Movement Magazine: Issue 162

INTERVIEW
ADRIAAN VAN
KLINKEN
Adriaan van Klinken, author of ‘Kenyan, Christian, Queer: Religion, LGBT Activism, and Arts of Resistance
in Africa’, is Professor of Religion and African Studies at the University of Leeds, and a gay Christian.
In this interview, Joshua House – a recent graduate from the University of Leeds and outgoing Secretary
for Inclusive Christian Movement Leeds – speaks to Adriaan about his identity; about his upbringing in
the conservative Dutch Reformed Church, coming to terms with his sexuality and navigating questions of
identity throughout his research and professional life.
Arriving at a semi-detached house in a Leeds’ suburb on
an overcast Wednesday afternoon, I realise that my mental
image of Adriaan van Klinken does not match this – of him
living in a quiet corner of this busy city. You see, Adriaan
pushes against conventions, he doesn’t suit them; whether
that be his upbringing in the conservative Dutch Reformed
Church, his academic status as not-quite-a-theologianbut-not-quite-a-social-scientist-either,
or his suspicion of
labels, be that for God, sexualities or anything else.
But upon the emergence of a tall figure in one of his
characteristically bright shirts, I begin to see how this
works. His back garden is immaculate – ‘It’s kept me sane
throughout lockdown!’ he tells me, and it shows. Returning
with tea, he’s brought me some tasty Dutch biscuits sitting
on a decorative plate, likely a souvenir from one of his
many research trips to Zambia, South Africa or Kenya.
Even though we’re in suburban Leeds, Adriaan’s extensive
experience of travelling is clear. Meeting him, you begin to
realise that there is so much more than meets the eye and
so many facets to his identity. Boxes simply don’t work for
him – although that he knows – and this understanding of
Adriaan only becomes clearer as our conversation unfolds.
Adriaan was raised in the South West of the Netherlands,
or as Adriaan puts it, ‘On a literal island,’ he continues,
‘it’s now connected to the mainland via bridges, but it still
has an island mentality. Saying that, Rotterdam is only 30
miles away, which is not a huge distance but you still need
to go off the island to get there’. The picture he paints is
one of seclusion from mainland culture, ‘When I go back
now, I think it’s kind of a nice place, it’s quite pretty’, but
it’s also dominated by a ‘Dutch Bible belt culture’. He says,
‘People always have this idea of the Netherlands as this
liberal progressive country. But they don’t know that the
Netherlands has its own Bible Belt. It’s dominated by a
conservative form of Dutch Protestantism’. That was the
world of Adriaan’s upbringing, ‘It meant, very practically,
going to Church twice on a Sunday and the sermon would
typically be 45 minutes, and then in between that we were
supposed to go to Sunday school for another hour. In that
sense Church was very important, and the whole Sunday
was Church.’ He makes a point of how ‘slow and dramatic’
the Hymns are, simply Psalms put to music – for a moment
he looks like he’s about to break out into song. He doesn’t.
Reflecting on this culture Adriaan describes it as
conservative, ‘Ultimately Dutch Reformed culture comes
in ‘fifty shades of grey’. The one I grew up in was not the
most conservative, but still very grey’. Clearly not a fan
of this grey worship, Adriaan says, ‘In my teenage years,
I discovered Evangelical Christianity. It seemed to be a
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