scholarly journals Die lewensbeskouing van D.F. Malan (1874–1959) soos weerspieël in openbare standpunte

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Piet J. Strauss
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
National Level ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Political ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
History Of ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
The Church ◽  
Dutch Reformed Church

The world view of D.F. Malan as reflected in his public stance. D.F. Malan was born in 1874 and grew up on a farm near Riebeeck-Wes in the Western Cape. He died in 1959 in Stellenbosch. Malan started his career as a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church. Before that he regarded himself as a student in Theology with a vocation. In 1905 he became a Doctor in Theology at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. He entered politics in June 1915 by becoming the first editor of the new Dutch-Afrikaans newspaper, De Burger, and at the same time, the leader of the National Party (founded in 1914) in the Cape Province. Malan had a career in politics for almost 40 years. He retired as the Prime Minister of South Africa in 1954. In his time Malan concentrated especially on unity among the Afrikaners in culture and politics, the cooperation between Afrikaans- and English-speaking citizens, and the well-being of all the people in South Africa. As a reformed Christian in every sphere of life, Malan believed in God-given principles and a timely application of this by believers. This worldview of his became known through his preaching, speeches, articles and commentaries on matters. His worldview influenced his approach to politics and the cultural aspect of his existence. The purpose of this article is to explain this view by using primary sources. The main figure in this article was a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church with a noticeable influence in the affairs of the church, and he was also a South African politician on national level. These aspects influenced the history of the church, as well as the political or general history of South Africa. It also made an imprint on church political concepts and ethical considerations that had to come to grips with Malan leaving the church ministry for politics, as well as the ethics of policies like apartheid and the political unity of an officially bilingual Union of South Africa. For Malan, his worldview determined his aims in politics, namely the cultural unity among Afrikaners, while they and their English-speaking counterparts form a successful state, and the relationship between all South Africans.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The interdisciplinary implications of this article involved the subjects of church history, general history and a political ethics approach.

scholarly journals The political responsibility of the church: On the necessity and boundaries of the theory of the two kingdoms

2005 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
I.W.C. Van Wyk
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
The Political ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Political Responsibility ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
Two Kingdoms ◽  
The Church ◽  
Dutch Reformed Church

The political responsibility of the church: On the necessity and boundaries of the theory of the two kingdomsThe voice of the church has fallen silent in the new political dispensation in South Africa. Many people in the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa (Nederduitsch Hervormde Church) argue that the church should keep its distance from politics. They are of the opinion that they could defend this position with the “Lutheran twokingdoms theory”. This article shows that the theory of the two kingdoms is not a uniquely Lutheran, but also a Calvinistic interest. It furthermore shows that this theory is not only interested in separating the two kingdoms, but also in bringing these kingdoms in relationship with one another. A plea is made for loyalty to both the Lutheran and Calvinistic traditions. The article also calls for a concentration on the three new challenges in South Africa, namely democracy, pluralism and Africanisation.

scholarly journals The Bells of the Stellenbosch Moederkerk

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tertius De Wet ◽  
Jef L. Teugels ◽  
Pieta Van Deventer
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church ◽  
Dutch Reformed Church ◽  
Church Buildings

The Dutch Reformed Moederkerk of Stellenbosch has a long history, being the second oldest congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa. The history of the church has been well documented, including the architecture and building of the church buildings over its 332 years of existence. However, although bells have from the beginning played an important part in the church’s history, very little has been written on the bells. This paper reports on research carried out into that important aspect of the church’s life, in that way adding to Moederkerk’s recorded history.

scholarly journals Traversing a Tightrope between Ecumenism and Exclusivism: The Intertwined History of South Africa’s Dutch Reformed Church and the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian in Nyasaland (Malawi)

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 176
Author(s):  
Retief Müller
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Church History ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Christian Nationalism ◽  
The Church ◽  
Dutch Reformed Church

During the first few decades of the 20th century, the Nkhoma mission of the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa became involved in an ecumenical venture that was initiated by the Church of Scotland’s Blantyre mission, and the Free Church of Scotland’s Livingstonia mission in central Africa. Geographically sandwiched between these two Scots missions in Nyasaland (presently Malawi) was Nkhoma in the central region of the country. During a period of history when the DRC in South Africa had begun to regressively disengage from ecumenical entanglements in order to focus on its developing discourse of Afrikaner Christian nationalism, this venture in ecumenism by one of its foreign missions was a remarkable anomaly. Yet, as this article illustrates, the ecumenical project as finalized at a conference in 1924 was characterized by controversy and nearly became derailed as a result of the intransigence of white DRC missionaries on the subject of eating together with black colleagues at a communal table. Negotiations proceeded and somehow ended in church unity despite the DRC’s missionaries’ objection to communal eating. After the merger of the synods of Blantyre, Nkhoma and Livingstonia into the unified CCAP, distinct regional differences remained, long after the colonial missionaries departed. In terms of its theological predisposition, especially on the hierarchy of social relations, the Nkhoma synod remains much more conservative than both of its neighboring synods in the CCAP to the south and north. Race is no longer a matter of division. More recently, it has been gender, and especially the issue of women’s ordination to ministry, which has been affirmed by both Blantyre and Livingstonia, but resisted by the Nkhoma synod. Back in South Africa, these events similarly had an impact on church history and theological debate, but in a completely different direction. As the theology of Afrikaner Christian nationalism and eventually apartheid came into positions of power in the 1940s, the DRC’s Nkhoma mission in Malawi found itself in a position of vulnerability and suspicion. The very fact of its participation in an ecumenical project involving ‘liberal’ Scots in the formation of an indigenous black church was an intolerable digression from the normative separatism that was the hallmark of the DRC under apartheid. Hence, this article focuses on the variegated entanglements of Reformed Church history, mission history, theology and politics in two different 20th-century African contexts, Malawi and South Africa.

scholarly journals Inclusive Communities: A missional approach to racial inclusivity within the Dutch Reformed Church

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pieter Fourie Rossouw
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Racial Diversity ◽  
White Identity ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Hybrid Identities ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Personal Reflections ◽  
The Church ◽  
Dutch Reformed Church

This article dealt with racial diversity in homogenous white Afrikaans faith communities such as the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC). This study was partially an account of the researcher’s own discontent with being a minister in the DRC against the backdrop of his own journey of finding a racially integrated identity in a post-apartheid South Africa. It focused on the question of how a church like the DRC can play an intentional role in the formation of racially inclusive communities. The study brought together shifts in missional theology, personal reflections from DRC ministers and contemporary studies on whiteness. The researcher looked towards a missional imaginary as a field map for racial diversity in the church. This was mirrored against contemporary studies on white identity in a post-apartheid South Africa. From this conversation the researcher argued for a creative discovery of hybrid identities within white faith communities. Missional exercises such as listening to the stories of strangers, cross cultural pilgrimages and eating together in strange places can assist congregations on this journey.

scholarly journals Christelik-nasionale onderwys in die nuwe Suid-Afrika

1991 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
H. G. Van der Westhuizen
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Multicultural Education ◽  
New South ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
New Era ◽  
National Education ◽  
Cultural Milieu ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The Church ◽  
Dutch Reformed Church

Christian national education in the new South Africa The Dutch Reformed Church of Africa (Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika), as a People’s Church, according to Scripture takes an intense interest in the education of the nation’s youth. According to educational principles, the best school is one in own cultural milieu. The negative reports on multicultural education received from various countries are disquieting for the Church. Consequently, it is necessary to contemplate different options for maintaining Christian national education in a new era.

scholarly journals The (Non)acceptance of Belhar in the Dutch Reformed Church: Analysing Synodical Debates of 2011 and 2013

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
George Jacobus Van Wyngaard
Keyword(s):  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
History Of ◽  
Open Session ◽  
Local Congregations ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church ◽  
Dutch Reformed Church

This article analyses the open session debates on the Belhar Confession at the 2011 and 2013 General Synod meetings of the Dutch Reformed Church. It identifies six key themes that repeatedly emerge from arguments made by delegates, namely: 1) accepting Belhar for the sake of the youth and future of the church; 2) Belhar as guide in the mission of the church; 3) Belhar as challenge to racism within the church; 4) Belhar and its relationship to liberation theologies; 5) the role of members in formal adoption of a new confession; and 6) adoption of confessions in ways which would not make them binding on all. From these themes three matters, which remain outstanding in terms of how the Dutch Reformed Church engages with the Belhar Confession, are raised: 1) the relationship between mission and racism; 2) the history of heresy and its implication for the present; and 3) the implication of and response to black and liberation theologies. These matters are identified as challenges given particular meaning in light of the emphasis on local congregations and members of the Dutch Reformed Church when discussing the Belhar Confession.

scholarly journals Die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk en die Afrikanervolk kerkordelik verwoord

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 447-465
Author(s):  
Piet Strauss
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Active Part ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
National Party ◽  
Cultural Institutions ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk ◽  
Church And Society ◽  
The Church ◽  
Dutch Reformed Church

The Dutch Reformed Church and the Afrikaner – in its church orderThe Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) and the Afrikaner people had close ties in the 1960’s. This was intensified by the apartheid system in South Africa. The policy of apartheid was supported by the DRC, most of the Afrikaners and the National Party in government. In 1962 the DRC determined in its church order that it will protect and build the Christian-Protestant character of the Afrikaner people. This group was singled out by a church that was to be for believers of all nations. It also gave the DRC an active part in the development of this group. The documents Church and Society-1986 and Church and Society-1990 changed all this. The close links between the DRC and Afrikaans cultural institutions ended and the DRC declared that it caters to any believer. The church order article about the Afrikaner was omitted.

scholarly journals Die kerkorde van die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk 2013: Kanaal of hindernis vir kerklike tug?

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Piet J. Strauss
Keyword(s):  
Good Deal ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Church Discipline ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk ◽  
God's Word ◽  
Criminal Matters ◽  
The Church ◽  
Dutch Reformed Church

The church order of the Dutch Reformed Church of 2013: Channel or stumbling block for church discipline? There is a widely accepted stand in reformed churches not to accept detailed prescriptions in its church order for church discipline. Church assemblies tasked with church discipline need space to undertake this according to God’s Word, with a pastoral approach, the well-being of the church and its members in mind, and a good deal of common sense. Despite this, the Dutch Reformed Church accepted detailed rules and regulations for discipline as a binding addendum to its church order in 1974. This addendum was scrapped in 1998. However, a new addendum was again accepted in 2011. This article asks the question whether the binding articles and regulations of this church is a proper channel or a stumpling block for discipline in its midst.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article is based on a philosophical-sociological distinction between the discipline of the church as a society of faith and discipline in other institutions of society. The discipline of the church implies that the church is as an institution of faith, in this case, must also act according to the natural rules of justice and justice in terms of its own calling as an institution of the Christian faith. These rules and the church order as an instrument for procedure in the church, are the grounds on which a civil court, when asked to, can rehearse a decision of an assembly of the church. This is not about the merit of the church content of the decisions, but the procedure. The article also makes extensive use of ecclesiological matter or a dogmatic church concept that must be maintained in criminal matters. The challenge: the church remains theoretically and in practice church.

scholarly journals Five hundred years on: Some traces of the Reformation in the Church Orders of two South African Reformed Churches – Seen as temporary expressions of the Church Order of the Reformed Synod of Dordrecht in 1619

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Piet Strauss
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
African Churches ◽  
Reformed Churches ◽  
The Church ◽  
Dutch Reformed Church

This article examines the influence of the Reformation of the 16th century on the Church Orders of two South African Reformed Churches, namely the Dutch Reformed Church and the Reformed Churches in South Africa. The five so-called solas, namely sola gratia [by grace alone], sola scriptura [by Scripture alone], sola fidei [by faith alone], solus christus [Christ alone] and soli Deo gloria [glory to God alone], are widely accepted as key expressions of the convictions of the Reformation. Although not necessarily in the same terms, the content of the solas are also found in the thought of Calvin. These matters influenced the Synod of Dordrecht (1618–1619) in its acceptance of the Three Formulas of Unity as reformed confessions of faith and its affirmation of the Dordt Church Order. The said South African churches accept the Three Formulas of Unity as confessions of faith and view their church orders as a modern version of the Dordt Church Order – adapted to the demands of the time. This article mainly examines the consequences of sola scriptura and sola fidei on the church orders of the two churches. In terms of these two solas, both have traces of the Reformation after 500 years.

scholarly journals The Dutch Reformed Church and Multi-cultural Ministry: Angolana, a Rural Challenge

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes J Knoetze
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Dutch Reformed ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Reformed Church ◽  
The Church ◽  
Dutch Reformed Church

Abstract The article deals with the complexities of a multi-cultural ministry within the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (DRCSA). Although the DRCSA is an “open” church where anyone from any race, culture or language is welcomed, the praxis of multi-cultural ministry is not always feasible. This article sets out to explore some of the reasons why the synodical declarations and decisions did not influence or help a rural congregation, particularly a non-white rural congregation in the DRCSA. Herein, the decisions of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa are deliberated, particularly regarding multi-cultural ministry and the implications thereof for congregations like Angolana. Specific attention is given to Angolana because of the socio-political and cultural contexts of this congregation. The role and the calling of the church in a context where a community is challenged by forced removals are also considered.

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