Leonardus "Bert" Laeyendecker (18 June 1930 – 8 August 2020) was a Dutch sociologist. He was professor of sociology at Leiden University from 1973 to 1989. He specialized in sociology of religion.
Laeyendecker was born on 18 June 1930 in Utrecht.[1] He obtained his doctorate in social geography at the University of Amsterdam in 1967 under professor S. Hofstra with a thesis titled: "Religion and conflict: the so-called sects in sociological perspective".[2] From August 1967 to October 1973 he was lector of sociology at the University of Amsterdam. In October 1973 he became professor of sociology at Leiden University.[1] His appointment ended in February 1989 due to a reorganization.[1] [3] From 1989 to 1992 he served as director of the Multidisciplinary Center for Church and Society (Dutch: Multidisciplinair Centrum voor Kerk en Samenleving).[3]
During the 1960s Laeyendecker started research on sociology of religion, especially that of the Catholic Church in the Netherlands, and continued to do so throughout his career.[3] Kees de Groot and Erik Sengers stated that Laeyendecker was one of the greatest sociologists in the Netherlands between the 1970s and 1980s.[4]
In early 1970, Laeyendecker resigned as Father Augustinian because of Clerical celibacy in the Catholic Church which was also propagated by Dutch Cardinal Bernardus Johannes Alfrink.[5] In 1993 Laeyendecker concluded that the Second Vatican Council had inspired a counter-reaction and that official authority of the Catholic Church over believers had greatly diminished in the second half of the 20th century.[6]
Laeyendecker was elected a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1989.[7]
He died on 8 August 2020 at the age of 90.[8]
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