There will be a major investigation into the role of the Protestant churches in Dutch colonial history. Fidelity reports that the Protestant Church of the Netherlands (PKN) is supporting a study of this by church historians, art historians and theologians from the Free University in Amsterdam.
The newspaper spoke with the theologian leading the research, Heleen Zorgdrager of the Protestant Theological University (PthU). According to her, the slave trade and slavery have long been justified with the Bible in hand. “Church and theology must account for their part in this history. I hope that our research can be a first step in reflecting on this.”
An example of the traces of slavery in church history are the tombs of slave traders in Dutch churches. These traders and also plantation owners made large donations to the church and sometimes paid ministers who were in Suriname for missions to enslaved people.
Migrant Churches
For example, caricatural images of black people, ‘morenkoppen’, often appear on paintings, gravestones and stained glass windows in churches. These material expressions, as well as theological thinking about slavery and its turning points, are examined in the research.
Scriba René de Reuver of the PKN says in Trouw that he hopes that lessons can be learned from the past with 2023 on the way. This is the anniversary of the abolition of slavery. “We want to let the past be a mirror for the present. So it’s very important for us to be clear about what exactly happened in the name of the church.”
Under De Reuver, the PKN strengthened its ties with migrant churches and they wanted to talk about the church’s past. Caregiver says that these churches believe that there is “not yet an equal relationship” with the PKN. “This part of history is one of the questions that they think is not being faced, and therefore still in the way,” she says in the paper.
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