scholarly journals Kan die NG Kerk vandag nog iets vir Suid Afrika beteken?

2008 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-44
Author(s):  
A Boesak
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
South African Context ◽  
The South ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Political Tension ◽  
African Context ◽  
The University ◽  
The Church ◽  
Dutch Reformed Church

This article is the edited version of the presentation held at the University of Pretoria’s “Theological Day” on January 31, 2008. It seeks to answer the question: “Can the Dutch Reformed Church still make a difference in South Africa today?” This article places this question within the wider world and African contexts, then focuses on the South African situation. It describes the South African context as one of spiritual uncertainties and confusion, political tension, economic inequalities and social unravelling, which each in the their own way and together put particular challenges before the church. This paper answers the question the affirmative, provided that the Dutch Reformed Church meets its own direct challenges, the most important of which is the challenge toward reunification within the Dutch Reformed family of churches.

Post-Apartheid Whiteness and the Challenge of Youth Ministry in the Dutch Reformed Church

2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 23-34
Author(s):  
Cobus van Wyngaard
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Youth Ministry ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
South African Context ◽  
The South ◽  
Critical Attitude ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
African Context ◽  
Theological Task ◽  
Dutch Reformed Church

This article seeks to draw from postcolonial missiology and critical perspectives on whiteness in identifying the continuing challenges concerning racialised whiteness facing youth ministry within the Dutch Reformed Church in the South African context. It suggests the development of a self-critical attitude as a central theological task of youth ministry.

scholarly journals The Missional congregation in the South African context

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Attie Van Niekerk
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Local Community ◽  
South African Context ◽  
The South ◽  
Local Congregation ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
University Of Pretoria ◽  
African Context ◽  
Global Church ◽  
The University

The term missional has come into use over the last years in the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa and the Department of Science of Religion and Missiology of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Pretoria. This term refers to the role of the local congregation in the local community or communities and is used with, or in the place of, the term missionary, which traditionally referred to the sending out of a missionary to some or other place. The use of the term missional includes specific views on the goal of mission, what mission is and how it should be done. In this article it is argued that this approach can be seen as a new wave of mission within the South African context, and that it is related to developments in many parts of the global church.

scholarly journals Die herlewing van sekulêre spiritualiteit in Europa en die implikasie daarvan vir die NG Kerk in Suid-Afrika

2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacobus Kok
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Religious Landscape ◽  
The Church ◽  
Secular Spirituality ◽  
Dutch Reformed Church

The revival of secular spirituality in Europe and its implication for the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa. This article critically reflected on the insights of David Tacey in which he notes that there is currently a revival in post-secular spirituality in the West, but that its deep religious roots are lacking. What would be the implication of these trends for the South African religious landscape where traditional mainstream churches such as the Dutch Reformed Church are shrinking significantly? People often say yes to God, but no to the church. Some in the church may totally renounce God. What lessons could be learned by the South African mainstream churches and theology if these trends in the West were taken into account? In this article a critical literature review (desk research) was done and the study was structured as follows: In the first place, the implication of superdiversity, supermobility and the reality of a post-COVID-19 consciousness was discussed. Next we engaged in research by scholars in which it was shown that our time, at least in the West, is characterised by existential anxiety and uncertainty. Thirdly, we engaged in the insights of David Tacey in which he also argued the fact that the uncertainty of the time in which we live, often causes people to return to spirituality. Finally, the implication of these trends for the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa was reflected on.Contribution: This research makes a contribution to the nature and scope of the journal, in that it finds that the rise in secular spirituality, in the context of anxiety and uncertainty in a post-COVID-19 world, provides an opportunity for the Dutch Reformed Church to find meaning and significance.

scholarly journals The church as a transformation and change agent

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry Pillay
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Change Agent ◽  
South African Context ◽  
The South ◽  
Community Transformation ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
African Context ◽  
The Church ◽  
Changing Society

This article traces the historical impact of the church in transforming, developing and changing society. It looks at how the church in selected periods in history, mainly in the reformation era, worked towards the transformation of society and communities. Extracting from these the author attempts to show how this can be applied to the church in the South African context. Further, the author explores the changing dynamics and characteristics of being church today and establishes that it is not so much about what the church believes, but in what it does that matters most in this day and age. The author, with the latter thought in mind, expresses that community transformation has to be an integral part of the ministry of the church today.

scholarly journals The Dutch Reformed Church as a prominent established South African church: In transition towards the 21st century

2017 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pieter Kruger ◽  
Johan M. Van der Merwe
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Denominational Identity ◽  
Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Religious Constructs ◽  
The Church ◽  
Dutch Reformed Church

The Dutch Reformed Church (Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk) is in transition because of the influences of the more recent South African epochs of democratisation, Africanisation and globalisation. The histories of these epochs extend over more than 20 years and have had a significant influence on the church. The Dutch Reformed (DR) Church changed institutionally because its place and influence within society changed considerably as a result of political and social transformation since 1994. The ongoing process of Africanisation that accompanies these transformations brings certain reactions to the bosom of the church via the experiences of its members. Most are Afrikaners being more inclined to westernised social frames of reference. Ironically, these people are more susceptible to the effects of globalisation, especially secularisation, which transposes the religious set-up of the DR Church into an open and individuated system. These developments pose major challenges to the DR Church in the sense that it has to reconsider how it approaches society, what it can contribute to the ecumenical church, why it is necessary to reflect on its denominational identity and what its academic, theological endeavours in these regards entail.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article has an interdisciplinary scope because the multiplicity of the present-day calls for interdisciplinary academic reflection. For the purpose of this article, Church Historiography helps to systemise recent ecclesiastical developments within the DR Church. To clarify the influences of these developments on the DR Church, sociological premises are incorporated to describe them within a broader social context. References to the conducted empirical study serve to explain respondents’ (members of the DR Church) social and religious constructs regarding these ecclesiastical and sociological phenomena.

scholarly journals Grense tussen kerk en staat vir die reëling van die predikantsdiens: gesien vanuit twee kerkregtradisies

2009 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Smit
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Church And State ◽  
The State ◽  
South African Context ◽  
Not Given ◽  
The South ◽  
Church Polity ◽  
Ministry Of The Word ◽  
African Context ◽  
The Church

Boundaries for church and state regarding the regulation of the ministry of the Word: seen from two church polity traditions This article focuses on the boundaries for church and state with regard to the regulation of the ministry of the Word – seen from two independent church polity traditions. Until now the South African courts have not given an indication of how these boun- daries should be understood or how these apply within the South African context. The purpose of this article is not to make a judicial comparison. The purpose is to show that two indepen- dent church polity traditions, namely the German and the reformed, developed general principles for the boundaries of church and state with regard to the regulation of a minister’s position in law. In both traditions church polity is regarded sui generis, and recognises the church’s right to regulate a minister of religion’s position independently from the state. In conclusion it is found that the boundaries between church and state for the ministry of the Word are primarily determined by the principle that church and state should not in any way influence or interfere with one another's separate mandates or duties. The ministry of the Word is the responsibility of the church and not the state. Therefore the state does not have the competency to regulate the ministry of the Word.

scholarly journals Petrus Hofstede de Groot: een hervormd dominocraat?

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (92) ◽  
pp. 3-28
Author(s):  
Leon van den Broeke
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Central Question ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The University ◽  
The Church ◽  
Dutch Reformed Church ◽  
At Home

Abstract This article tries to find an answer to the central question whether the Dutch Reformed pastor and professor Petrus Hofstede de Groot (1802-1886) was a dominocrat. Hofstede de Groot was pastor in Ulrum and professor at the university in Groningen. My contribution is an elaboration of the oral book review I held in 2017 at the presentation of Jasper Vree’s book Kerk, huis, school en staat: Leven, werk en vriendenkring van P. Hofstede de Groot (1844-1886). In my article I explain the meaning of ‘dominocrat’ and also ‘Dominocrat’ and explore the synodical acts of the Dutch Reformed Church (Nederlandse Hervormde Kerk) between 1830 (Hofstede de Groot’s first appearance in the general synod as professor) and 1886 (his death), and Hofstede de Groot’s role in synodical meetings. He was indeed a dominocrat. He favored the leadership of the pastors. At the same time, he was a Dominocrat. In his life and in his work, he was focussed on the Dominus, Jesus Christ, for the church (kerk), at home (huis), school and state (staat).

scholarly journals The Centre for Multilingualism and Diversities Research at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 90
Author(s):  
Christopher Stroud
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
South African Context ◽  
The South ◽  
African Context ◽  
A Priority ◽  
The University ◽  
Multiple Languages ◽  
The Way

There is an urgency in theorising howdiversity is negotiated, communicated,and disputed as a matter of everydayordinariness that is compounded by theclear linkages between diversity, transformation,voice, agency, poverty andhealth. The way in which difference iscategorised, semiotised and reconfiguredin multiple languages across quotidianencounters and in public and media forumsis a central dynamic in how povertyand disadvantage are distributed and reproducedacross social and racial categorisations.In the South African context,finding ways of productively harnessingdiversity in the building of a better societymust be a priority.

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