictures of God that we create in a sermon relate to listeners that inhabit a fragmented existence. The human condition is fragmented in itself. We rather live in ruins, the late German practical-theologian Henning Luther …

Introduction to Reformed Scholasticism

This work supplies a long-standing need in the field of early modern studies by providing a basic introduction to Reformed Scholasticism. Although technical studies abound and interest in the subject continues to rise, until the appearance of this work by Willem van Asselt …

Religious Involvement in Hearing Sermons. A Grounded Theory Study in Empirical Theology and Homiletics (Dissertation Summary)

Christians worldwide listen to sermons. Despite the decline in membership and church attendance in the Western world, many believers still consider going to church as a vital means to maintain their faith in God. These ordinary listeners have been subject of empirical …

Religious Involvement in Hearing Sermons. A Grounded Theory Study in Empirical Theology and Homiletics

Hearing sermons is an important religious practice for Christians worldwide. In Protestant theology as `theology of the Word’ it exceeds all other religious activities as a primary means of grace. Despite this centrality of religion in hearing sermons, empirical …

Reentering Sites of Truth. Learning Reformed Scholasticism in the Contemporary Classroom

Although education in Reformed Scholasticism is currently undergoing a revival, little attention has so far been paid to its didactics. We introduce two basic procedures of the Utrecht interpretation of scholasticism, which are yet little observed in contemporary research. …

Research in Homiletics

We teach homiletics in the hope that students become effective preachers. Our teaching is rather practical. We ask questions like: how to prepare and deliver a sermon, how to communicate the gospel in such a way that the community of faith is adequately addressed? But is …