The Low Countries as a Crossroads of Religious Beliefs (Intersections)

Situated at the crossroads of important trade routes, the bustling seaports of the Low Countries not only traded cargoes of grain and timber, silk and spices, woollen cloth and splendidly executed altarpieces, but also manuscripts and books, news, information, ideas and gossip. Thus the Netherlands were touched by the evangelical Reformation movement at an early stage and played an increasingly important role as a crossroads for religious and philosophical ideas, serving as an intermediary between different parts of the world. The third volume of Intersections is devoted to this aspect of the ‘intertraffic of the mind.’ Thirteen authors from various disciplines address issues such as: How ‘open’ were the various religious groups to new points of view and how did they react to each other’s opinion? How did they get familiar with new insights and different attitudes, and what was the role of trade and traffic in spreading them? How important was the part played by the various church and civil authorities, on the different levels of local, regional and national government?

Contributors include: Paul Arblaster, Pieta van Beek, Ralph Dekoninck, Jeanine De Landtsheer, Agnès Guiderdoni-Bruslé, Jason Harris, Christine Kooi, Fred van Lieburg, Guido Marnef, Mia M. Mochizuki, Henk van Nierop, Charles H. Parker, P.J. Schuffel, and J.J.V.M. de Vet.

Arie Jan Gelderblom, Ph.D. (1991), Utrecht, teaches Early Modern Dutch Literature in Utrecht University, the Netherlands. His research and publications focus on cultural analysis of colonial texts, word-image relationships and topographical poetry. He lectured in Universities in France, Poland, South-Africa and Indonesia. During Fall Term 2003-2004 Gelderblom was Erasmus Lecturer on the History and Civilization of the Netherlands and Flanders at Harvard University.
Jan L. de Jong, Ph.D. (1987) in Art History, Leiden University, is Assistant Professor of Italian Renaissance Art at Groningen University, The Netherlands. He has published extensively on sixteenth century painting in Italy.
Marc van Vaeck, Ph.D. (1994), is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Literature at the University of Leuven. Publications on sixteenth and seventeenth century Dutch literature, and Dutch emblem literature. Since 2001 he is also editor of Spiegel der Letteren. Tijdschrift voor Nederlandse Literatuurgeschiedenis en voor Literatuurwetenschap.