Onheilig moeten. Drie studies over aspecten van het katholicisme

Abstract

M. Derks, Heilig moeten. Radicaal-katholiek en retro-modern in de jaren twintig en dertig
M. Monteiro, G. Ackermans, Mannen Gods. Clericale identiteit in verandering
A. van den Oord, Voor het oog van het kerkvolk. Tilburgs volksklasse tussen klerikale normering en geleefde praktijk, 1927-1939

Unholy Obligations
In this contribution, three recent studies about Dutch Catholicism in the first half of the twentieth century are reviewed. The success of the ‘verzuiling’ [pillarization] of the Catholic population was striking: the cohesion of the Catholic pillar was great, compared with the other pillars; in the Netherlands, the Catholic pillarization was also greater than in other countries. This success can be explained to a large extent by the intensive use of sacralism. The literature under review makes that perfectly clear, although it does have a strong tendency to blur this image by giving too much attention to so-called ‘other Catholics’ who managed to extricate themselves one way or another from the clergy’s authority.

This article is part of the forum 'Recent studies about Dutch Catholicism'.