Henk-Jan Prosman (1975) is a Reformed pastor in the Dutch city of Nieuwkoop. After his Theology studies on the University of Utrecht, he started a PhD at the same university. In 2011, Prosman published the dissertation: The Postmodern Condition and the Meaning of Secularity. A Study on the Religious Dynamics of Postmodernity.
Before becoming a pastor in 2012, he worked as a teacher of Theology and Social Studies for three years.
His academic research has always been strongly focued on secularisation, but as a pastor he noticed that the church is not exactly on the margins of society. At the same time, dissatisfaction grew about how negatively the media discussed the church and Christianity.
Prosman says: “My political orientation has also been influenced by this. Churches still make a major contribution to the social structure of our society. The church is particularly relevant in small-scale associations of villages and districts. Many political policies of the past decades, such as mass immigration and liberalization, have put enormous pressure on this. But despite the politics, it's still there! From this observation I have a certain affinity with populism and conservatism. In my opinion, this reflects a strong democratic realization: primacy rests with society and not with the government.”