DNK: Documentatieblad voor de Nederlandse kerkgeschiedenis na 1800 - Volume 48, Issue 102, 2025

In the 1960s, the Reformed Churches (Liberated) experienced a schism. A significant issue was the commitment to the three forms of unity. The pastor of Breda, Bartus Telder, published his criticism of the first sentence of answer 57 of the Heidelberg Catechism. In the ecclesiastical handling of his case, the Reformed ‘Form of Subscription’ from the Synod of Dordrecht in 1618/1619, which strictly regulated adherence to the Reformed doctrine, played a crucial role. Now that the schismatic churches have reunited in 2023 into the Dutch Reformed Churches, the question this article addresses is: what lessons can these churches learn from the Breda case regarding commitment to the church’s confession?

‘Difficult… to make a right judgment’. Origins and development of the historical Cusanus reception in Protestant Holland in the nineteenth century

In 1451, the Roman cardinal Nicolaus Cusanus, in his capacity as papal legate, undertook a journey that took him through Germany to the Netherlands. He visited several towns and monasteries. His main concern was to draw the attention of the various clergy to the need for reform. Although his stay did not last much longer than six weeks and very little of the reform he (and Rome) had in mind came about, during the course of the nineteenth century various Protestant (church) historians devoted considerable attention to the legate’s journey in general and to the person of Nicholas Cusanus in particular. A study of the relevant passages shows that the esteem in which Cusanus is held is due above all to the fact that he is regarded by the Protestant church historians and theologians of the nineteenth century, especially the liberal ones, as a forerunner of the Reformation.