This essay introduces John Witte jr. to a Dutch audience, where his lifework until now met little attention. His main aim is to retrieve traditional teachings about family life, marriage and sex and show the relevance of those arguments for today. His more than three decades of study of the Western tradition results in a multidimensional model of the marital family. This model and these arguments can be useful to moderate the often (also in the Netherlands) polarized political debate on family life and related issues and might prevent the debaters to reduce such issues to a single, one-dimensional, perspective.

This article is about the standard of proof in Protestant church law. The standard of proof indicates the degree of certainty required to consider a fact proven. In the literature on disciplinary law of several professions, the standard of proof has been the subject of debate. In an earlier article, I argued that further reflection on the standard of proof is also needed in church law. The central question of this article is: What standard of proof do churches use in Protestant church disciplinary law and how does it compare to the standards of proof used in other groups in light of the theological background of church law?

Since 1998, Dutch policymakers have developed a terminology related to the Islam-security nexus. This terminology has been consequently maintained during 25 years, with very few changes or adaptations, even though it has always been a source of confusion among policymakers themselves as well as politicians and the public. This article demonstrates how this terminological paper trail has been established and entrenched in Dutch bureaucracy, why it is cause for such confusion, and what the effects thereof have been.

This article presents a case study of cooperation between religious organizations and a local government in the social domain of a medium-sized municipality. Two aspects are distinguished here. First: what does the subsidy relationship look like? Second: how do both parties position themselves in that subsidized cooperation relationship and what are their experiences and needs? The case study shows mostly a harmonious cooperation. The municipality appreciates the work of religious organizations. Although we speak of a good practice, this does not mean that the cooperation is experienced as tight. Religious organizations sometimes lack genuine interest from the municipality and need more attention for their activities.