Marten van der Meulen

I am a  sociologist of Religion. Areas of professional interests: evangelicalism, pentecostalism, immigrant churches, social capital, civil society.

At the moment (2006) i am busy starting up a new project titled “The Participation of Immigrant Churches in Dutch Civil Society”. In the Netherlands there are around 1200 immigrant churches, and 800.000 immigrants (presumably) having a Christian background. Up till now this group of immigrants has been neglected in scienitific and public debates on immigration and religion.

Recently I finished a PhD study titled "Church and civil society in a new suburb". My research is based on (mostly) etnographic fieldwork in Leidsche Rijn, the largest new VINEX building project in the Netherlands. During the year 2002 I followed two church-building projects, an ecumenical project called "Being Church in Leidsche Rijn" and a conservative reformed project, called Rijnwaarde. My PhD-thesis will be published in May 2006.