Christine Kooi

Christine Kooi is the Lewis, Katheryn and Benjamin Price Professor of European History at Louisiana State University (LSU), affiliated with the College of Humanities & Social Sciences and the Department of History. Her work focuses on the Reformation in the Low Countries (1500-1620), religious tolerance in early modern Europe, and Catholic-Protestant dynamics. She teaches courses on early modern Europe, the Dutch Republic, and gender history.

• Education:
  • B.A. summa cum laude, The College of Saint Rose (1987)
  • M.A. and Ph.D., Yale University (1993)

Her research explores religious coexistence in Calvinist-dominated regions, particularly Catholic survival strategies in Dutch Golden Age society. She has held prestigious fellowships at the H.H. Meeter Center for Calvin Studies (2021) and Amsterdam’s Protestant Heritage Centre (2019), and received the Carl Meyer Prize (1993). Her book Calvinists and Catholics during Holland’s Golden Age (2012) examines interconfessional relations, while recent work addresses the legacy of the Synod of Dordrecht (2020).

Her publications span journals like Archive for Reformationsgeschichte and Sixteenth Century Journal, with chapters in major edited volumes such as Cambridge Companion to the Dutch Golden Age. She serves on the editorial board of the Sixteenth Century Journal.

• Awards & Grants:
  • Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study Resident Fellow (2003)
  • Louisiana Board of Regents ATLAS Grant (2007–2008)

Her work bridges local case studies (e.g., Leiden’s church discipline debates) with broader themes of religious conflict, conversion, and state-religion interactions in early modern Europe.