Heaven’s Wrath

The Protestant Reformation and Dutch West India Company in the Atlantic World
Erscheinungsjahr 2019
ISBN: 978-90-8728-330-8
Verlag: Leiden University Press

Sonstiges, Englisch, 300 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

How did Reformed Christianity, the public faith of the Netherlands, influence the Dutch experience abroad? How did the Reformed Church and the West India Company (WIC) interact in each setting? What effect did the major religious issues and divisions of the period have on the WIC and its directors, merchants, employees, settlers, and indigenous allies? Conversely, what effect did expansion have on Dutch Calvinism?
In answering these and other questions, D. L. Noorlander argues against prevailing understandings of the role of religion in the Dutch colonial enterprise, finding that the Dutch Reformed Church was integral to Dutch colonialism. The stereotype of the Dutch merchant is a man unconcerned with differences in theological doctrine and political ideology so long as business was brisk. Although this has some merit in the history of New Amsterdam, the broader colonial effort in the Atlantic and, indeed, around the globe was far more closely connected to religious institutions, doctrine, authority, and practice. So whereas the easy answer regarding the failure of the Dutch to set up a durable empire in North America supposes a causal connection between dominant commercial interest and the lack of concern for the settlements and religious missions that animated other European colonization efforts, Noorlander shows that one needs to look elsewhere for the causes of that failure. In so doing, he revises some core notions about the organization and aims of Dutch empire, the culture of the West India Company, and the very shape of Dutch society.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Noorlander, D. L.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christliche Kirchen, Konfessionen, Denominationen Protestantismus, evangelische und protestantische Kirchen Reformierte Kirchen, Calvinisten, presbyterianische Kirchen
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kolonialgeschichte, Geschichte des Imperialismus
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christentum/Christliche Theologie Allgemein Missionswissenschaft, Missionsgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Kirchengeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Role of Reformed Christianity in the Commercial and Colonial Endeavors of the Dutch Golden Age
1. The Dutch Reformed Church and the World: The International Concerns of the Calvinist Ministry
2 Faith and Worship in a Merchant Community: The Directors of the Dutch West India Company
3. Baptized by Water and Fire: The Religious Rites of the Company’s Early Fleets and Conquests
4. Planting the Lord’s Vineyard in Foreign Soil: Public Worship in Early Dutch Forts and Settlements
5. Reformers in the Land of the Holy Cross: The Calvinist Mission in Brazil before the Portuguese Revolt
6. Turmoil in the Garden of Eden: Dissent and Reform in New Netherland and the Dutch Caribbean
7. The Harvest Was Great, the Laborers Few: Missionary Work among Africans and Native Americans
8. God and Mammon in the Dutch Atlantic World: Conflict over Religious Resources and Power
Conclusion: The Dutch Joint-Stock Companies and the Catholic Powers in Comparative Perspective
Notes
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Noorlander, D. L.
D. L. Noorlander is Assistant Professor of History at the State University of New York at Oneonta.

D. L. Noorlander is Assistant Professor of History at the State University of New York at Oneonta.