What were the deeper roots of Amsterdam’s freedoms? Mink de Vries relates the impact of the Modern Devotion movement on the city (and the whole country) in the 15th and 16th centuries, introducing concepts of equality, respect, tolerance and freedom; how Erasmus, schooled in this movement, spread these ideas further, shaping the thinking and actions of William of Orange and thus the Dutch Revolt against Spain, and finally the establishment of the Dutch republic.

THE MODERN DEVOTION MOVEMENT, FOUNDED IN THE 14TH CENTURY BY GEERT GROOTE IN DEVENTER AND ZWOLLE, BROUGHT MAJOR CHANGES IN NORTH WEST EUROPE FOR CHURCH, CITIES, EDUCATION, GOVERNMENT, CIVIL SOCIETY, SPIRITUALITY AND BELIEF.

For some 200 years this renewal movement in the Catholic Church greatly influenced government, social welfare, trade, education, agriculture and spirituality. Geert Groote strove for democratisation, for the people’s right to have a say, strong communities and for a culture of love instead of fear.

In Amsterdam, the movement strongly influenced all but one of the twenty monasteries with their teaching and values, creating a strong culture of compassion, tolerance and social engagement. Indicators of the movement can still be seen in Amsterdam, including the St Agnieten Chapel (used for graduations ceremonies of the UvA), the Amsterdam Museum, the Wallonian Chapel, and the lane, Gebed zonder End (Endless prayer).

It was a start of democratisation in the cities. The Modern Devotion was and is a movement of the Spirit of God. In the past, here and now, and in the future. The character of the Modern Devotion is a personal relation with God and an active life in the civil society. The movement emphasised personal and simple devotion, prayer and bible reading, and values including inclusion, equality, solidarity, cooperation, compassion, free choice and responsibility.

Erasmus, a Modern Devotion follower, attended the Latin School in Deventer (1478-1484) where the Modern Devotion movement exercised a strong influence on education. Erasmus made it his lifework to produce better Latin and Greek translations of the Bible so that everyone could recite the Bible by heart. ‘God Word lives, breathes and speak to us in the Gospels and the letters of the Apostles,’ he wrote. His translation inspired Luther’s German Bible, Tyndale’s English Bible and the first printed French, Dutch and Spanish Bibles.

Free education and free choices are very important in Europe for religion, culture, social life, politics, but always in relationship. Because there is no personal freedom without social freedom, and there is no social freedom without personal freedom. The Bible gives us freedom. It is a spiritual freedom and personal freedom always in relation with a cooperation and community–a community personally, socially and spiritually connected!

You can be prisoner, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Second World War, but he was free, spiritually free! He prayed for the German soldiers. Many Christians in Asia and Africa are in prison in their own country. But they are spiritually free and prayed for us in Europe, where many people are material prisoners and slaves.

Hospitality in relationship with other people is a keyword in the Modern Devotion. It is an example of love in responsibility.

The revival of the Modern Devotion is starting again in Deventer and Zwolle, 600 years after the start with Geert Groote.