NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion - Volume 79, Issue 2, 2025

This article discusses the transformation of theology and religious studies in the Netherlands between 1989 and 2024. Molendijk reflects on the significant changes within Dutch academia, particularly the increase in student numbers and the shift towards efficiency-driven education and research. He critiques the management style of universities (“New Public Management”), focusing on bureaucratic control and assessment procedures that prioritize measurable targets over academic freedom and quality. The article also examines the decline of theology programs due to the secularization of Dutch society and the tension between theology and religious studies. Molendijk stresses the need for cooperation within the field but remains sceptical about achieving it. Despite bureaucratic challenges, he highlights the resilience of dedicated scholars and students in maintaining academic standards.

Arie Molendijk’s work brings together various themes that are important for liberal theology. Among these are the volatilisation of liberal Protestantism, the scientific study of religion, and the current situation of religious studies and theology in the Netherlands. In the current situation, after the duplex ordo, liberal academic theology struggles to find its place. In this article, I discuss and question the ideal Molendijk envisions for the study of religion and theology. I argue that liberal academic theology can find its place in a denominational university even though tensions exist between academic and ecclesiastical theology that may entail the volatilisation of liberal academic theology.

The present paper provides a first survey of the traces that religious music left in the writings of Heinrich Scholz. It is shown that Scholz used to allude to European classical music, in particular church music, throughout his life as a means of communication, and that a small early monograph by Scholz on church music deserves to be taken seriously as a text on the aesthetics of music, in which Scholz tries to combine Eduard Hanslick’s philosophy of music with Friedrich Schleiermacher’s concept of religion.

The article uses the case study of funerary provisions for migrants and minorities in mid-sized towns in Northern Europe to argue for a stronger social-ethical agenda in theorizing the postsecular, supplementing the dominant emphasis on descriptive sociological analysis. The article highlights the vulnerability of migrant and minority groups in the exercise of their freedom of funerary ritual expression and representation, and with it threats to the religious vitality that is characteristic of postsecular urban spaces. It argues for a broadening of perspectives to include smaller, less visible and organized migrant and minority groups, and advocates a more supportive role of governments and society for the funerary needs of migrants and minorities (“funerary justice”).