Nederland 2026, 6: Tweede Kamer

From Nijkerk we drove the roughly 100 kilometres to the capital city of Den Haag, or The Hague. My host for this leg of the journey was Hildebrand Bijleveld, who read my Political Visions and Illusions during his studies at the Free University of Amsterdam (VU). Prior to my visit, I had hoped I would be able to visit the Binnenhof, the complex of buildings where the Dutch Parliament meets. Dating to the 13th century, it has been the seat of the Dutch government since the outbreak of the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648), by which the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands gained their independence from Spain. Unfortunately, the Binnenhof has been undergoing renovations for the past five years. These are not expected to be completed until 2031.

During this lengthy period, the Tweede Kamer, or Second Chamber, is meeting at Bezuidenhoutseweg 67, the former home of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A very modern-looking building, it could be plopped down in the middle of a North American city and would fit right in. To enter the building we had to undergo airport-level security clearance. Bags had to be checked and stored in a locker, and even my hat (an inexpensive Walmart trilby I use for travelling) could not accompany me inside the premises. But I did have my phone with me so I could make a photographic record of the visit.

Nederland 2026, 5: Theologische Universiteit Utrecht

Utrecht is a city of 378,000 people, the capital and largest city of the province of Utrecht. It is the home of University of Utrecht, established in 1636. The city itself is nearly 2,000 years old, dating to Roman times, although it did not receive official city status until 1122. It is the fourth largest city in the Netherlands and for centuries has been the centre of Christianity in that country. In 1579 the Union of Utrecht federated several northern provinces of the Low Countries in opposition to Spanish rule. Another Union of Utrecht brought together dissidents from the First Vatican Council in 1889, creating the Old Catholic Churches, which are not in communion with Rome but have been in ecclesiastical fellowship with the Anglican Communion since 1931.

On wednesday evening of 16 September the first of my speaking engagements took place at the Theologische Universiteit Utrecht (TUU), which had moved to this city from its previous home in Kampen, a much smaller city some 80 kilometres northeast. The move has been an altogether positive one for the institution, considerably boosting its student numbers. Prior to this event, several of us ate supper together at an Indian restaurant. Although a double interview with Gert-Jan Segers, former member of the Second Chamber and head of ChristenUnie, was to have taken place between supper and my address, this had to be postponed for lack of sufficient time. The interview has now been rescheduled and will occur online.

Neocalviniana review: a hopeful philosophy

Some months ago I indicated here that I was reading the new book by Maarten Verkerk, Gerrit Glas, and Suzan Sierksma-Agteres, The Intellectual Legacy of Herman Dooyeweerd 1894–1977: A Hopeful Philosophy for Our Time. My review of this book has just appeared in the journal Neocalviniana and can be read here. An excerpt:

I was first introduced to Herman Dooyeweerd’s philosophy just over half a century ago and almost immediately took to it. This was in spite of its contents being locked within the confines of a dense prose likely to put off the uninitiated or fainthearted. Although I would eventually write a dissertation on his political thought, I often found myself wishing that Dooyeweerd had possessed the wittiness of a G. K. Chesterton, who once observed that the madman is not someone who has lost his reason, but someone who has lost everything except his reason (Chesterton, Orthodoxy). This clever adage has always struck me as a Dooyeweerdian insight of the first order, given the Dutch philosopher’s obvious esteem for what he calls naïve experience and others call intuition. Incalculable harm has been done throughout recent history by intellectuals who have become enamoured of their own reasoning at the expense of sound judgement borne of a fuller human experience. 

The book can be ordered or downloaded in its entirety from this website.

Nederland 2026, 4: Maassluis and the Kuyper Library

After I had become accustomed to the UTC +2 time zone, the next few days were exceedingly full, as we moved in quick succession from one event to the next. Wednesday, 18 September was the first of these work days. In the morning we drove to the village of Maassluis, the birthplace of Abraham Kuyper, one of the key influences on my own thought. Unlike Leiden, with its frenetic youthful energy, Maassluis is fairly quiet, with a population of around 35,000. Located in the province of South Holland, it lies to the west of Rotterdam along the Scheur River, a branch of the Meuse at the Rhine delta. 

Here are some photographs of Maassluis:

Nederland 2026, 3: Leiden and environs

Monday and tuesday were spent in and around Leiden. Leiden is a famous university city, and as such there are a lot of young people walking and biking in it, raising the general energy level accordingly. These first days were given me to enable me to acclimatize to an as yet new environment. I quite enjoyed Leiden, a city that dates back to the 9th century AD. Living in Canada, it is difficult for us to comprehend the age of many European cities. What would it be like to live in a place where countless generations of one's ancestors had lived before oneself? Here are some photographs of Leiden:

 

Nederland 2026, 2: Arrival and Oud-Poelgeest

My journey began with an overnight flight from Toronto's Pearson Airport to Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. The flight was about an hour late in leaving and took approximately seven hours in total. Having cleared customs, which takes some time for travellers with non-EU passports, I was greeted by my great friend Samuel Vandeputte, whom I was delighted to see again. As I wrote in my last post, we saw each other regularly during his studies in Canada. After he returned to the Netherlands and then entered graduate studies at Leuven, Belgium, we kept up with each other via regular online conversations. He now works in the field of journalism.

We deliberately kept monday and tuesday fairly free of commitments to allow me to adjust to the UTC +2 time zone covering western Europe. My first days were spent at the Hotel Landgoed Oud-Poelgeest in Oegstgeest, a village north of the city of Leiden. The hotel sits on a beautifully wooded property on which stands a kasteel, or castle. No, not a mediaeval castle, but a stately mansion in which lived the famed Dutch botanist and polymath Herman Boerhaave (1668–1738). During my stay there, I would walk around the property every morning after breakfast, enjoying the footpaths, water channels, and diverse flora, much of which is unfamiliar in North America. However, Boerhaave planted a famous tulip poplar that lived into the mid-20th century. Only shoots survive into the 21st. This tree is definitely familiar to me because we have one in our front garden. Many locals walk or run through this lovely property on a daily basis.

Nederland 2026, 1

I have recently returned from a week's visit to the Netherlands, a country to which I owe a deep debt of gratitude. This is due to the spiritual and intellectual influence that several notable Netherlanders have played in my own thinking, especially on the relationship between Christianity and politics, but more broadly on the cultural and social implications of the faith. I personally am heir to a tradition that extends back to John Calvin and includes such later figures as Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer (1801-1876), Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920), Herman Dooyeweerd (1894-1977), Bob Goudzwaard (1934-2024), and many others.

A broken communion

Christian Courier just posted my monthly column, titled, A broken communion. What about? "At Synod 2026, the CRC decided to withdraw from the World Communion of Reformed Churches. Was this the right choice?"

I do not normally weigh in on ecclesiastical issues in this space, but given my long association with and current membership in the Christian Reformed Church (CRC), I think it is appropriate to comment on Synod 2026’s decision to withdraw from the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC). I understand that church denominations have to weigh their associations carefully to ensure that they align with their mission and identity. But I believe Synod was too hasty in ending our relationship with this global communion, and I hope it isn’t too late to correct this.

 Read more to learn my reasons for this conclusion.

Recent activities for September 2026

My Global Scholars Canada newsletter for September is now posted online. Activities for the past month include three remote lectures and conversations, an expression of gratitude from a Brazilian reader, a brief reflection on the "deep state," a comment on dominion theology, and the submission of the manuscript for my next book to the publisher. As always, I am grateful for your continued support for my work.