Moral rebound finds Dutch exploring Calvin

By Catherine Hornby

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Snuffed-out candles, skulls and hourglasses were how the Old Masters portrayed the vanity of greed. For the Dutch, the credit crunch has revived a moralistic stance from back when the first share was issued in Amsterdam.

Erupting on the 500th anniversary of the birth of Protestant theologian John Calvin, the financial crisis has spawned a splurge of puritanical debate and self-analysis.

Calvin's 16th-century teachings were influential for the Protestant Reformation in the Netherlands and across Europe, and as people reassess the forces that unleashed the global credit bubble, they are falling back on old truths.

Even Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende has turned to Calvin to explain the financial mess.

"If the credit crisis makes anything clear, it shows we need to strengthen the moral anchors of our economy," Balkenende wrote in an article discussing what Calvin could teach us today.

"At its core this is also a moral crisis, caused by greed, money-mindedness and egoistic trading."

The renewed sobriety is not without ironies.

A special edition magazine titled "Calvin Glossy" presents the French theologian as the "Barack Obama of the 16th Century," and compares his connection with the ordinary man and his emphasis on responsibility with that of the new U.S. President.

One religious daily, Trouw, is offering an online test to assess people's Calvinist credentials. Those agreeing with the statement "I should work harder" and disagreeing with "I like to dine in luxury" will boost their score.

But some Dutch also see a danger in Calvinist stringency and social control.

"There's an unpleasant, bitter smell in the Dutch air: it's not tobacco or sprouts," wrote a contributor named Frank Lenssen in an online debate: "No, it's the stench of Calvinism."

Of course, the moral revival is not exclusive to the Dutch. Among recent investigations of the decline of the U.S. empire a book, "The Puritan Gift," by Glasgow-born brothers Kenneth and William Hopper, similarly explores lost values.

It argues America's original prosperity lay in the ethical approach of Puritan settlers that was shared by the Dutch who settled around what is now New York, including a strong emphasis on hard work and mechanical and managerial skills.

The book blames a crisis in modern business on the emergence of MBA managers who lack hands-on experience, and on the rise of financial engineering -- sophisticated techniques to inflate returns regardless of the quality of underlying assets.

"The Puritan Gift is a rare ability to create organizations that serve a useful purpose and to manage them well, which means to the benefit of society, and not just to make money for yourself," said William Hopper.