scholarly journals Die eerste vertalings van die Heidelbergse Kategismus in Afrikaans

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dolf Britz

Hierdie artikel diep die geskiedenis van die eerste vertalings van die Heidelbergse Kategismus in Afrikaans uit die primêre bronne op. Die Belydenisskrifte (insluitende die Kategismus) is gedurende die eerste helfte van die twintigste eeu in Afrikaans oorgesit tydens ’n vertalingsprojek waaraan die drie Hollands-Afrikaanse Kerke van gereformeerde belydenis saamgewerk het. In hierdie geskiedenis kan drie fases onderskei word. Die aanvanklike fase (1913–1927) eindig in die gemeenskaplike oortuiging dat die werk aan die Bybelvertalers oorgelaat moet word. Daarmee is beslag gegee aan ’n tweede fase (1927–1936). In 1936 is die vertaling voltooi en in ’n Formulierboek vir die ‘drie Hollandse Kerke’ gepubliseer. Die derde fase (1936–1950) behels die ontvangs van die Formulierboek. Slegs die Gereformeerde Kerk in Suid-Afrika (GKSA) het die vertaling amptelik aanvaar, omdat dit op die Nederlandse teksuitgawe berus het wat F.L. Rutgers in samewerking met Herman Bavinck en Abraham Kuyper in 1897 vir die Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland besorg het. Die ander twee Kerke het aansluiting gevind by hulle eie negentiende-eeuse tekstradisie. In 1945 het die Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika (NHK) ’n eie vertaling asBelydenisskrifte, gebede en formuliere die lig laat sien. Hierdie vertaling is gebaseer op die (Nederlandse) krities bewerkte teksuitgawe wat Van Toornenbergen in sy boek, De symbolische schriften (1895), opgeneem het. Die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK) het in 1950 sy vertaling van die Belydenisskrifte en Formuliere voltooi. Dit is hoofsaaklik geanker in die (Nederlandse) tekste van die Formulierboek der N.G. Kerk in Z. Afrika (1907), wat op sy beurt ook in ooreenstemming was met die tekstradisie waarmee Van Toornenbergen gewerk het. This article traces the history of the first Afrikaans translations of the Heidelberg Catechism from primary sources. In a mutual project the three Dutch-Afrikaans and reformed churches translated their Doctrinal Standards (including the Catechism) during the first half of the twentieth century in Afrikaans. In this regard three phases can be distinguished. The initial phase (1913–1927) ended in the decision to assign the work of translation to the Bible translators. That inaugurated the second phase (1927–1936). In 1936, their translation was completed and a Formulierboek was published for the ‘three Dutch Churches’. The reception of theFormulierboek constituted the third distinctive phase (1936–1950). Only the Reformed Church in South Africa (GKSA) officially accepted the translation, because it was based on the recognised Dutch text edition prepared by F.L. Rutgers in collaboration with Herman Bavinck and Abraham Kuyper for the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands in 1897. The other two Afrikaans Churches followed different text editions. In 1945, the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika (NHK) published its own translation of the Belydenisskrifte, gebede en formuliere. This translation is based on the (Dutch) critically edited text edition of Van Toornenbergen, published in his book, De symbolische schriften (1895). In 1950 the Dutch Reformed Church (NGK) received its translation of the Doctrinal Standards and Formularies. This translation was rooted in the (Dutch) texts of the Formulierboek der N.G. Kerk in Z. Afrika (1907), which was in turn also embedded in the Van Toornenbergen text tradition.

Author(s):  
Arnau Van Wyngaard

This article covers the time from 1985 to 1992 in the history of the Swaziland Reformed Church (SRC). In 1985, for the first time in its existence, the SRC had four missionaries working in the four districts of the country. At this stage the SRC formed a presbytery within the synodical region of the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa (DRCA) of Northern Transvaal. In 1989 – at its own request – this church became a regional synod within the DRCA. However, not long thereafter, in 1992, it was forced to become an independent Reformed church, even though it still remained part of the family of Dutch Reformed churches. Making use of original documents, this article records this history of the SRC.


2011 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Piet J. Strauss

Homosexuality: The viewpoints of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) and the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa (NRCA) in 2007 These two churches, through their broadest assembly namely the General Synod and the General Church Assembly respectively, show remarkable similarities in their approach to Scripture on the matter of homosexuality, the position of gay people in church life and the time frame in which they took decisions on these matters. The point of departure for both is marriage as something only for one husband and one wife. This is explicitly complemented by the NRCA with a limitation of sexual intercourse to marriage, which rules out the possibility of homosexuality. In the DRC the same principle is tradition, thus basicly coming to the same conclusion as the NCRA. The reason for these similarities is not that the two assemblies openly copied each other, but the fact that they both are reformed churches in Southern Africa serving, mainly, Afrikaners. Perhaps these similarities supply another reason for the present increase in cooperation between the two churches.


2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Piet J. Strauss

The World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the Dutch Reformed Church and a status confessionis against the theological and moral justification of apartheid. In 1982 the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) announced a status confessionis against the theological and moral justification of apartheid. It expelled two member churches, the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) and the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa (Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika) because of their known support of apartheid. This situation could only be changed if these two churches were to unequivocally reject apartheid on the basis of a status confessionis and show specified practical examples of this rejection. The meaning of a status confessionis as applied by the WARC is analysed. The reason why the WARC came to a status confessionis is historically investigated. The reaction of the DRC to this resolution and its readmittance as a member of the WARC is clarified. Attention is also given to the condition that accepting a status confessionis against the support of apartheid does not mean – for the WARC at least – that a new confession of faith should follow from this.


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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Henco Van der Westhuizen

The Dutch Reformed Church – hermeneutics and ethics (1986-2019)?In this article I ask about the relation between hermeneutics and ethics in the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) from 1986–2019. The article, more specifically, asks about the relation between hermeneutics and homosexuality. For the DRC, homosexuality has been the most critical ethical theme since 1986. The article’s main concern is with the reports of the Algemene Sinode (General Synod) on the Bible, on the one hand, and homosexuality, on the other. The article, therefore, especially focusses on the two reports on homosexuality of the AS of 2007. It is within these two reports that one finds at least some of the definitive hermeneutical differences within the Dutch Reformed Church.


2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 150-165
Author(s):  
Hein Willemse

The reviewer identifies three disparate texts, Koos Malgas Sculptor of the Owl House (Julia Malgas and Jeni Couzyn, 2008), The Black Countess (R. E. van der Ross, 2008) and Die verhaal van Elandskloof (“The Story of Elandskloof”, Tobie Wiese assisted by Ricky Goedeman, 2009) as counter-discursive texts writtten against specific hegemonic practices. The first text presents a reevaluation of the contribution of Koos Malgas to the famous Outsider Art place, The Owl House in Nieu Bethesda; the second is a short biography on the black countess, Martha Grey and the third is a lay history of a Dutch Reformed Church mission station, Elandskloof. The writer discusses the obvious similarities between these texts such as the co-operation between authors, the margin as a site of resistance, the fragmented documentation of marginalised lives, the formation and re-formation of identities and the tensions around expressions of ‘truth’. 


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.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 667
Author(s):  
Piet Strauss

<b>The Dutch Reformed Church and the content of the acceptance of its confessions</b> <br />In its acceptance of six confessions, the more general confessions from the early church namely the Apostolicum and the Confessions of Nicea and Athanasius as well as the Three Formulas of Unity from the Dutch Reformation, the Dutch Reformed Church follows the footsteps of the National Synod of Dordrecht in 1618-1619. It accepts the formulation or wording of faith in these documents. This wording has authority because (quia) it is according to Scripture. The same church also acknowledges the need for a Scriptural rehearsal of the confessions if needed. By using this basis for the acceptance of the confessions it takes into account the aim and purpose of these documents namely to formulate faith according to Scripture.


2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-26
Author(s):  
H. Van den Belt

Soon after the start in 1906 the ‘The Reformed League for the Liberation of the Dutch Reformed Churches,’ experienced a deep crisis. By 1909 the League, however, remade itself under the name ‘The Reformed League for the Promotion and Defence of Truth in the Dutch Reformed Church,’ a change often interpreted as a conscious shift away from the Doleantie and Abraham Kuyper’s ecclesiology. This article argues that in 1909 the Reformed League only renounced the appeal to political power for the liberation of the churches, an appeal that Kuyper was unhappy with. During its formative period the ecclesiology of the Reformed League emphasized the local congregations as the true confessional church, an emphasis that made its position within the Dutch Reformed Church vulnerable


2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes W. Hofmeyr

Met die 450e herdenking van die Heidelbergse Kategismus as vertrekpunt, word met die huidige en die vorige artikel gepoog om lig te werp op die plek, die rol en die interpretasie van die opstanding van Jesus Christus in veral Sondag 17 en 22, spesifiek in die konteks van twee besondere eras in die Nederduitse Gereformeerde (NG) Kerk. In die vorige artikel is allereers ’n bespreking gevoer oor die Heidelbergse Kategismus (HK). Daar is gekyk na die resepsie van die betrokke HK-geloofsartikels in die era van Andrew Murray, spesifiek teen die agtergrond van die negentiende-eeuse liberale teologie in Nederland. In die huidige artikel word soortgelyk gekyk na die resepsie van die betrokke HK-geloofsartikels in die NG Kerk na 2000, teen die agtergrond van die herverskyning van die negentiende-eeuse liberale teologie in die vorm van die Jesus Seminaar, die Nuwe Hervorming en ondersteuners daarvan binne die NG Kerk. Sowel die negentiende-eeuse liberale stryd in die NG Kerk asook die stryd oor die opstanding in die NG Kerk van die eerste dekade van die een-en-twintigste eeu, soos verder in hierdie artikel sal blyk, was gekenmerk deur kontekstueelbepaalde uniekhede. Die gemene deler was dat albei deel was van tye van teologiese vrysinnigheid. In die lig van hierdie bespreking word tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat die NG Kerk tans, betreffende haar identiteit as gereformeerde kerk waarskynlik in ’n kritieke geloofs- en toekomskrisis verkeer. Dit impliseer kommerwekkende gevolge vir haar Skrifverstaan en getuienis as belydenis en belydende kerk van Jesus Christus en haar toekoms. Alleen duidelike visie, verantwoordelike leierskap en ’n herontdekking van die verlossingskrag van Christus se kruis en opstanding sal herstellende, positiewe en dinamiese oplossings kan bied om sodoende die NG Kerk te red van ’n snelwentelende afwaartse spiraal.With the 450th celebrations of the origin of the Heidelberg Catechism (HC) in mind, the main aim of this and the previous article is to focus on the place, role and interpretation of the doctrine of the resurrection in HC (Sunday 17 and 22), within two very specific and critical eras in the history of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) in South Africa. The first article focused on the reception of the HC in the time of Andrew Murray during the nineteenth century, and specifically against the background of the then liberal theology in both the Netherlands and South Africa. In this current article I look at the reception of the same HC articles (Sunday 17 and 22) in the DRC after 2000, against the background of the reappearance of the nineteenth century liberal theology in the Netherlands, and specifically with reference to the Jesus Seminar, the New Reformation and those sympathetic to the latter in the DRC. Both these nineteenth- and twenty-first-century developments had their own unique contexts but what they had in common were a specific theological liberal mindset. In view of this discussion it is concluded that the DRC as a reformed church is not only caught up in an identity crisis, but even in a survival crisis of no small proportions. This also has serious implications for its use of Scripture and its confessional character. Only strong vision, able leadership and a rediscovery of the redeeming power of the cross and resurrection of Christ will be able to provide a remedial, positive, and dynamic solution, saving the DRC from an ever downward spiral.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document