December 6, 2025
Two sharply contrasting views of Europe surfaced this week, one from Washington, the other from Brussels. These two visions imply very different futures for Europe. And for the world. Both claim to defend values. Yet they arise from fundamentally different imaginations of what Europe is and what Europe ought to be. One was the US […]
November 29, 2025
Amsterdam’s Light Festival lit up the city’s canals this week with works by artists from around the world. One thought-provoking light-sculpture took on particular relevance with world affairs this past week. A neon sign flashed on and off to reveal the phrases ‘All the light you see is from the past’ and ‘All you see […]
November 22, 2025
The White House ultimatum to Ukraine to accept the Kremlin-dictated capitulation plan or lose essential American support is the most shameful proposal from an American president since the Yalta Agreement between Stalin and Roosevelt which doomed millions of Central and Eastern Europeans to Soviet subjection. It will send shivers of foreboding through the Baltic states […]
November 15, 2025
Faith communities and religious organisations in an Amsterdam district contribute significantly to the welfare of individuals, families and communities in ways beyond the scope of government departments. Representatives of the Amsterdam Southeast district council heard this week that local faith communities had offered services worth over €7.65 million in social impact value last year. On […]
November 8, 2025
One of history’s most dramatic encounters between spiritual and military power is depicted in this fresco in the Vatican by the Renaissance artist Raphael under commission. In 452 AD, the Roman Emperor Valentinian III sent Pope Leo I to negotiate with Attila the Hun near Mantua in northern Italy. Great panic was gripping Rome as […]
November 1, 2025
How should followers of Jesus respond in a time of political turmoil and cultural fragmentation, when the loudest voices often drown out the wisest? Last night I reflected on this question with a group of young professionals in Brussels. We began with the ancient words of the prophet Micah: “What does the Lord require of […]
October 25, 2025
Eighty years ago, in 1945, the delegates who gathered in San Francisco to sign the Charter of the United Nations shared an understanding that peace rests on justice, human dignity, and shared responsibility. Out of the devastation of the Second World War had come a yearning for moral renewal and a framework for peace. The […]
October 18, 2025
Back in the 1960s, the era of Beatles and the Stones, the sexual revolution, moon-landings and dwindling church-attendance, religion was assumed to be definitely on the way out. ‘As society advances in modernity, religion retreats and becomes increasingly hollow’. So went the secularisation theory. ‘[By] the twenty-first century, religious believers are likely to be found […]
October 11, 2025
We live in confusing times. Sometimes it is hard to know who or what to believe. Jesus warned us that false messiahs and false prophets would appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive even the elect. The rise of politicians from America to Russia claiming to champion Christian values and peace yet preaching […]
October 4, 2025
This weekend we approach the twentieth century with the eighth of nine events in our Geloof in Mokum series. Celebrating the 750th anniversary of Amsterdam, we have been exploring the role of faith in shaping the city over nine centuries. At tomorrow’s event, Dr Johan Snel will help us focus on the profound influence of […]
September 26, 2025
In 1898, three years before he became prime minister of the Netherlands, Abraham Kuyper addressed American leaders in a series of lectures at Princeton Seminary. I suspect that if he could address America’s leaders today he would write something like the following: To the Political Leaders of the United States of America, Grace and peace […]
September 20, 2025
Amsterdammers travelling on the tram through the ‘old-west’ part of town become familiar with streets named after poets, writers and activists including Bilderdijk, da Costa, de Clercq and van Lennep. Few however know that these are the names of an influential circle of friends who fathered a spiritual awakening in 19th century Amsterdam, the Réveil […]
