Slachtoffers van het geloof. Drie gevallen van doodslag in Calvinistische kring

Samenvatting

Victims of religion. Three cases of manslaughter in Calvinist circles. In 1900 an orthodox Calvinist farmer in the village of Appeltern killed his farmhand, whom be believed to be the devil, and then proclaimed himself to be Jesus Christ. In 1915, in the North Sea, a crewman of a fishing boat from Katwijk killed three of his colleagues, deeming them to be devils, and also claimed to be the Messiah.in 1944 a farm family in the Weverwijk killed one of their sons believing him to be Satan. All three cases of manslaughter are best understood as a pathological elaboration of Calvinist representations in general (and of Calvinist sexual morality in particular) by disadvantaged men, who used their conversion experience as a power resource. Lastly, these cases are considered in light of Hubert and Mauss' theory of sacrifice.