Putting Knowledge to Use: Clergy and Science in Denmark and the Netherlands around 1800

This chapter studies the role of Dutch and Danish pastors in the advancement and dissemination of natural and agricultural knowledge around 1800. The comparison between these members of the Danish Lutheran state church and of the Dutch Protestant churches illustrates that their activities were typical neither of nation nor of denomination, and did not necessarily depend on the constitutional position of the
church. It argues that the position of these pastors as knowledge brokers relates to the commonalities in their social and cultural context obtained through their vocation. They possessed the necessary skills and tools, had access to the right networks, and could be acknowledged as protagonists of international, moderate Enlightenment ideals of obtaining national prosperity through putting knowledge to use.