Bert Laeyendecker
{{Short description|Dutch sociologist (1930–2020)}}
Leonardus "Bert" Laeyendecker (18 June 1930 – 8 August 2020) was a Dutch sociologist. He was professor of sociology at Leiden University from 1973 to 1989. He specialized in sociology of religion.
Life
Laeyendecker was born on 18 June 1930 in Utrecht.{{cite web|url=https://hoogleraren.leidenuniv.nl/id/1517 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200620153605/https://hoogleraren.leidenuniv.nl/id/1517 |title=Leonardus Laeyendecker |language=nl |publisher=Leiden University |archive-date=20 June 2020}} He obtained his doctorate in social geography at the University of Amsterdam in 1967 under professor S. Hofstra with a thesis titled: "Religion and conflict: the so-called sects in sociological perspective".{{cite web|url=http://www.albumacademicum.uva.nl/cgi/b/bib/bib-idx?type=simple;lang=nl;c=ap;rgn1=entirerecord;q1=Laeyendecker;x=0;y=0;cc=ap;view=reslist;sort=achternaam;fmt=long;page=reslist;start=1;size=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622183151/http://www.albumacademicum.uva.nl/cgi/b/bib/bib-idx?type=simple;lang=nl;c=ap;rgn1=entirerecord;q1=Laeyendecker;x=0;y=0;cc=ap;view=reslist;sort=achternaam;fmt=long;page=reslist;start=1;size=1 |title=Dr. L. Laeyendecker, 1930 - |language=nl |publisher=University of Amsterdam |archive-date=22 June 2020}} From August 1967 to October 1973 he was lector of sociology at the University of Amsterdam. In October 1973 he became professor of sociology at Leiden University. His appointment ended in February 1989 due to a reorganization.{{cite web|author=Herman Noordegraaf |url=https://www.banningvereniging.nl/maatschappijkritiek-van-oudheid-tot-heden/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190516121052/https://www.banningvereniging.nl/maatschappijkritiek-van-oudheid-tot-heden/ |title=Maatschappijkritiek van oudheid tot heden |language=nl |publisher=Banning Vereniging |date=22 September 2014 |archive-date=16 May 2019}} From 1989 to 1992 he served as director of the Multidisciplinary Center for Church and Society (Dutch: Multidisciplinair Centrum voor Kerk en Samenleving).
During the 1960s Laeyendecker started research on sociology of religion, especially that of the Catholic Church in the Netherlands, and continued to do so throughout his career. Kees de Groot and Erik Sengers stated that Laeyendecker was one of the greatest sociologists in the Netherlands between the 1970s and 1980s.{{cite book|title=Sociologies of Religion: National Traditions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1-l5DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA147|date=7 August 2015|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-29758-6|page=147}}
In early 1970, Laeyendecker resigned as Father Augustinian because of Clerical celibacy in the Catholic Church which was also propagated by Dutch Cardinal Bernardus Johannes Alfrink.{{cite book|author=Marc van Dijk|title=De paus van Amsterdam: biografie van Huub Oosterhuis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PvIvAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT141|date=18 October 2013|publisher=Atlas Contact, Uitgeverij|isbn=978-90-450-2651-0|page=141}} In 1993 Laeyendecker concluded that the Second Vatican Council had inspired a counter-reaction and that official authority of the Catholic Church over believers had greatly diminished in the second half of the 20th century.{{cite book|author=Kees de Groot|title=The Liquidation of the Church|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=32A1DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT57|date=13 September 2017|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-10476-6|page=57}}
Laeyendecker was elected a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1989.{{cite web|url=https://www.knaw.nl/en/members/members/4430 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200511190638/https://www.knaw.nl/en/members/members/4430 |title=Leo (Bert) Laeyendecker |publisher=Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences |archive-date=11 May 2020}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laeyendecker, Bert}}
Category:Academic staff of Leiden University
Category:Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Category:Writers from Utrecht (city)