scholarly journals Glas in beeld – beeld in glas. Verkondiging in fragment en fragmente van verkondiging ...

2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elsabé Kloppers ◽  
Wian Kloppers

Glass in the image – image in glass. Preaching in fragments and fragments of preaching . . . The view that the sermon is an ‘open work of art’, promoted the awareness that the ‘meaning’ of a sermon is not fixed, but that possibilities are presented for the listeners to ‘assign meaning’. ‘Assigning meaning’ does not mean something fully ad libitum: ‘meaning’ is formed within the guidelines of the text from which a sermon stems. Visual works of art could also be based on Biblical texts or stories, analysed and interpreted by the artist. The artist could mould the encounter with the Biblical text into various forms of art, proclaiming the gospel in ways similar to that of a spoken sermon: a work of art could present possibilities for assigning meaning related to faith. In this article the new stained glass windows, symbolically depicting the Liturgical Year, in a Dutch Reformed church in Pretoria, are discussed with a view to the possibilities they present to form part of experience-based religious education in ‘bringing home’ stories from the Bible and aspects of the Liturgical Year. Also asked is how they could function as visual ‘sermons’, speaking and communicating the ‘Word of God’ to the people inside the church, as well as to people on the outside.

2011 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukas Soko ◽  
H. Jurgens Hendriks

This article is descriptive in nature and a practical theological assessment of the schisms that took place in the Reformed Church in Zambia (RCZ) between 1996 and 2001. It analyses empirical evidence to find an answer to the question why it happened. Pentecostal or charismatic tendencies have challenged the long inherited tradition of mainline churches. Subsequently, Pentecostal or charismatic movements have caused intense conflict in the church between the pro-conservatives and pro-Pentecostals. In the RCZ this led to the formation of the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) in 1999 and the Bible Gospel Church in Africa (BIGOCA) in 2001.


2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Piet J. Strauss

Church discipline: A fair and just pastoral-ecclesiatical act? Is article 60.3 of the Church Order of the Dutch Reformed Church a spiritual offspring of the Church Order of Dordt? Departing from the viewpoint that church discipline is spiritual in nature, article 60.3 of the Church Order of the Dutch Reformed Church states that it should be exercised in a fair and just pastoral-ecclesiatical way. In doing so, this Order should be obedient to the Word of God, the confessions of faith of this church, its church order and the normative character of the church as an institution of society. This requirement, in terms of the formulation of article 60.3, is investigated. In addition, article 60.3 is compared with the Church Order of Dordt to determine whether the former may be regarded as a spiritual offspring of the latter. It is concluded that article 60.3 is indeed scriptural, according to the confessions and determined by the character of the church. It is therefore also an offspring of the Church Order of Dordt.


2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Piet J. Strauss

Sin which should be disciplined according to three church orders. The orders of three reformed churches, namely those of the Dutch Reformed Church, the Christian Reformed Church in North America and the Reformed Churches in South Africa have consensus about the need for an officially punishable sin to be of a public and offensive nature. The reason is that a sin must be openly against the Word of God and the confessions of the church. The approach of the church as an institution of faith carrying the love and righteousness of God, should be to maintain the spiritual nature of church discipline and to aim for the spiritual purpose of its discipline. Church discipline should be aimed at convincing the sinner and assuring church members of its desire to keep the demands of the Word and justice in tact.


2008 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. Strauss

The ecclesiastical authority of the assemblies in church as in the church order of the Dutch Reformed Church The point in discussion in this article is Article 20.1 of the church order of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC). In accept- ing the first version of this church order, the first general synod of the DRC in 1962 used the church order of 1959 of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (RCN) as an example. The exact wording of Article 20.1 happened to be part of the latter.   Article 20.1 gives an indication of the authority of assemblies because this is nowhere else attended to in the church order of the DRC. It explains that the authority of church governing bodies like assemblies comes from Christ. He as the actual Head of the church lends authority to these assemblies, without abdicating his position as the Head of his church. He remains the Source and Owner of ecclesiastical authority.  This means that ecclesiastical authority is founded and based on the Word of God by which it sumultaneously is limited. In exercising it’s authority, an assembly is also bound to do it in accordance with the character of the church. To speak of authority in the church is not in conflict with the character of the church as a community of believers connected by love.


Author(s):  
Leendert F. Groenendijk

AbstractFrom the very first, the Dutch Reformed Church addressed the issue of education. If the people were to be confessionalized in a Reformed direction, then the place to start was with the young. Its greatest concern was to ensure elementary education for boys and girls in the vernacular. The Reformed primary schools were expected to impart reading and writing skills, and, above all, to instill the Reformed faith by means of school catechization. The Reformed Church continually urged the government to banish all "papist" schools and to appoint only Reformed teachers. This essay discusses two major opportunities (namely, the Synod of Dort and the Treaty of Munster) to strengthen the positions of the Reformed schools and of the Reformed Church in the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic. For several reasons the Reformed "public" Church never became the church of all. School catechization was in all probability not the hoped-for popularizer of the Reformed faith.


2020 ◽  
Vol 85 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pieter Johannes Strauss

Church order, doctrine and current affairs: a perspective on the church order article 56 of the Dutch Reformed Church In 1982 at the General Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church of that year, a new article 56 was added to its church order. This article stipulated that the church, through its assemblies and other work, strives to stimulate views in church and society that depart from Scripture. The Dutch Reformed Church wants to see such an approach in doctrinal, current and ethical affairs. The Dutch Reformed Church is part of the South and Southern African society and wants to influence these affairs to be handled according to the Bible. The same Synod referred to the Bible as a God-given document which sheds light on life as a whole and has an in-principle influence on the whole of society and the total existence of every believer. In approaching this calling and task, the Dutch Reformed Church opted to do it in an ecclesiastical way. It believes that creation as a whole is a unity in which everything can have an effect on any other thing. Every matter in society and creation can develop an ecclesiastical aspect for the church to act on in an ecclesiastical way. This article shows examples of this in the Dutch Reformed Church.


2002 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 183-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. J. J. Spangenberg

How do people from our day and age view the Bible? Not all members of the Dutch Reformed Church cherish the same view about Scripture. The letters in the Afrikaans newspapers on religious issues clearly reflect this. There are two groups of scholars in the church whose views on Scripture impact on church members’ views. They are (1) systematic theologians and (2) biblical scholars. A large number of systematic theologians adhere to the view which was formulated during the heydays of Protestant Orthodoxy, i.e. that the Bible reflects a double authorship. They prefer to use the Latin words “auctor primaries” and “auctores secundarii” when writing about Scripture. A large number of biblical scholars, however, work with the idea that the Bible reflects single authorship. God did not write. Humans wrote the books of the Bible. It goes without saying that ordinary church members do not always understand the differences and are often perplexed by these differences. It is of utmost importance to discuss these differences and to try and find some middle ground in the church.


2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Piet J. Strauss

Church order in reformed churches applied to the church order of Dutch Reformed Church of 2013. 1 Corinthians 14:40 with its call for the affairs of the church to be transacted ‘decently and in order’ as well as a general need in churches for stipulations in this regard, form the backbone of the need for church orders. Proper, acceptable church orders are, therefore, focused on the practices of the church: the offices, assemblies, church services, discipline,relations, and other affairs of the church.In order to be channels for the free flow of, and obedience to the authority and content ofthe Word of God in church, implementing the church order should not be an aim in itself.The order of a church cannot be a strict law that should be literally applied in church affairs. A church order should serve the church in its calling to be a church of the Word of God.


Author(s):  
Jetze Touber

Chapter 1 homes in on Spinoza as a Bible critic. Based on existing historiography, it parses the main relevant historical contexts in which Spinoza came to articulate his analysis of the Bible: the Sephardi community of Amsterdam, freethinking philosophers, and the Reformed Church. It concludes with a detailed examination of the Tractatus theologico-politicus, Spinoza’s major work of biblical criticism. Along the way I highlight themes for which Spinoza appealed to the biblical texts themselves: the textual unity of the Bible, and the biblical concepts of prophecy, divine election, and religious laws. The focus is on the biblical arguments for these propositions, and the philological choices that Spinoza made that enabled him to appeal to those specific biblical texts. This first chapter lays the foundation for the remainder of the book, which examines issues of biblical philology and interpretation discussed among the Dutch Reformed contemporaries of Spinoza.


Author(s):  
Gordon S. Mikoski

This chapter maps the essential contours and points of dialogue or contention pertaining to the sacraments among Presbyterian denominations. First, the chapter examines the distinctively Presbyterian understanding of sacraments in general. The chapter then explores in detail the theological meaning and practices of the two Presbyterian sacraments: baptism and Holy Communion. For Presbyterians, baptism serves as the rite of Christian initiation. The chapter also explains why Presbyterians practice paedobaptism. While baptism is for Presbyterians the sacrament of initiation into the church, the sacrament of Holy Communion is at the core of the church’s corporate life and work. The chapter next examines several contemporary issues related to the sacraments for Presbyterians. In the spirit of “the Reformed church always being reformed according to the Word of God,” the chapter concludes by posing several provocative questions for Presbyterian denominations and the sacraments in the digital age.


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