International Colloquium “Vernacular Bible and Religious Reform”.

KU Leuven, 

29-30 November and 1 December 2012.

The Focus of the Colloquium

In the religious developments in Northwest Europe, the Bible has often been instrumental, whether as a point of reference, as a stumbling block, or simply in and of itself. This was the case for the Devotio Moderna, biblical humanism, the Reformation and Catholic Reformation.

The trait d’union between these reform movements, in their respective relationships with the Bible, is that the Scriptures were made available in the vernacular. This cannot be considered in isolation from the relationship between the laity and Scripture: does the layperson have the right to read the Scriptures (in the vernacular)? Or is the emphasis rather on the pastor or the preacher as the intermediary between God’s Word and the laity? In what sense was the layperson not just a passive recipient of the Scripture translation, but did he also exert a directional influence on the translation process?

Although the Bible had a more and more penetrating influence on all aspects of the culture and society in Northwest Europe, the scientific study of the Bible from the last decades of the sixteenth century on, also led to the de-sacralisation of the book, submitting itself in this way to the tendency toward secularisation in Europe. Pamphlets, among other things, played a crucial role in bringing the debate to a broader public.

Key-note speakers:  

Andrew Gow (University of Alberta), Gigliola Fragnito (Università di Parma) and Lourens de Vries (VU University Amsterdam).

Organising Committee:

Geert Claassens (KU Leuven); August den Hollander (VU University Amsterdam); Youri Desplenter (UGhent); Wim François, coordinator (KU Leuven); Guido Latré (UCLouvain); Herman Selderhuis (RefoRC); Anne Jaap van den Berg (Netherlands Bible Society); Klaas-Dieter Voß (Johannes a Lasco Bibliothek Emden).

Programme & info

Source: APILIST