The synod governed the DRC but did not decide theological disputes when several theological schools gained ground in the nineteenth century, from MODERNISM, with its rejection of the supernatural, to a neo-Calvinistic theology, which advocated a return to the confessional standards and to the decentralized governmental structure of the seventeenth century. Famous theologians like J.H. Scholten, P.Hofstede de Groot, and ABRAHAM KUYPER (1837–1920) tried to adapt the DRC to modern times. Their differing opinions led to serious disputes and controversies within the DRC and resulted, on the one hand, in a church without a distinct character, irreligiousness among the elite, and a massive loss of laborers to the Socialist movement and, on the other, to a rapid growth of nonestablished churches, like the REMONSTRANTS and the Reformed. In the year 1886 and following, about 10 percent of the members of the DRC left. These so-called Dolerenden (Lamenters), led by Kuyper, merged in 1892 with a majority of the Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerk and founded the Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland (Reformed Churches). Less than half the Dutch population now belonged to the DRC. Still claiming to be the church of the fatherland, it entered the twentieth century in a state of confusion and dismay, whereas the smaller but cohesive Reformed Churches dominated the Protestant scene for about half a century. Within the DRC, several groups organized to alter the character of the church: the Confessionals, who, inspired by Ph.
J.Hoedemaker, tried to restore the church; their more outspoken Reformed allies, the Ethicals; and the Liberals. This period of confusion lasted until the 1920s, when the rise of the theology of KARL BARTH (1886–1968) and the emergence of gifted theologians like K.H. Miskotte and O. Noordmans gave a new impulse to the DRC and its theology. Under the influence of Barth’s struggle against German National Socialism, the DRC looked beyond its sixteenth- and seventeenth-century standards to confess her belief anew in the face of the challenges of the twentieth century.
In the meantime, membership of the DRC had dwindled down to one third of the Dutch population in the 1930s; the percentage of Dutch nonbelievers had grown to fourteen percent in the 1930s. In these dramatic circumstances, a movement took hold in the 1920s and 1930s in the DRC for reorganization of its governmental structure and for return to its basics. This movement seemed to fail until the war and the German occupation of the Netherlands accelerated this process. Nazi terror and the spiritual and material needs of the Dutch forced the DRC to speak out for its confession and made her relevant within Dutch society as a whole. This new confidence combined with the urge to reorganize, resulting in a general synod—the first since 1619—that accepted a new church order, which was implemented in 1951. Although not a return to the Dordrecht order, several elements were retained: congregations were represented in the governmental bodies again, and a formula was agreed upon regarding the function and status of the Three Forms of Unity: “confessing in community with our forefathers.” The influence of Barth was dominant in the new church order; liberals were criticized for relying on the concept of the human being as a religious being, and the orthodox were criticized for relying on their knowledge of God’s will.
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