Biography
Marietta studied at Utrecht University from 2009 to 2014 (LLM Hons in law, MA in history) and then at Yale University from 2014 to 2016 (MAR Hons in history of Christianity). Her doctoral thesis, ‘Politics of religious diversity: toleration, religious freedom and visibility of religion in public space’ (University of Cambridge, 2020), explored expressions of tolerance and intolerance in contemporary constitutional law and politics in France, Germany and the Netherlands.
In 2020, she joined the Blavatnik School of Government as inaugural Alfred Landecker postdoctoral research fellow and in 2021 became a non-stipendiary Junior Research Fellow at New College. She was College Lecturer in Comparative Politics at St Peter’s College (Oxford) in 2023, followed by a full-time College Lectureship in Politics at Lincoln College (2023-2024), teaching in History & Politics and PPE, and a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at the University of Cambridge (2024-2025).
Marietta leads the interdisciplinary networks ‘Religion, ethnicity and politics in German, Dutch and Anglo-American contexts: nationalism and the future of democracy’ (DAAD-Cambridge) and the project ‘Protestant political thought: religion, state, nation’ (with Dr Sophia Johnson). These networks have curated several special issues, including ‘Rethinking the Sacred in Religion and Nationalism’ in Religion, State, Society and ‘Old Testament Imaginaries of the Nation in German, Dutch, and Anglo-American Protestant Political Thought’ in The Journal of the Bible and its Reception. An annual fixture is the Political Theologies conference series.
Research
Marietta's research interest is in the comparative study of politics, law and religion. Her book Constitutional Intolerance: The Fashioning of the Other in Europe’s Constitutional Repertoires (CUP 2025) explores the impact of right-wing movements on minority protections in France, the Netherlands, Hungary and Poland.
Her Landecker Lectureship carries a five-year research project, titled “Imagining Sacred Lands: the ‘Russian World’, ‘Hungarian World’, and ‘Holy Serbia’”. This project studies the relationship between space, identity and borders in Russia, Hungary and Serbia, and their relationship with territories that are no longer under their control: Ukraine, Transylvania, and Kosovo. Through the lens of the political imaginaries of the Russian World, Hungarian World, and Holy Serbia, this project will analyse competing conceptions of the sacred underpinning illiberal accounts of democracy and political authority.
The project will engage with Eastern as well as Orthodox conceptual discourses on politics and religion to grasp what is at stake with the rise of hybrid authoritarianism in Europe: the assertion of “sacred geographies” beyond one’s own borders, Russia’s growing sphere of influence through its support for far-right movements and spread of disinformation, as well as democratic stability across the European continent.
With generous support from the Alfred Landecker Foundation, the Landecker Lectureship will also facilitate academic workshops, public engagement, collaborative publishing, a Summer School, and the continuation of the Political Theologies conference series.
Publications
Monographs (2) and books (1)
M.D.C. van der Tol, Constitutional Intolerance: formations of the other in Europe’s constitutional repertoires, Cambridge University Press (2025)
M.P. Rowley & M.D.C. van der Tol, A Global Sourcebook in Protestant Political Thought. Volume I, Routledge 2024.
M.D.C. van der Tol, De jongste ontwikkelingen van het kiesrecht in het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden in historisch perspectief, Wolf Legal Publishers 2014. (On the development of suffrage in the colonial context of the Netherlands)
Peer-reviewed journal articles (9), including leadership of special issues (4)
M.D.C. van der Tol & E.J. Becker, ‘What’s ethnicity got to do with it? Religious and racial politics in Europe’, introduction to Special Issue, Ethnic and Racial Studies 47, No. 9: 1749-1768.
M.D.C. van der Tol, ‘Ethnic identity as a challenge to antidiscrimination law: protection, positionality, and liminality’, Ethnic and Racial Studies 47, No. 9: 1880-1899.
M.D.C. van der Tol & P. Gorski, Gorski ‘Secularisation as the fragmentation of the sacred and of sacred space’, Religion, State, Society (2022) Vol. 50, No. 5 (Special issue ‘Rethinking the Sacred in Religion and Nationalism’, edited by M.D.C. van der Tol & P. Gorski), pp. 495-512 (double blind review).
M.D.C. van der Tol & M.P. Rowley, ‘A posture of protest? The search for Christian identity in a post-secular society: between discontented eschatology and a sacralisation of history’, International Journal of Religion (2022), Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 101-113 (double blind review).
M.D.C. van der Tol, ‘The “Jew,” the Nation and Assimilation: The Old Testament and the Fashioning of the “Other” in German and Dutch Protestant Political Thought’, Journal of the Bible and its Reception (2021) Vol. 8, No. 2 (Special Issue ‘Old Testament Imaginaries of the Nation in German, Dutch and Anglo-American Protestant Political Thought, eds. S.R.C. Johnson & M.D.C. van der Tol), pp. 143-162 (double blind review).
M.D.C. van der Tol, ‘Laïcité as control: the 2021 legal reforms in historical perspective’, International Journal for Religious Freedom, (2022), Vol. 13, No. 1/2, pp. 67-80 (double blind review).
M.D.C. van der Tol, ‘Openbare orde voorbij letter en geest: sociale normen en religieuze intolerantie in het staatsrecht’, Tijdschrift voor Recht, Religie en Beleid, (2021), Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 24-36. (On the relationship between social norms and public order in the Netherlands).
M.D.C. van der Tol, ‘Conscience and cakes: reaffirming the distinction between institutional duties and individual rights’, Oxford Journal of Law and Religion (2020) Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 372-387 (double blind review).
M.D.C. van der Tol, ‘Intolerance unveiled? Burkini bans across France’, (2018) Revue du droit des religions, No. 6, pp. 139-149, https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.34325 (double blind review).
Book Chapters (7), incl leadership of edited volumes (3)
M.D.C. van der Tol, ‘Discerning anti-liberalism from the far-right: conservative Christianity in the Netherlands’, in Gionathan lo Mascolo (ed), The Christian Right in Europe: Movements, Networks, Denominations (Transcript 2023) (peer-reviewed).
M.D.C. van der Tol, ‘Politics of belonging in the nation state: reclaiming Christianity from populism’, in Joshua Ralston & Ulrich Schmiedel, The Spirit of Populism: Political Theologies in Polarized Times, Leiden: Brill 2021 (peer-reviewed).
M.D.C. van der Tol, Carys Brown, John Adenitire & Emily S. Kempson (eds.), From Toleration to Religious freedom. Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives, Oxford: Peter Lang 2021 (double blind review).
L.M. Konijn, M.D.C. van der Tol, ‘Good Governance tussen Statuut en werkelijkheid’, in G.A. Addink, M.D.C. van der Tol, C.M.C. Wagemakers (eds.), Goed bestuur op Sint Maarten: tussen recht en realiteit, Wolf Legal Publishers 2014.
D. de Meyst & M.D.C. van der Tol, ‘Education funding in the light of good governance’, in: The interaction of national legal systems: convergence or divergence?, Vilnius Faculty of Law, Vilnius: Vilnius University 2013, ISBN 9786094592010
Teaching and Supervisions
- Democratic Backsliding and Resilience (MPhil in Politics and International Studies)
- The Politics, Policies and Religion of Democratic Backsliding (MPhil in Divinity: pathway Religion & Conflict)
Previously:
- Foundations of the Ethics of Government and Public Policy (Blavatnik School of Government)
- International Relations (Oxford Tripos)
- Political Theory (Oxford Tripos)
- Comparative Government (Oxford Tripos)
- Introduction to the theory and practice of politics (Oxford Tripos)
- History of Political Thought until the 17th century (Cambridge Tripos)
Marietta is interested in supervising MPhil and PhD students in:
- Politics, Society and Religion
- Democratic Backsliding
- Transnational Christian Nationalism
Other Professional Activities
- McDonald Distinguished Senior Fellow in Law and Religion, Emory University
