Smaller Board Room (Kleine Herenkamer) in Foundation House, 1778

Teylers Eerste Genootschap (English: ''Teyler's First Society''), also known as the Godgeleerd Genootschap (''Theological Society'') is one of the societies founded within the

Teylers Stichting The Teylers Stichting (English: Teylers Foundation) is a Dutch foundation founded with the heritage of the Dutch 18th century cloth merchant and banker Pieter Teyler van der Hulst to support the people in need and encourage worship, science and art ...

as a result of the will of the Dutch 18th-century merchant

Pieter Teyler van der Hulst Pieter Teyler van der Hulst (25 March 1702 – 8 April 1778) was a wealthy Dutch Mennonite merchant and banker, who died childless, leaving a legacy of two million florins (in today's terms: about EUR 80 million) to the pursuit of religion, art ...

.Teylers Museum
on Teylers First Society

History

The society was founded in 1778, and the first five members were appointed through Teylers testament: two

remonstrant The Remonstrants (or the Remonstrant Brotherhood) is a Protestant movement that had split from the Dutch Reformed Church in the early 17th century. The early Remonstrants supported Jacobus Arminius, and after his death, continued to maintain his ...

preachers and three Baptist preachers. As stipulated, there had to be six members, and the sixth member was selected by the first five, and was the baptist Frederik Scheltinga. The society had also a sister society, Teylers Tweede Genootschap - which focused on art and science but is organized in a similar way. The main activity of the society is to discuss theological issues, and annually announce contests with a relative high prize compared to similar contests by other societies (400

guilder Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German ''gulden'', originally shortened from Middle High German ''guldin pfenninc'' "gold penny". This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Roman Empir ...

s for the 1778 edition). The prizes were awarded by the members of the society and the directors of the foundation jointly.

1805 competition: Jacob Haafner

Because of the different religious backgrounds of the directors compared to the society members, conflicts over the outcome were not unheard of.Teylers Museum
describing the Jacob Haafner submission of 1803 This became especially visible in 1805, when Jacob Haafner submitted an essay on the question "What did the mission bring us so far, and what can be expected" which answered it in a negative sense - much more liberal than the directors would allow, while the jury members were deeply impressed. It took them two years to work out the differences, and the piece would only be published in 1807.

Essay competitions: procedure

Especially in the early years, when the questions were less conservatively focused, the amount of replies was high because of the high prize associated with winning it. Until 1796 the answers had to be submitted in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

or French, after 1796 also

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

were allowed. The name of the submitting author was only available in a sealed envelope, which was linked to the piece and would only be opened in case the piece would win the contest. All other envelopes were burned unopened - and their replies archived anonymously. The winner receives a silver or gold medal or a sum of money and its submission was published in the Verhandelingen van Teylers Eerste Genootschap (''Proceedings of Teylers First Society''). The most recent contest is from 2011, asking for "research on the formation and/or change of the Dutch perception of Islam in the years 1990-2010" which will run through 2014.The current contests of the Teylers Stichting
/ref> A contest typically runs for three years at a time - hence multiple contest can be active at any given moment. The society meets annually in the ''Kleine Herenkamer'' (Small Boardroom) in the Teylers Fundatiehuis (Teylers Foundation House) next to the

Teylers Museum Teylers Museum () is an art, natural history, and science museum in Haarlem, Netherlands. Established in 1778, Teylers Museum was founded as a centre for contemporary art and science. The historic centre of the museum is the neoclassical Oval R ...

Current members

The members of the society are nowadays well known academics in the field of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

working at various universities throughout the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

- (assistant) professors in different relevant fields such as "history of Christianity" and "the New Testament". * Alle Hoekema (assistant professor

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, being founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded research ...

) * Maarten Menken (professor

University of Tilburg Tilburg University is a public university, public research university specializing in the social and behavioral sciences, economics, law, business sciences, theology and humanities, located in Tilburg in the southern part of the Netherlands. Tilb ...

) * Ed Noort (honorary professor Rijksuniversiteit Groningen) * Ernestine van der Wall (professor

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

) * Herman Beck (professor

) * Victor Kal (assistant professor

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

)

References and footnotes

External sources