scholarly journals In good times and in bad: Die stormagtige verhouding tussen kerk en die orrel � is egskeiding onafwendbaar?

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ockie C. Vermeulen

In good times and in bad: The tumultuous relationship between the church and the organ - is divorce inevitable? Through the ages, a delicate relationship has existed between the church and the pipe organ. Since the 10th century, the organ established itself as a unique instrument in service of worship. This relationship was not always a steady one, and this article investigates the tumultuous affair between the two parties. In part one of the article, which is a historic perspective, the relationship is discussed by looking at different cultures and uses of the organ in the worship service. This gives a sense of when and how the relationship came into being and developed or deteriorated. In part two, the current situation in the Afrikaans Reformed service is explored by conducting several unstructured interviews with key role players in the theological and musical world of South Africa. In part three, the study ventures into speculating about the future of the organ in the worship service by briefly looking at the attitude of the organist and spirituality of the postmodern church goer. In essence, this article reflects on whether the marriage between church and music instrument is solid or on its way to the divorce court.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The relationship between organ and church has to be reconsidered. The use of the organ in the worship service has to be taken under scrutiny, and a new relationship agreement between the two partners has to be formulated.

Author(s):  
Engelina Du Plessis ◽  
Melville Saayman ◽  
Annari Van der Merwe

Background: Tourism is an evolving and changing industry, and keeping up with these changes requires an understanding of the forces and changes that shape this industry’s outcomes. Tourism managers struggle daily to stay ahead in the competition to attract more tourists to destinations. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the past could shed light on the advantages of the future.Aim: The aim of this study was to do a temporal analysis of the competitiveness of South Africa as a tourism destination.Setting: This research investigated the competitive position of South Africa as a tourism destination just after the 1994 elections and compared those results to the results of a similar study in 2014.Methods: In this article, a frequency analysis revealed South Africa’s strengths and weaknesses, after which t-tests indicated the relationship between the strengths and weaknesses of the destination and the factors that contribute to South Africa’s competitiveness.Results: South Africa’s strengths include the quality of the food and experience, scenery, variety of accommodation climate and geographical features. It is clear that respondents identified different attributes that contributed to the strengths of the destination in comparison with 2002, where the strengths were wildlife, scenery, cultural diversity, climate, value for money, variety of attractions and specific icons.Conclusion: This research is valuable for South Africa because it informs tourism role players about what respondents perceive to be South Africa’s strengths. Role players can then form strategies that incorporate the strengths to create competitive advantage. This article also indicates the areas in which the country has grown in the past decade as well as indicating which weaknesses remain a problem.


1999 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Vorster

This article focuses on the possible milieu for the ministry of the Reformed Churches in South Africa in the decades beyond 2000. From a church- historical and futurological point of view the paradigm shift from modernism to postmodernism is investigated. The effect of the paradigm shift as well as the emerging megatrends is analysed and proposals for the focus of the future ministry of these churches are formulated. These proposals are outlined within the broad framework of Biblical principles for the ministry of the church.


2005 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
W.A. Dreyer

The new political dispensation since 1994 requires the Reformed churches in South Africa to redefine their role in society and their relationship with the government. This short journey through history helps us to understand the complexity of the relationship between the Church and the government. This article focuses on the concepts formulated by the Reformers in the 16th century, presenting the view that the revolutionary and radical way in which the Reformed concepts changed society and the government is still relevant to South Africa and opens up meaningful dialogue.


Author(s):  
Johann-Albrecht Meylahn

This article proposes that South Africa, as multi-lingual country, has unique potential and that this potential is not to be found in some or other essence of what it means to be African, but in the daily struggles, frustrations and possibilities of life in a fragmented and divided multi-lingual society. In this fragmented and ‘impossible’ society there are moments (maybe rare moments) of true understanding, communication, reconciliation and forgiveness and these moments I call ‘Advents of a Rainbow Nation’. Although these Advents can be understood (made reasonable) via the transversal reasoning of Welsch and Schrag, this article would like to propose an alternative: to wonder-off in a different non-direction namely into the u-topic and u-chronic clearing of non-philosophy. Reason cannot receive the Advent as gift (given without givenness) and thus transforms the Advent into a philosophical event of thought. In the process of seeking to understand these Advents as events, the Advents are transformed by a Decision or cut of transversal reasoning, and so the Advents themselves are lost. Therefore, what is sought in this article is not an understanding (reason) of this Advent, but rather a wandering in and a wondering at the grace and faith of this Advent. This grace and faith is the greatest epistemological asset South Africa, as multi-lingual country, can offer a plural global world as it opens a space for non-philosophical thinking: thus thinking science, religion, art, literature together in a vision-in-One with theology safe-guarding this vision-in-One unifacially facing the future. The question is, can South Africans embrace the multiplicity of the Advent of the Rainbow Nation? Can the Church with her Christ narrative sojourn with South Africa towards a rainbow nation and thereby facilitate a noological space for multiple connective intellection, or is she an obstacle towards developing this potential?


2018 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor D'Assonville

Terwyl Philipp Melanchthon allerweë in wetenskaplike kringe in Wes-Europa sowel as die VSA erkenning geniet vir sy reuse bydrae tot die Reformasie en die Westerse universiteitswese, is hy in sommige dele van die wêreld, ongelukkig ook in Suid-Afrika, taamlik onbekend. Dikwels verdwyn hy in die skadu van Luther en Calvyn. In eie reg was sy bydrae tot die hervorming van die kerk, sowel as die ontwikkeling van geesteswetenskappe en feitlik die volledige spektrum van wetenskappe in sy tyd egter só geweldig groot dat dit moeilik is om nie slegs in die oortreffende trap daarvan te praat nie. In hierdie artikel word doelbewus aandag aan die verhouding tussen sy rol as humanistiese geleerde in die sestiende-eeuse konteks en sy bydrae as kerkhervormer gegee, om sodoende meer insig oor die agtergrond van die komplekse reformasiegeskiedenis te bied. Abstract While Philip Melanchthon enjoys wide acclaim in scientific circles in Western Europe as well as the USA for his tremendous contribution to the Reformation and establishment of Western universities, he is unfortunately relatively unknown in some parts of the world, including South Africa. Often he recedes into the shadow of Luther and Calvin. In his own right his contribution to the sixteenth-century reformation of the church and the development of the Humanities – and in fact close to the entire spectrum of the sciences of his time – was so profound that it is hard not to acclaim him to the superlative degree. In this article, attention is deliberately given to the relationship between his role as humanistic scholar in the sixteenth century context and his contribution as church reformer, in order to provide more clarity on the context of the complexity of church reformation history.


1987 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-205
Author(s):  
J. J. Kritzinger

The remaining missionary task in South Africa This article is based on the results of a research project of the Institute for Missiological Research at the University of Pretoria which was recently concluded. The author and a team of co-workers researched practically the whole of South Africa in an endeavour to describe the contemporary situation of its population and the unfinished task of the church. The understanding of the missionary task which formed the basis of this project, and a sample of the kind of results obtained are illustrated in this article by means of 12 representative or typical scenarios which together indicate the dimensions of the future task for the South African church.


1991 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J.C. Van Wyk

Church and nation In this essay the relationship between the church and the nation, is once more investigated. It has become necessary in the light of the fact that the concept of ‘nation’ is being treated more and more negatively, especially in the ecumenical theology of mission and the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. The background to this negative attitude is not only the racial situation in South Africa, but also the experiences of church and theology in Nazi Germany. The conclusion at which the author arrives, is that, because of its assosiation with apartheid in South Africa, the word ‘nation’ has became more and more a curse. This attutude is irresponsible, and not in line with biblical thought.


Author(s):  
Yolanda Dreyer

Listening to the story of the church: Guidelines from a narrative hermeneutical perspectiveA church as a denominational entity cannot but contemplate where it would like to be in the near future. Reasons for this are the losses of the past, the issues of the present and the uncertainties of the future. In the article this matter is approached from a narrative hermeneutical perspective within the framework of a social constructionist model. The focus is on: collective memories, the different emphases of narratology and narrative hermeneutics, the dialectic between foundational myths and everyday stories of people’s lives, the recollection of memories within a temporal framework, grand narratives and contra narratives, as well as the relationship between fiction and history. The aim of the article is to show how narrative strategy pertains to engaged hermeneutics and enhances self-actualization.


2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Callie F.C. Coetzee

Die herdenking van die 450 jarige bestaan van die Heidelbergse Kategismus (1563−2013) is ’n baie besondere geleentheid. Dit is ’n geleentheid om ons in die ryke erfenis van die 16de-eeuse Reformasie te verheug. Dit is ook ’n geleentheid om met die oog op die toekoms van kerkwees oor die relevansie, handhawing en belewing van hierdie erfenis te besin. Wat die Gereformeerde Kerke in Suid-Afrika betref, word hierdie besinning oor die plek en funksie van die Heidelbergse Kategismus (HK) in besonder in hierdie artikel gedoen in die lig van die sogenaamde omkeerstrategie waarop die Algemene Sinode van 2012 besluit het. Deputate wat die volgende sinode moet adviseer, het onder andere die opdrag om ’n studie te doen ‘… van die suiwerheid en toepaslikheid van die leer wat op elke vlak verkondig word, asook hoe dit verder uitgebou kan word’. In die artikel word beredeneer dat die volgende sake in die besinning oor ’n omkeerstrategie vir ’n kerkgemeenskap in die reformatoriese tradisie aandag sal moet ontvang: Die wese van die kerk, kerk en belydenis en die belydenis as deel van die wese van die kerk. Wat die HK in besonder betref, word aandag gegee aan die unieke aard daarvan, die kategismusprediking en die apologetiese en missionale gerigtheid daarvan omdat dit ’n belangrike onderdeel van die werk van bogenoemde deputate vorm. Die artikel word afgesluit met enkele slotopmerkings en ‘aanbevelings’ dat opnuut oor die kategismusprediking besin word en dat die handhawing van die belydenis in enige omkeerstrategie ononderhandelbaar is.The place and function of the Heidelberg Catechism in a ‘turn-around’ strategy within the Reformed Churches in South Africa. The commemoration of the 450th year of the Heidelberg Catechism (1563−2013) is a special occasion worldwide. It is an opportunity to experience gratitude and joy for the rich heritage of the 16th-century Reformation. It is also an opportunity to reflect on maintaining and experiencing this heritage of being church in the future. As far as the Reformed Churches in South Africa are concerned, this reflection on the future is focused in this article on the so-called turn-around strategy, decided on by the General Synod of 2012. A mandate was given to deputees in this regard, inter alia to undertake a study regarding the soundness and relevance of the doctrine that is proclaimed and how that can be further promoted. It is argued in this article that the following issues should be addressed in reflecting on a turn-around strategy for a church in the Reformed tradition: the essence of the church, church and confession and the confession as part of the essence of the church. As far as the Heidelberg Catechism in particular is concerned, the following points are addressed: the unique character of the Heidelberg Catechism, catechism preaching, the apologetic and missional focus of the Heidelberg Catechism in the light of the task to be dealt with by the abovementioned deputees. It is concluded that special attention should be given anew to catechism preaching and that maintaining the confessions is not negotiable for the church of Christ on her way to his second coming. Believe me, my Lord, the Church of God will never preserve itself without a Catechism. (Uit ‘n brief van Calvyn aan Somerset, 22 Oktober 1548; Vgl Wallace 1990:97)


2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hendrika J. Jankowitz ◽  
Daleen Kruger

The status of psalm singing in the Dutch Reformed ChurchOver the past three decades, there have been consistent and increasing signs that psalms are disappearing from the repertoire of hymns that are sung in the Dutch Reformed (DR) Church. In an attempt to turn this tendency around, research was undertaken to determine the seriousness and the cause of the current situation. An empirical study was done to determine the frequency of use and the functionality of psalms, and to identify the practical factors that influence these.Results confirmed the low application frequency, dysfunctionality, unpopularity and sparse liturgical employment of psalms, and showed that most psalms that appear in the hymn book of the Church, Liedboek (2001), have not become part of the repertoire of hymns of the DR Church. Respondents also provided valuable information in their explanations of why psalms are out of touch with the needs of congregations in contemporary Afrikaans culture.The research concluded that psalm singing is falling into disuse in the DR Church in South Africa. Only a small number of psalms stand a chance to survive, and then only in congregations where the singing of psalms is propagated, where well-known psalms are sung regularly and where new psalms are being learned.


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