The Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Dutch: Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland, in short Gereformeerde kerk) was the second largest protestant church in the Netherlands until it merged into the Protestant Church in the Netherlands in 2004. Protestantism is a movement within Christianity, representing a split from the Roman Catholic Church during the mid to late Renaissance in Europe —a period known as the Protestant Reformation. ... The Protestant Church in the Netherlands (Protestantse Kerk in Nederland, PKN) is an organisation created on 1 May 2004 from the merger of the Dutch Reformed Church (Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk, NHK), the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland, GKN) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom...

History

The Reformed Churches in the Netherlands was founded in 1892 in a fusion of two groups, who had split of from the Dutch Reformed Church (Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk): The Dutch Reformed Church or Netherlands Reformed Church (in Dutch: Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk (NHK)) was a denomination of Christian Protestantism based on the teachings of John Calvin. ...

• a part of the Christian Reformed Church in the Netherlands (Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerk in Nederland), which originated in the Afscheiding ("Separation") of 1834, and
• the group around Abraham Kuyper, which was formed in the Doleantie of 1886.

The part of the CGKN that stayed out of this union has been called the Christian Reformed Churches since 1947. Portrait of Abraham Kuyper by Jan Veth Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920) was a Dutch Calvinist theologian, scholar, and statesman. ...

Abraham Kuyper was the most important leader of the movement, and under his leadership the gereformeerden became a separate so-called "pillar" in Dutch society, next to the hervormden and the Roman Catholics. Part of the gereformeerde pillar were for example the Vrije Universiteit and the Anti-Revolutionaire Partij, a political party now part of the Christian Democratic Appeal. Pillarization is a term used to describe the way their dutch and belgians dealt with the multicultural societies. ... The Vrije Universiteit is a university in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. ... The Anti-Revolutionaire Partij (Dutch for Anti Revolutionary Party) was the first Dutch political party. ... The Christen-Democratisch Appèl (CDA, Christian Democratic Appeal) is a political party of the Netherlands that was established in 1980. ...

Since its founding in 1892, two groups have separated from the GKN. The first schism was in 1926, over a conflict about the litteral interpratation of the bible. The orthodox majority of the church concluded from the story of Adam and Eve that the serpent had been given the power of speech. The members of the more liberal wing of the church viewed the story as an allegory. After the Synod of Assen concluded that the story in Genesis 3 was a report on a factual and observable reality, the Gereformeerde Kerken in Hersteld Verband ("Reformed Churches in Restored Union") were formed by the dissenters. The conclusion of the Synod of 1926 was retracted in 1971/1972 by the GKN. God creates Adam, by Michelangelo. ... Serpent is a word of Latin origin (serpens, serpentis) that is normally substituted for snake in a specifically mythic or religious context, in order to distinguish such creatures from the field of biology. ...

The second schism, called the Vrijmaking ("Liberation"), was in 1944, when the Reformed Churches (Liberated) (Gereformeerde Kerken vrijgemaakt) split off from the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands.

In 1962, the long process of reuniting with the Dutch Reformed Church was started. This ended on May 1, 2004, when the GKN, the NHK and the Evangelical-Lutheran Church fused into the Protestant Church in the Netherlands. On that moment, the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands had around 675,000 members, of which 400,000 were church-going. There were 857 parishes, with in total about 1000 church buildings. May 1 is the 121st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (122nd in leap years). ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Seven parishes did not agree with the fusion; they founded the continued Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (voortgezette Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland) on May 8, 2004. May 8 is the 128th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (129th in leap years). ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Theology

Until World War II, the Gereformeerde Kerk was characterized by a classical neo-calvinist belief. The church thought of itself as the most true church of Christ. The main influence on the theological views came from Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck. After World War II, the character of the church changed. After 1962, the church became an open church, with space and freedom for various beliefs. Modern theologians in the gereformeerde church are Gerrit Cornelis Berkouwer (1903-1996) en Harry M. Kuitert (born 1924). World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons like the atom bomb. ... Herman Bavinck (1854-1921 )was born in the town of Hoogeveen in the Netherlands. ... Harry M. Kuitert Harry M. Kuitert (-) was a significant theologian of the Gereformeerde Kerken in Netherlands (GNK). ...