Van dompers en verlichten : een onderzoek naar de confrontatie tussen het vroege protestantse Réveil en de Verlichting in Nederland (1815-1826)

Abstract

In this thesis the two authors discuss the confrontation between the supporters of the early Protestant Réveil in the Netherlands and several Dutch representatives of the Enlightenment during the period 1815-1826. This confrontation, which manifested itself mainly as a war of words, is analyzed on the basis of content and reception of the publications involved in the debate. Because the supporters of the Réveil wished to extinguish the optimistic belief in progress characteristic of the Enlightenment, their enlightened opponents called them dompers, a term related to the Dutch word for extinguishing a flame. Hence the title of this dissertation, Van dompers en verlichten (Snuffing out the Enlightenment?).