Foreword
The iconoclasm which swept through the Low Countries in the sixteenth century had as its goal the degradation and destruction of the symbols of religious power. Images of Christ, the Madonna and the saints fell victim to its fury. Today, this Protestant revolt against Catholic authority has its sequel in an almost silent iconoclasm. This time the breach seems more definitive: the population is rapidly divesting itself of its Christian heritage. Church-going is in decline, very few new churches are being built, and many existing religious structures find themselves in a sorry state. Churches, monasteries and seminaries stand empty. They are being turned into museums, schools, offices, warehouses, residential complexes, even sports halls. Where writers after the Second World War still wrestled with questions of faith and the lack of it, these days God seems to have almost entirely disappeared from literature written in Dutch. And for some years now the confessional political parties, both in Belgium and in the Netherlands, have been out of power.
The secularisation of a society which once sent its sons and daughters out into the world to spread God's word is now an established fact. Flanders and the Netherlands have become more or less post-Christian areas, characterised by ideological eclecticism and increasing individualisation.
Yet those who have turned their backs on religion still feel a need for values and standards. This is apparent when we look at the history of ‘unbelief’ in Flanders and the Netherlands. Heaven has been stormed, the chains broken, Absolute Truth shattered, but all too often the new tolerance comes uncomfortably close to an indifference which many unbelievers also find repugnant.
Those who still believe are equally critical of the cosy inertia of old-style religion: what is needed is constant renewal, a contemporary setting for faith. And once again we see the emergence of writers and artists who deliberately characterise themselves as religious. Perhaps yet another iconoclasm is on its way.
From the next volume of The Low Countries the Chief Editor will be Luc Devoldere. I have every confidence that under his creative leadership the yearbook will continue to provide the English-speaking world with a reliable source of information about the Low Countries.
If after ten years of existence the quality of its content has made this publication to some extent indispensable, that is quite simply the greatest reward I could wish for as I take my leave of it.
Jozef Deleu
Chief Editor
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