CHECK HIM OUT! The Dutch YOUTH FOR CHRIST in the 1970s: Religious Organization or Youth Culture?

Abstract

This thesis analyses the evangelical organization Youth for Christ. It seeks to understand the relationship between YfC and youth culture in the Netherlands during the 1970s. It first examines YfC as an offshoot of the Evangelical Movement and then questions the extent to which YfC adapted itself to Dutch youth culture. YfC is compared to the broader Evangelical Movement in terms of protest, revitalization, conversion, and care; and it is compared to youth culture in terms of style (image: music, literature, fashion; attitude; and language), and media framing. This thesis concludes that YfC fits well with the broader Evangelical Movement. At the same time, YfC takes on the style and form of youth culture but not the radicalism - which would not befit YfC's status as a popular rleigious movement.