Amsterdammers travelling on the tram through the ‘old-west’ part of town become familiar with streets named after poets, writers and activists including Bilderdijk, da Costa, de Clercq and van Lennep.

Few however know that these are the names of an influential circle of friends who fathered a spiritual awakening in 19th century Amsterdam, the Réveil movement, with lasting social, political and spiritual impact on the city and beyond.

We explored this revival story on Sunday afternoon in the seventh of the series of nine Geloof in Mokum events tracing the impact of faith on Amsterdam’s story through nine centuries. 

Following the Catholic and Protestant eras of the city’s history, we have come to the third era: the modern, liberal, secular period birthed by the Enlightenment displacement of revelation by reason as the basis of knowledge. 

The Romantic movement in literature and art arose as a reaction to rationalism in late 18th- and early 19th-century Europe.

Humans were not just thinking beings. They had feelings and imagination too. There was also a spiritual dimension of life needing nurture.

Many churches in Europe, the Netherlands, and Amsterdam had drifted into rationalism, moralism and indifference. In response, a spiritual renewal movement called the Réveil emerged in Switzerland and France, and spread to Germany, England and the Netherlands. 

Common passion

Four figures in particular—Willem Bilderdijk, Isaäc da Costa, Jacob van Lennep and Willem de Clercq—brought the Réveil to Amsterdam and helped lay the groundwork for a new Christian presence in public life.

Widely different in temperament and emphasis, their common passion for Christ and for the renewal of Dutch society prepared the soil in which later leaders, above all Abraham Kuyper, would plant deeper roots.

Bilderdijk (1756–1831), writer and poet, seemed to many a relic of the past—an eccentric, uncompromising figure. Yet to the young Jewish convert da Costa, he was a prophet championing a vision of history in which divine providence and Christian faith remained central.

Through his poetry and his discipleship of younger men, Bilderdijk became the spiritual father of the Réveil in the Netherlands. Although with little organisational talent, he lit sparks in others who would carry his ideas further.

Da Costa (1798–1860), a law student, denounced the shallow optimism of his generation in his small book Bezwaren tegen den geest der eeuw (“Objections to the Spirit of the Age”) and called for a return to biblical truth.

Da Costa’s message was deliberately countercultural: where his contemporaries celebrated liberty, equality, and reason, he warned that ‘the spirit of the age’ was delusion. Only God’s Word, revelation in Christ, and the authority of Scripture could provide truth and hope. 

Where da Costa thundered, van Lennep (1802–1868) embodied a more conciliatory and popular side of the Réveil. Novelist, lawyer, and publicist, van Lennep’s historical novels brought the Dutch past alive for a broad readership.

Through literature and public life, he translated the impulses of the Réveil into forms accessible to ordinary citizens. Though later in life he drifted toward liberal positions that disappointed some of his friends, his contribution was crucial in broadening the Réveil’s appeal.

If Bilderdijk provided inspiration, da Costa the prophetic voice and van Lennep the cultural reach, Willem de Clercq (1795–1844) supplied the practical leadership.

A grain merchant and later secretary of the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij, the Netherlands Trading Society, de Clercq combined piety with organisational ability.

In Amsterdam, the Réveil primarily took shape in house meetings with a strong personal and spiritual character, primarily under the leadership of da Costa and de Clercq.

These house groups sometimes gave rise to public lectures and social activities, but the core remained the intimate, friendly encounter in which faith and life were discussed together—complementing, and sometimes in tension with, the official church.

De Clercq championed social reform, education, and missions. He helped launch philanthropic initiatives addressing poverty in Amsterdam, seeking to unite evangelical fervour with tangible action.

For him, faith was not confined to the inner life but demanded engagement in commerce, politics, and society. In this way, de Clercq most clearly anticipated Abraham Kuyper’s later program of Christian action in every sphere of life.

Seeds & fruit

The Amsterdam Réveil never became a mass movement. Yet by insisting that faith must be personal, passionate, and socially relevant, the Réveil planted seeds that would later bear fruit in Dutch political, social and church life.

While the Réveil began in literary and upper-class circles, its ethos trickled down to people like Jan de Liefde, schoolteacher and evangelist from a popular, working-class background, who brought it into the streets and alleys of Amsterdam.

He institutionalized its ideals in Tot Heil des Volks (To the salvation of the people) in 1855, giving it an enduring structure of social and evangelistic action. Tot Heil des Volks is the popular, working-class offspring of the Réveil.

It became one of the longest-standing diaconal and evangelistic organizations in the Netherlands (still active today among the urban poor in addiction care, youth work and help for prostitutes).

Sunday’s event took place at 15.30 in the Tot Heil des Volks centre, Willemstraat 39, established by Jan de Liefde in the heart of the former slum area of the Jordaan district. (In Dutch only).

Jeff Fountain, Director of the Schuman Centre for European Studies. This article was first published on the author's blog, Weekly Word.