ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at how the sublime in the Dutch Republic is closely connected with theological thinking about the "fear of God" (vreese Godts). The age-old tradition in which the overwhelming impact of contact with God is described as a combination of attraction and repulsion, of admiration and fear, flourished in the Dutch seventeenth century, but at the same time it was prohibited to depict God as human. The most prominent artists and writers, such as Rembrandt and Vondel, asked the pressing question: What should a human being do if he cannot behold what attracts him the most?
