Religious Modernism in the Low Countries

The collection of essays in Religious Modernism in the Low Countries aims at instigating a comparative analysis of Protestant and Roman Catholic modernisms. The contributions make abundantly clear that the modernist landscape in the Low Countries in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries offers an exceptional variety of views and perspectives that invite a comparative study. Where should we look for commonalities and where for inevitable differences? To what extent is there a simultaneity in the emergence of progressive thought in these religious traditions? What is the impact of ecclesiastical, geographical, and political structures? The essays show that the story of modernism is closely allied with that of a sometimes virulent anti-modernist reaction. A differentiated understanding of these intellectual developments and confrontations sheds further light on the 'shared history' of Roman Catholics and Protestants in their efforts to respond to the various challenges posed by the modern world.