About the Book
This book explores the dynamics of peaceful coexistence in the Dutch Republic by tracing the literary responses to one of the key controversies between Protestants and Catholics – the role of religious imagery in worship. Why and to what extent were people in the Republic willing to reconcile theological differences and combine elements from their own religious cultural practices with those of another?
The intermingling of practices, the author shows, was unexpectedly complicated in the Republic. Restraints were imposed on the use of images in religious literature of all denominations till 1650. Evidence of negotiations appears after 1650, however, as Dutch Protestants absorbed significant aspects of Catholic visual traditions into their own. Religious toleration had clearly become a matter of sharing rather than enduring for the Protestants, but retained features of a monologue since Dutch Catholics were then developing a new, idiosyncratic identity of their own.
About the Author :
Els Stronks, dr. (1965) in Dutch Early Modern Literature, is Professor of Early Modern Dutch Literature at Utrecht University. She has published extensively on Dutch religious literature and its images, and on Dutch emblematics (see http://emblems.let.uu.nl)
Review :
“Fascinating […] a treasure trove of carefully gleaned facts. […] Moving well beyond a solely iconographical interpretation, what Negotiating Differences offers is no less than a sociology of spiritual practice via the history of reading. […] The sheer span, rich sources and admirable clarity of this book will make it essential reading for scholars across the humanities.”
Mia M. Mochizuki, Jesuit School of Theology, Santa Clara University/Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley/ University of California, Berkeley. In: BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review, Vol. 127, No. 4 (2012), review no. 70.
“Negotiating Differences is both informative and superbly illustrated. […] I recommend this book for scholars of Dutch, English, French, and German literature looking for a model for how to deal with the relationship between text and image. It also provides useful examples for historians of the Dutch Republic seeking to understand the changing print culture of the early modern period.”
Jesse Spohnholz, Washington State University. In: Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 65, No. 4 (Winter 2012), pp. 1313-1314, DOI: 10.1086/669438.
“Stronks presents us with a convincing and nuanced analysis, amply and aptly illustrated. […] an indispensible starting point […].”
Gerrit Voogt, Kennesaw State University. In: Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 43, No. 2 (2012), pp. 536-538.
‘’The study offers a valuable overview of a little-studied but important topic that adds to our understanding of the religious culture and interconfessional relations in the Dutch Republic’’
Natasha Seaman, Rhode Island College. In: Sehepunkte, 14, 9, 2014,
“Enlightening and stimulating”.
Alastair Hamilton, The Warburg Institute, London. In: Church History and Religious Culture, Vol. 92, Nos. 2-3 (2012), pp. 397-398.
“Among the many strengths of this book is the fact that Stronks actually manages to combine a broad scope (the natural result of the project’s ambitious aims) with minute attention to detail. That is to say the author provides the reader with careful, nuanced and detailed analyses of the selected emblems and the texts that accompany them while never losing sight of the bigger picture.”
Lise Gosseye, University of Ghent. In: Journal of Dutch Literature, Vol. 2, No. 2 (December 2011).
“Negotiating Differences is een diepgravende studie over twee eeuwen geïllustreerde geloofsliteratuur die bovendien laat zien hoe Nederlandse literatuur een rol kan spelen in internationaal onderzoek.”
Nina Geerdink, Radbout Universiteit Nijmegen. In: De Zeventiende Eeuw, Vol. 28, No. 1 (2012), pp. 82-84.
“Els Stronks heeft in haar boek zeer zorgvuldig en baanbrekend onderzoek gepresenteerd, dat de lezer niet enkel een schat aan informatie biedt, maar hem ook ongetwijfeld nieuwe toepassingen voor het eigen onderzoek doet ontdekken, of hij nu boekhistoricus, kunsthistoricus, cultuurhistoricus of theoloog is. Voor haar enorme bijdrage aan het onderzoek naar de relatie tussen woord, afbeelding en religieuze identiteit in de zeventiende- en achttiende-eeuwse Nederlanden, moet Els Stronks dan ook terecht gefeliciteerd worden.”
Wim François, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. In: De Gulden Passer, 2012-2, pp. 230-232.
