Curriculum Vitae

Contact info

email: m.vdmeulen AT gmail DOT com
skype: mvdmeulen

Education

PhD Sociology of Religion, VU University Amsterdam, May 2006.
Dissertation: Faith in the Suburb. Church and Civil Society in Leidsche Rijn (published in Dutch as Vroom in de Vinex. Kerk en civil society in Leidsche Rijn”). An ethnographic study of two church planting projects in a new suburb in The Netherlands. Main concepts of my study: civil society, social capital.

M.Div, Theol. Acad. Institute of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands, August 2002
Thesis: Santa Claus and the Ten Commandments. The Beliefs of the Babyboom Generation. (in Dutch:  “Sinterklaas en de 10 geboden. Het (on)geloof van de babyboom generatie”)

BA and MA Theology, Utrecht University, March 2001
MA thesis: Citizens of two worlds. Evangelical youth and the modern ethos. (in Dutch: “Burgers van twee werelden. Evangelische jongeren en het moderne ethos”)

Employment History

2010 – now
Associate professor Sociology of Religion, Protestant Theological University in the Netherlands

2005 – 2010
Postdoctoral fellow at Faculty of Theology, VU University Amsterdam as part of the project The Participation of Immigrant Churches in Dutch Civil Society.

I studied African churches in Amsterdam Southeast, and a Spanish speaking Roman Catholic parish in the center of Amsterdam. I undertook 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork and participant observation. I formally interviewed more than thirty five leaders and members of several churches, dove into archives, did volunteer work as a Dutch language teacher for Latin American migrants, and surveyed 64 churches in Amsterdam Southeast.

Main concepts: (civil, public, religious) participation, civil society, social capital. The research is funded by a grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (see “Received Grants”)

1996 – 1999
Assistant to Prof. dr. Hellemans, professor Sociology of Religion, Catholic University, Utrecht.

Publications

Articles in review
Meulen, M. van der, and N. Pruiksma. “Mercy Land in a Garage Box. The Celestial Church of Christ in Amsterdam Southeast.” Holy Ground. Reinventing ritual space in modern western culture. Ed. P. Post, J. Kroesen, & A. Molendijk.  Forthcoming.

Meulen, M. van der. “San Nicolas Patron Saint of Prostitutes. How being part of a denomination shapes an immigrant congregation’s public participation.”

Accepted, forthcoming articles
Meulen, M. van der. “Civic Engagement Measured in Square Meters. Church and Civil Society in a Dutch Suburb”, Social Compass, forthcoming.

Publications
Knibbe, K., and M. van der Meulen, Review of Global Christianity. Contested Claims, by F. Wijsen and R. Schreiter (eds.) Exchange 38.4 (2009).

Knibbe, K., and M. van der Meulen. “The Role of Spatial Practices and Locality in the Constituting of the Christian African Diaspora.” African Diaspora 2.2 (2009): 125-130.

Meulen, M. van der. “The Continuing Importance of the Local. African Churches and the Search for Worship Space in Amsterdam.” African Diaspora 2.2 (2009): 150-181.

—. “Being Illegal is Like Fishing Without Permit: African Churches, Illegal Immigration and the Public Sphere.” A Moving God. Immigrant Churches in the Netherlands. Ed. M.M. Jansen en H.C. Stoffels. Munster: Lit Verlag, 2008.

—. Review of Fruitful in This Land. Pluralism, Dialogue and Healing in Migrant Pentecostalism, by A. Droogers, C. van der Laan and W. van Laar (eds.). Wereld en Zending, 36.4 (2007):102-103.

—. “Lessen uit een Vinexwijk.” In de Marge. Tijdschrift voor levensbeschouwing en wetenschap. 15.3 (2006): 11-19.

—. Vroom in de Vinex. Kerk en civil society in Leidsche Rijn. Maastricht: Shaker Publishing, 2006.

—. Review of Religion and civil society. Rethinking public religion in the contemporary world, by D. Herbert. Journal of Empirical Theology, 18.1 (2005):119-120.

—. “Waarom babyboomers de kerk verlieten.” Niet zo’n kerkganger. Zicht op buitenkerkelijk geloven. Ed. G. Heitink en H. C. Stoffels. Baarn: Ten Have, 2003.

Presentations

2009

  • SSSR Conference, Denver, San Nicolas, Patron Saint of Prostitutes
  • NWO Future of the Religious Past Conference, Groningen, San Nicolas and the Reconstruction of the Amsterdam Red Light Disctrict

2008

  • Four week seminar “Congregations and Religious Diversity in Contemporary America” led by Stephen R. Warner, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, San Nicolas, Patron Saint of Prostitutes
  • NWO Future of the Religious Past Conference, Utrecht, African and Latin American Christianity in Amsterdam

2007

  • SSSR Conference, Tampa, The Participation of Immigrant Churches  in Dutch Civil Society
  • BSA Conference Sociology of Religion Study group, Oxford, African churches in the Netherlands and the public debate on illegal immigration

2006

  • NWO Future of the Religious Past Conference, Amsterdam, The power of immigrant churches
  • ISSRC Conference, Princeton, The Multiculturalization of Dutch Christianity. Established Protestant Churches and the New Immigrant Churches in the Netherlands
  • Expert Meeting Religion and Immigration, Amsterdam, Public participation of immigrant churches. Using the civil society concept to understand immigrant religion

2005

  • NOSTER Conference, Leuven, Church and civil society

2004

  • BSA Conference Sociology of Religion Study group, Bristol, Spirituality and social capital in a new Dutch suburb

2003

  • ISSRC Conference, Edinburgh, Lost in Suburbia. Reformed Congregations and Local Civil Society

2002

  • BSA Conference Sociology of Religion Study group, Birmingham, Civil society in a Dutch suburb. A work in progress

Received Grants

2008

  • I received an extension to my postdoctoral position from the VU Institute for the Study of Religion, Culture and Society (VISOR) to prepare a NORFACE (European Union organization that funds academic research) proposal.
  • I was accepted as a fellow in the Calvin College seminar on Congregations and Religious Diversity in Contemporary America, led by prof.dr. R.S. Warner.

2005

  • Together with prof.dr. H.C. Stoffels I wrote a proposal, titled The Participation of Immigrant Churches in Dutch Civil Society, for the Future of the Religious Past program of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). The proposal was accepted. The grant funds my postdoctoral position and a PhD research project.
  • I prepared a research project on immigrant churches in Amsterdam. The VU University provided funds for four student research projects.

Teaching & Supervision Experience

Experience
As part of my MA specialization in Education I have received training in how to teach classes, organize courses and to supervise the learning development of students. I have taught several courses and classes during my academic career.

Courses teached
2004 – 2009         Religion in Amsterdam – a BA course to teach basic principles of empirical research and theory. Students researched under my supervision 35 different congregations (Christian, Islamic, Esoteric, Buddhist) in Amsterdam

2007 – 2008        Introduction to the Social Sciences – BA course

2003 – 2006        Several methodology classes for BA and MA students

2002 – 2005        Classes on civil society and religion for BA students

Supervision
2007

  • Supervisor of four MA students who did a six months research projects on religious ecology and church planting projects in a new suburb of Amsterdam

2005

  • Supervisor of four MA students who did a six month research project on immigrant churches in Amsterdam

I irregularly supervise MA students writing their thesis

Professional Affiliations

  • Member of Steering Committee of the Hollenweger Center for the interdisciplinary study of Pentecostal and Charismatic movements (located at the VU, Amsterdam)
  • Initiator and member of the Dutch Religion and Migration Study Group
  • Member of academic organizations that promote the empirical study of religion, such as SSSR and ASR.
  • Editor and webmaster of the internet forum for researchers of religion and other worldviewish ways of meaning making, www.religionresearch.org
  • Co-founder and Editor Religion, Science and Society of the Dutch opinion weblog www.hetkanWel.net

Fields of expertise

  • Religious communities – Congregational studies, human ecology, religious leadership, the role of denominations, congregations and civic participation etc.
  • Religion and immigration – Transnational movements, ethnic identity, civic engagement of immigrant congregations, transmission of religious ideas to new generations, Diaspora communities, religious participation and conversion (of immigrants) etc.
  • Civil society theory – I extensively studied civil society theories. I am familiar with studies that use Habermas, Foucault, Taylor, Tocqueville etc.
  • Civic engagement and social capital – Theoretical discussions on social capital (e.g. Coleman, Nan Lin, Bourdieu, Foley), subjects such as the influence of religion on the formation of social capital (e.g. Putnam), the relation between religious practices and civic engagement etc.
  • Religion in Europe – Secularization within different European countries (and compared to other countries), differences in church – state practices, the changing religious landscape in EU countries etc.
  • (Practical) Theology – Subjects at the border between social sciences and theology, such as congregational studies, studies on ecclesiology, secularization and the development of modern theology etc.
  • Evangelicalism, Pentecostalism and other Protestantisms – I have a longstanding interest in (orthodox) protestant groups, especially Evangelicalism, Calvinism, Millenarianism and Pentecostalism. I am familiar with (ethnographic) accounts of these groups, or subjects like exorcism, faith healing, transnational developments in Pentecostal theology and practice, African Pentecostalism etc.

Skills & Interests

Personal Qualities

  • Analytical reasoning
  • Cooperating with others / working in a team
  • To accept and offer constructive critique
  • Initiating and organizing
  • To keep seeing the Big Picture

Languages
Dutch is my mother language, which I speak, read, and write fluently. I am also fluent in English: I regularly read, write, speak and think English at an academic level. I can read German texts fairly well.

Last but not least

A large part of my life is devoted to my wife and two daughters, with whom I live happily in a large house in a small village, with a beautiful view on the typical landscape of a Dutch polder. We bought this house together with friends, with the intention to provide space for the good life: friendship, music, art and taking care of other people. My family and I regularly attend the mainline local Reformed congregation. I furthermore like reading (from science fiction to literature to books on the relation of science and theology), playing piano, listening to music, to write posts on my weblogs or to tinker with computers.