We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Religion, Culture and Psychopathology: Cultural-Psychological Reflections on Religion in a Case of Manslaughter in The Netherlands.
- Authors
Belzen, J. A.
- Abstract
During one of the religious gatherings which for some time had been taking place in the evening at the home of farmer Martin Schroevers around 1900 in the Dutch village of Betuwe, Schroevers killed his own farmhand Peter, inasmuch as the latter was thought to be possessed by the devil. (All names of persons involved have been changed (also the name of the village). Evidently, quotations have been translated). Approximately a dozen persons—men, women, and children—were present at the scene, some of whom horribly maimed and mutilated the body. Martin was thereupon proclaimed the Messiah and taken in triumphal procession by his psalm-singing adherents from Betuwe, where he lived, to Diedenhoven, where he was acclaimed by his mother and his brothers as God's Chosen One. Early in the morning Martin, along with his adherents, returned to Betuwe, where he was arrested by the police and brought to prison. Three other involved persons were taken to psychiatric institutions, to which Martin was later transferred as well. Just what happened here? Was it murder? A case of mental illness? If so, what did religion or religious notions have to do with it?
- Subjects
NETHERLANDS; BETUWE (Netherlands); PSYCHIATRY &; religion; MURDER
- Publication
Pastoral Psychology, 2000, Vol 48, Issue 6, p415
- ISSN
0031-2789
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1023/A:1021332319406