On the Use and Abuse of Great Educators: The Case of Comenius in the Low Countries

This article presents an overview of four centuries of Dutch reactions to the seventeenth‐century educationalist and philosopher J. A. Comenius. Threephases in this reception history are proposed: disregard, denouncement and deification.

After this summary account, the article goes into more detail with a review of two examples of what may be considered as abuses of Comenius’ ideas. Firstly, it reports on the misinterpretation of Comenius by Dutch Pietist Protestants since the seventeenth century. Secondly, it discusses a very recent example of promoting Comenius as a prophet for postmodern times. In this respect, the article may also be read as a plea for the professional academic study of Comenius, in stead of calling him in for some ideological purpose.