Auswahl der wissenschaftlichen Literatur zum Thema „Reformed Church (Dutch) in London“

AbstractThe name of the author of the anonymous work De politia et disciplina civili et ecclesiastica (1585) was a wellhidden secret for centuries. An attempt is made to solve this mystery. The name of the printer and the place are mentioned: Leonardus Niestus, Lugduni Batavorum. These explicit data do not lead anywhere. The dedication of the work contains valuable information about the author. He is a relative of F. Junius and H. Smetius, professors at Heidelberg University in theology and medicine and married to sisters of the Corput family from Breda. He mentions several times Italy and the Italians as his homeland, where he is not allowed to go. Lastly his initials are given: I.B.A.C. On the basis of recently published dissertations on one of the members of the Corput family and the Italian church in London in the sixteenth century the conclusion can be made that a member of the Corput family originating from Italy is the author. We found Ioannes Baptista Aurellius Calabrensis (ca.1540-1596) member of a Waldense family from the South of Italy. His mother had sent him in 1558/9 to the Academy of Geneva to prepare for the ministry in Italy. The family in Calabria fell victim to the Inquisition in 1561 and I.B.A.C. became a minister in France and subsequently in the small Italian reformed church of London from 1570 till his death in 1596. In London he married a member of the Corput family, Mary, and became related to Junius, Smetius and Emanuel van Meteren, the famous historian. He published two other works, not anonymous, one in Italian. His now forgotten 'De politia' was influential in the Dutch Republic because it was used by J. Wtenbogaert.

AbstractIn 1856 the sixth volume of the editio princeps of the famous German encyclopedia Real-Encyklopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche was published. The volume included a lengthy article on the history and present situation of the Dutch Reformed Church and other protestant churches in the Netherlands. A reformed minister of Frankfurt am Main, Carl (or Karl) Sudhoff, was the author. His article provoked a fierce protest. A Dutch ministers' association demanded from the editor, the Erlangen professor J.J. Herzog, a new article that put right what they regarded as errors. Herzog was not very inclined to comply, for it is hardly common practice to enter critical supplements in an encyclopedia. Finally, however, he gave way. The Leyden professor J.J. Prins wrote an article with a mass of criticism and after the endorsement of the ministers' association this was sent to Erlangen. Those discontented men then fell into a rage again. There was indeed a supplement to the article on Holland at the end of the eighth volume of the Real-Encyklopädie, but it did not offer the text of Prins. Herzog had added his own commentary to Prins's review. Time and again he remarked that the severe criticism sent from Holland was the criticism of a party. Besides that it turned out that he had omitted many important matters in the critical review written by Prins. The point at issue was that the very orthodox Sudhoff gave a highly biased description of the history and contemporary situation of Dutch Protestantism. Already in 1851 many people in Holland were angry about Abraham Capadose's report on the Netherlands at the meeting of the Evangelical Alliance in London. The orthodox agreed with what men like Capadose said in other countries, but followers of other parties in the Dutch protestant churches wanted a balanced and more appreciative judgement of their position. All parties were keen on an image matching their own viewpoints. The reason why they were doing so much to correct a negative image elsewhere was the interest in their identity. In 1860 all that thinking about identity led to two brilliant treatises on Dutch Protestantism in the nineteenth century: Chr. Sepp's Proeve eener pragmatische geschiedenis der Theologie hier te lande and D. Chantepie de la Saussaye's La Crise religieuse en Hollande.

A close relationship existed between the Dutch Reformed Church in the Orange Free State and the Republic of the Orange Free State during the existence of the latter in 1854-1902. This was due to a shared worldview and the fact that more than 80% of the voters of the Republic were members of a Dutch Reformed congregation. It has been said that the Dutch Reformed Church in the Free State was a state-church. Although it benefited in the circumstances, the Dutch Reformed Church remained independent and undominated by the government. An own approach could be seen in the thinking, resolutions and actions of the Dutch Reformed Synod in the Free State. Close ties between this church and state were visible in their formal and informal contact. The government supported the Dutch Reformed Church in the Free State spiritually and financially and the latter influenced the policies and actions of the Free State Government. Both institutions held great respect for each other.

The Dutch Reformed Church and the Reformed tradition: expression and challenges In this article a brief analysis is presented of the manner in which the Reformed tradition finds expression in die Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa. Such an analysis presupposes answers to the questions why such an attempt is necessary and what the identity of the Reformed tradition is. These answers are suggested in the first two sections of the article. The third section contains the envisaged outline of the manner in which the Dutch Reformed Church represents the Reformed tradition. This leads to the conclusion that the contribution which this church could strive to make to the church scene in South Africa is to promote the combination of the faith dimensions of knowledge, experience and obedience which is characteristic of the Reformed tradition.

Towards healing services in the Dutch Reformed Church The position of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa with regard to the world wide recovery of the Church’s healing ministry is discussed. Features of liturgical healing services of other denominational churches are utilised to develop a model for the Dutch Reformed Church in Initiating this kind of public ministry.

The Dutch Reformed Church and the South African Council of Churches The General Missionary Conference which was founded in 1904 became the Christian Council of South Africa in 1936. In 1940 a founder member, viz. the Transvaal Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church withdrew from the council. In 1968 a change of name to the South African Council of Churches reflected a deeper involvement in social and political matters and it gradually also became more representative of the black Christian point of view. Despite various invitations, the Dutch Reformed Church has not rejoined the Council and relations have been very strained, but at its last synod in 1986 the Dutch Reformed Church decided that informal discussions could be held.

In the missionary and church history of Rhodesia (present day Zimbabwe) the Dutch Reformed church did not concentrate exclusively on the unity of the local Afrikaner community, but also played a pivotal role in the upliftment of the indigenous population. Ever since the coming into being of Rhodesia during the 1890’s, Afrikaner immigrants had brought with them their Christian values and religion. Rhodesia being pre-eminently an Englishspeaking colony of the British Empire until 1965, the Dutch Reformed Church considered it necessary to serve its Afrikaner members, thereby acting as a stronghold against Anglicisation and assimilation. Since 1895 Dutch Reformed congregations were established across the entire country as a reflection of their fellow countrymen in Africa. Between 1890 and 1980 the Dutch Reformed Church in Rhodesia would play an instrumental role in the spiritual life of many Afrikaners. At the same time the Dutch Reformed Church extended its missionary work to the black people – not merely to convert them to the Christian-Calvinist faith, but also to uplift them socioeconomically by means of education and the establishment of self-sufficient congregations. In this article the two-fold role of the Dutch Reformed Church in Rhodesia in unifying and uplifting both Afrikaners and indigenous peoples is analised.

The Dutch Reformed Church, church order and education. From the first church order of the General Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church in 1962, it has formulated stipulations for the church and education. In this regard the Dutch Reformed Church is unique among reformed churches. The wording of this article has changed over the years, but the main content has remained the same. The Dutch Reformed Church supports Christian education as a church, but also recognizes the competence of education authorities to finalise education standards and programmes. In 1962 the order of the Dutch Reformed Church on education also stated that the church would work on the Protestant character of the Afrikaner people. From 1990 onwards these words were omitted. The church nevertheless feels that education will allways be imbricated in a certain culture. In synodical resolutions in recent times the Dutch Reformed Church has recognized the calling of the South African state to subsidize all education enterprises that meet certain purely educational standards. Vanaf sy eerste kerkorde in 1962 koester die Algemene Sinode van die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk die ideaal van nie-kerklike Christelike onderwys. Met sy kerkordelike bepalings oor die kerk en onderwys, is die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk uniek onder gereformeerde kerke. Die bewoording van hierdie artikels het deur die jare verander, maar die hoofsaak het dieselfde gebly. Die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk steun Christelike onderwys vanuit sy kerklike hoek, maar erken die interne bevoegdheid van onderwysinstellings om onderwysinhoude en standaarde te finaliseer. In 1962 het sy kerkorde bepaal dat die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk hom beywer vir die Protestants-Christelike karakter van “ons volk”, die Afrikanervolk. Die uitsondering van “ons volk” is sedert 1990 egter weggelaat ten gunste die erkenning van alle kulture in die onderwys. In sinodebesluite van die afgelope tyd ondersteun die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk die standpunt dat die Suid-Afrikaanse staatsowerheid onderwys alle lewensbeskoulik gerigte instansies subsidieer.

The first chapter deals with the concept of mission history, the choice of research method, the phases of mission work in Sekhukhuneland and the establishment of the different congregations in the Presbytery of Burger. The second chapter contains the story of the Pedi and their country, as well as that of other groups like the Swazi and the Ndebele. From Chapter 3 the pioneering mission work of evangelists and missionaries is described. The role that evangelist Phillipus Mantsene played since 1875 until his death in 1915, as well as his supporters, Rev and Mrs AP Burger, laid the foundation for the involvement of the Transvaal Vrouesendingvereniging, which was established on 15th November 1905. This led to the calling of Rev and Mrs AJ Rousseau, who pioneered the first mission station in Sekhukhuneland, called BURGER, which was officially opened in 1929 (Chapter 8). This is followed by a description of the monumental work done by missionary Jacobus Murray Louw at Maandagshoek Mission Station from 1st April 1944 to January 1962. The first black missionary for this area, Rev EM Phatudi, was ordained with him on 27th March 1943 at Mphahlele, and for a few years the two worked together in Sekhukhuneland. Phatudi’s mother, who was the daughter of the late Kgoši Sekhukhune and his father, chief Mmutle III, saw to it that he became a special person in the history of the DRC Mission. He was one of the great leaders of the NGKA, as will be seen in Chapter 10. Since partnership is the theme that dominates in this research, ample space is given to the work of evangelists in the history of the DRC’s support mission in Sekhukhuneland. They were the missionaries’ partners in establishing the Kingdom of God among the Pedi, Swazi and Ndebele of Sekhukhuneland. With the help of Rev MJ Mankoe who served in the congregation of Burger (Chapter 26), I have been able to paint several life-sketches of the early pioneering evangelists who worked diligently and under difficult circumstances, shoulder to shoulder with the missionaries (Chapter 11). The history of each of the mission stations which functioned in Sekhukhuneland is dealt with in Chapters 12 to 14. The missionaries who pioneered these stations and their co-workers made a major contribution to the growth of the mission church and the forming of the Presbytery of Burger. The history of each of these mission stations, as well as the different congregations resulting from these stations, is described. The time came for consolidating the borders and the placing of black ministers. This was the work of the Planning Commission of the Presbytery of Burger in 1965 and 1966. Chapters 16 to 22 describe the borders, different wards and names of the congregations. The strategy behind this was to ensure that the missionaries, white and black, could occupy equal posts. Once this was completed, a new phase of partnership came into being, as described in Chapters 24 to 30. During this time the phasing out of evangelists took place, as is dealt with in Chapter 31. The two legs that carried missionary work up to this stage became weaker and weaker. Firstly, evangelists left or became full ministers, and secondly the need for a white minister or white missionary fell away. It has also been necessary to describe the circumstances, experiences, views and contributions made by missionaries to prepare the step-out and take-over stages of the phasing-out period from Church-Mission partnership towards full independence and Church-Church partnership. In Chapter 33 a bird’s eye view is taken of the phases of partnership in the DRC’s mission work in Sekhukhuneland. One has to conclude that the circumstances and conditions of the members of the NGKA were harsh. They were struggling against poverty, difficult living conditions, sickness and unemployment. The endeavour for unity among churches, the great topics of church growth and the development of their church to full financial independence could not receive their full attention. In conclusion, I reflect on post-1994 developments in a wider context, based on the study of the previous phases. I also look at the DRC since 1994, asking whether the DRC is still serious about mission work and the mission call. Another chapter was added to reflect on partnership, asking whether this was the answer to problems and tensions. A historical journey since Whitby (1947) is taken and the role the Ecumenical Movements have played since then in the young churches in South Africa is summarized. The great concepts of missio Dei, kerygma, diakonia and koinonia are evaluated in the light of partnership and obedience which was the theme of Whitby, but also the theme that caused continual dialogue, especially amongst the Evangelicals and the Ecumenical Movements.
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2011.
Science of Religion and Missiology
unrestricted

This dissertation examines how cultural significance has changed through the reuse (conversion) of an existing religious building to perform a new religious function. The conversion of the former Johannesburg West Nederduitsche Gereformeerde Kerk (Dutch Reformed Church) to become the Masjid-ul-Islam is used as a vehicle for this study. The history of the Afrikaner and South African Muslim communities and their architecture is explored as well as the history of the changes to the building. The post-colonial concept of hybridity is used to understand the new identity of the building. This new identity determined as being hybrid. Concepts of memory and its use in the construction of identity are further examined with the former church being understood as a site of memory. Through the personal perceptions of significance expressed by both the mosque and church communities the change in significance is explored. It is determined that the building is the site of hybrid memory, with multiple layers of significance which have created a sense of continuity for both communities creating a sense of place and continuity in the post- Apartheid city. The building has come to be a symbol of the changes that have occurred in post-Apartheid South Africa through its layering of history, sense of inclusivity and regeneration.

Thesis (DTh (Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Dutch Reformed Mission Church (DRMC) and the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa (DRCA) was established in 1881 and 1910 respectively. As pointed out in this study both these churches grew from the mission endeavours of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC). In April 1994 the DRMC and the DRCA united in forming the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA). This church has as confessional base the Belgic Confession of Faith, the Canons of Dordt and the Heidelberg Catechism as well as the Belhar Confession. The church order of the URCSA is built on these Confessions and in particular on the Belhar Confession. In this study I argue that it was only after the unification of the mentioned churches that a history characterised by guardianship, subordination and semi-autonomy came to an end. However this may be the histories of the DRMC and the DRCA point out that, on a church juridical level, these churches where subordinate and to a large extent directly governed by the DRC. Here the model for the church planting as followed by the DRC will receive attention. By looking into the primary documents through which these churches were governed as well as the documents that formed the church orderly backbone of the mentioned churches in that, through their principles and stipulations, the DRMC and DRCA were organised internally, I attempt to evaluate these documents. These documents include the initial constitutions for the governance of the DRMC and the DRCA, the deeds of agreement between the regional synods of the DRC and the regional synods of the DRCA as well as the Deeds of Agreement between the DRC in South Africa (the Western and Southern Cape Synod of the DRC) the Synod of the DRMC, the first church orders of the DRMC and the DRCA and, to a lesser extent, the church order of the URCSA. Through their histories these churches were granted church juridical liberties. These liberties form the foundation for the initial development in the polity of these churches. The content of the abovementioned documents highlights these liberties as well as the effect it had on the theological identities of the DRMC and the DRCA. As the histories of these churches depict a strong strive towards reaching a position of ecclesial autonomy and the acknowledgment of their autonomy by the DRC, special attention is given to the concept and interpretation of ecclesial autonomy. In this regard I remark on the historical interpretation of ecclesial autonomy as it played out in the histories of the DRMC and the DRCA. Through the works of renowned Reformed theologians, I further look into historical interpretations of this theological principle, which is ecclesial autonomy. In doing this I attempt to formulate a specific understanding of ecclesial autonomy based on a particular interpretation of the Lordship of Christ. As outcome this interpretation shows towards the interdependant relation between churches. It can be argued that this impacts directly on the relation between the DRC, the DRMC and the DRCA, specifically in the ongoing processes of church re-unification. In a final turn in which I affirm vi the interdependent and interrelatedness between churches, I argue towards the building of a vulnerable ecclesiology which impacts directly on an understanding of ecclesial autonomy, the specific polity of a church, as well as on the structures embodied by a community of believers. Some of the tenets and convictions of Reformed church polity, as they are relevant to this study, are discussed in detail. In turn I use these principles in evaluating the church juridical position of the DRMC and the DRCA in the mentioned period. As such I point towards the strong deviations in Reformed church polity as it played out in the history of the churches within the family of Dutch Reformed Churches. In this regard I also point towards the interrelatedness of these churches within the broader social context of South(-ern) Africa. I argue that these unique deviations are to a large extent distinct from the ecclesial context of South(-ern) Africa. Concluding remarks are made in this regard. Through the unpacked notion of what is termed an ecclesiology of vulnerability, built on the interdependent relation between churches, I make brief suggestions regarding the ongoing process of church re-unification between the churches within the family of Dutch Reformed Churches.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Sendingkerk (NGSK) en die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk in Afrika (NGKA) het onderskeidelik in 1881 en 1910 tot stand gekom. Soos wat hierdie studie uitwys, het beide hierdie kerke gegroei vanuit die sendingaktiwiteite van die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK). In April 1994 het die NGSK en die NGKA verenig in die Verenigende Gereformeerde Kerk in Suider-Afrika (VGKSA). Hierdie kerk het as konfessionele basis die Nederlandse Geloofsbelydenis, die Dordtse Leerreëls, die Heidelbergse Kategismus sowel as die Belydenis van Belhar. Die kerkorde van die VGKSA is dan ook gebou op hierdie belydenisskrifte en dan in besonder op die Belydenis van Belhar. In hierdie studie redeneer ek dat dit eers ná die eenwording van die vermelde kerke was dat ’n geskiedenis gekenmerk deur voogdyskap, ondergeskiktheid en semi-outonomie agterweë gelaat is. Dit kan vermeld word dat die geskiedenis van die NGSK en die NGKA duidelik uitwys dat hierdie kerke, op ’n kerkregtelike vlak, ondergeskik was aan, en tot ’n groot mate regeer is deur die NGK. Die model vir die planting van kerke soos gevolg deur die NGK geniet in hierdie verband in die studie aandag. Verder het ek probeer om die inhoud van die primêre dokumente waardeur die NGSK en die NGKA regeer is, sowel as die dokumente wat as kerkordelike basis vir die interne organisering van hierdie kerke gebruik is, te evalueer. Die vermelde dokumentasie sluit in die oorspronklike Grondwette vir die regering van die NGSK en die NGKA, die Aktes van Ooreenkoms tussen die streeksinodes van die NGK en die streeksinodes van die NGKA sowel as die Aktes van Ooreenkoms tussen die NGK in Suid- Afrika (die sogenaamde Kaapse Kerk) en die sinode van die NGSK, die eerste kerkordes van die NGSK en die NGKA, en, tot ’n mindere mate ook die kerkorde van die VGKSA. Deur die verloop van die geskiedenis is daar sekere kerkregtelike vryhede aan die NGSK en die NGKA toegestaan. Hierdie vryhede vorm, myns insiens, die basis van die oorspronklike kerkregtelike ontwikkeling(-e) in die vermelde kerke. Die inhoud van die bovermelde dokumente wys juis hierdie vryhede uit sowel as die effek wat dit op die teologiese identiteite van die NGSK en die NGKA gehad het. Aangesien die geskiedenis van die NGSK en die NGKA ’n sterk strewe na kerklike outonomie en die erkenning van hierdie outonomie deur die NGK uitwys, word spesiale aandag gegee aan die bespreking van die konsep en interpretasie van kerklike outonomie. Die historiese begrip van hierdie term word verduidelik en spesifiek hoe dit uitgespeel het in die geskiedenis van die NGSK en die NGKA. Deur te verwys na die werke van welbekende Gereformeerde teoloë, word daar ook aandag gegee aan die historiese interpretasie van kerklike outonomie as teologiese beginsel. Daarvolgens probeer ek om ’n spesifieke begrip vir kerklike outonomie te formuleer. ’n Bepaalde interpretasie van Christus se heerskappy is hier as basis gebruik. As uitkoms dui hierdie geformuleerde interpretasie van kerklike outonomie op inter-afhanklike verhoudinge tussen kerke. Myns insiens impakteer dit direk op die verhouding tussen die NGK, die NGSK en die NGKA en hier spesifiek dan op die proses van kerklike hereniging tussen hierdie kerke. In ’n finale rondte gaan my argument oor die bou van wat genoem word ‘n kwesbare ekklesiologie. Hierdie argument is gebou op ‘n verstaan van kerklike outonomie wat wys op die inter-afhanklike verhouding tussen kerke. Myns insiens impakteer hierdie argument direk op ’n spesifieke begrip van kerklike outonomie, die spesifieke kerkreg wat uitspeel in ’n kerk, sowel as op die strukture wat beliggaam word in ’n gemeenskap van gelowiges. Van die oortuigings van die Gereformeerde Kerkreg komend vanuit ‘n spesifieke konteks, soos wat dit betrekking het op hierdie studie, word gedetailleerd bespreek. Ek het ook hierdie oortuigings gebruik om die kerkregtelike posisie van die NGSK en die NGKA in die vermelde periode te evalueer. In hierdie verband wys ek op hoe daar in die geskiedenis van hierdie kerke sterk afgewyk was van die Gereformeerde Kerkreg. Melding word in hierdie verband gemaak van die inter-afhanklikheid van hierdie kerke en die breër sosiale konteks van Suid(-er)-Afrika. Myns insiens is hierdie vermelde eiesoortige afwykings tot ’n groot mate uniek aan die kerklike konteks van Suid(-er)-Afrika. Slotopmerkings word in hierdie verband gemaak. Wanneer die konsep van ’n kwesbare ekklesiologie, gebou op ‘n verstaan van die inter-afhaklike verhouding tussen kerke, beskryf word, maak ek kort opmerkings rakende die aangegaande proses van kerkhereniging tussen die kerke binne die familie van NG Kerke.

Magister Artium - MA
Between the 1917 Russian Revolution and demise of the Soviet Union, the communist Other, as godless deviant and arch enemy of the capitalist state, inhabited a specific space in the minds and imaginations of much of the Western world. S/he was one to be feared, one to be guarded against, and if possible, one to be suppressed by political, ideological, or military means. Such conditions contributed to the widespread suppression and banning of communist and communist aligned organisations. In South Africa this coincided with the rise of Afrikaner nationalism, and the consolidation and reconfiguration of 'white' supremacy in the form of apartheid. After a marginal National Party (NP) victory in 1948, the Suppression of Communism Act (1950) and the 'Rooi Gevaar' became synonymous with dissent and revolution within and beyond the apartheid state. For example, it was on these grounds that a series of high profile political trials – the Treason, Rivonia, and Fischer Trials – would be fought and lost on the first occasion. Each trial was based upon the assertion that the accused were communists or involved in a Soviet conspiracy that intended to depose the apartheid government through violent revolution. Conversely, communism is now popularly invoked in relation to narratives of struggle and the ‘triumph of the human spirit over adversity', in which new and now old allies defeated the evil of apartheid, and ushered in an era of freedom, democracy, and reconciliation. As a result, communism and the SACP (the dominant political organisation associated with communism) have been incorporated into national histories that narrate the African National Congress' (ANC's) struggle and victory over apartheid, which culminated in Nelson Mandela and other political leaders returning to supposedly fulfil their destiny by ‘freeing the people’ from totalitarian rule.Having said this, I argue that the suppression of communism goes far beyond the limiting horizons of popularised political and ideological discourse, or indeed, violent acts of torture and murder directed towards those deemed to be a threat to the ‘nation’. In other words, debates surrounding communism are not merely representative of the state’s oppressive policies towards anti-apartheid activists, the global conflict between capitalism and communism, or popular narratives of suffering and struggle against apartheid. Alternatively, they were (and are) intimately linked with a nation-building project which, unlike violence sanctioned by the state or reconciled – at least on the surface – through symbolic acts like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), has been difficult to exorcise, come to terms with, and diminish in the contemporary. Put another way, although communism is intrinsically associated with the class struggle and class politics in South Africa, it was in fact driven by and interwoven with racist ideologies upon which apartheid and British colonialism before that were founded. With these debates in mind, this mini-thesis will attempt to remove communism from conventional discourses and re-place it within debates surrounding nation-building, and the formation of different subjectivities. This will be carried out not only as an attempt to "overcome the limitations of ideology" and further deconstruct legacies of oppression and violence, but also to think with the ways in which different groups perceive, mobilise and appropriate ideology as a means to foreclose resistance and reaffirm and maintain nationalist hierarchies of power within society. This mini-thesis will begin by exploring the ways in which communism has been perceived in South Africa. More specifically, it will consider how the idea of communism was mobilised and appropriated in relation to apartheid's nation-building project. It will also thematically engage with the ways in which mythologies surrounding communism traversed the supposedly rational and irrational worlds, and, in the latter stages of this mini-thesis, will attempt to develop an argument – using Bram Fischer as subject – based upon Jacques Derrida’s notion of the communist spectre, and the importance of the messianic or, more importantly, the prophet in history.
Centre for Humanities Research (CHR), University of the Western Cape

Includes bibliographical references (p. 255-260).
The primary research question of this dissertation is: What was the particular form that Christendom took on at the Cape during the formative period of the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC) rule and how did it shape the Dutch Reformed Church as established church in this locale? This question was prompted by my hunch that the Dutch Reformed Church at the Cape and in the later South Africa has since VOC rule displayed signs of regarding itself as an important ecclesiastical partner in a Christian establishment. This was evidenced in the development of the Church2 into a quasi-established position (during British rule and thereafter), and the Volkskerk of the Afrikaner people and nationalism. In post-VOC times Christendom at the Cape Colony and in South Africa has also undergone various transformations. The answer to the primary research question can therefore contribute to our understanding of the contemporary character of Christendom in South Africa and the Church. A secondary research question is how the development of Christendom at the Cape can help us understand the phenomenon of Christendom itself. In order to answer these questions I embarked on a critical and comparative study of the concept of Christendom in various contexts and the position of the church within them - postChristian Europe, post-Vatican II Latin America, and post-1960's North America. In the light of this study an archival and theologically critical analysis was made of Christendom at the Cape, mainly from the vantage point of the Dutch Reformed Church. The findings were categorised under three headings: Church privilege; the control of state and culture over Church and gospel; and, the freedom of the Church. The primary research question yielded a picture of the Church as inheritor of, and involuntary partner in a Christendom that was the result of a colonial venture of capitalist upper middle class Dutch Reformed merchants. The Church imbibed the habit of being co-opted by the powers that be for the sake of material and social benefit and for the sake of promoting its evangelistic, diaconal, and educational charges. In the process it grew accustomed to compromise the integrity of its own faith and order and ultimately its public witness.

This thesis investigated the factors contributing to the tense relationship between the congregations of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the Dutch Reformed Mission Church in Piketberg during 1903-1972. It investigated the reasons why two congregations of colour in a small town as Piketberg were established. The problem that was investigated was a social, historical and religious one of determining which factors contributed to such tension.

Boken leder in i de digitalt tillgängliga arkivkällornas värld för en historisk belysning av aktuella religionspedagogiska frågeställningar. Fokus liger på kyrkoarkivkällor från Sverige och Sydafrika och genom en metoddiskussion aktualiseras primära källors betydelse i lärandeprocessen.
Den digitala didaktiska ingången till religionskunskapsämnet

AbstractIn South Africa, previous analyses of religious nationalism turn on the apartheid regime and its close ties to the Dutch Reformed Church. Since the fall of apartheid, democracy and pluralism have been emphasized as the discourse of the new South Africa, which aims to accommodate all of South Africa’s many religious traditions. Together with decades of neoliberal economic policy, the outcome is that in South Africa private individuals and organizations make claims on public spaces as rate-payers and property-owners, in the process revealing normative assumptions about proper and improper religions. Drawing attention to two instances of the manipulation of animal bodies in public spaces, the chapter reveals the close connections between religion, animal sacrifice, racial hierarchy and conflicts over the use of and access to public spaces. The public practice of animal sacrifice reveals the existence of a sensory politics enacted by marginalized groups through which entrenched normativities about proper and improper bodies, substances and religions are contested in the name of a future nation to come.

Abstract During the eighteenth century, the Dutch Reformed Church, the public Church, retained the allegiance of the majority of the population throughout the Republic except the Generality Lands, Twenthe, and the southern fringe of Gelderland beneath the Waal. Nevertheless, with the growth of toleration, a marked feature of Dutch life in the eighteenth century, there was a noticeable tendency, virtually throughout the Republic (except Friesland), for the preponderance of the Reformed majority to be reduced.

Abstract This chapter offers a tentative sketch of features and figures in Dutch (Reformed) Protestantism that usually are embedded in the history of Pietism (including the waning of the so-called Nadere Reformatie movement), but also could be incorporated in a (pre)history of Evangelicalism. Starting in the late seventeenth century, when the religious landscape of the Northern Netherlands had stabilized with a majority of Reformed people in the public church, the story of inner and outward piety in theological discourse and popular practice tells about emotional forms of preaching, reading, and believing in a context of growing openness to the world beyond local congregations and private meetings. After 1760, the breakthrough of Enlightenment in mainstream culture facilitated initiatives for religious sociability, missionary action, and Bible distribution, paving the way for a culture of moderate orthodoxy and civil piety which characterized Dutch Protestantism well into the nineteenth century. All the time, parallel to German Lutheran as well as Reformed Pietism (as described in this volume by Jan Stievermann), personal contacts and correspondence with British and American fellow spirits marked the international space of evangelicalism.

The chapter argues for the theological importance of order within the Reformed tradition. The argument includes discussions of order in the writings of John Calvin, Peter Martyr Vermigli, Andreas Hyperius, and the Leiden professors’ Synopsis Purioris Theologiae. The chapter also explores the role of national and provincial church orders in the life of Dutch Reformed churches. While these church orders were operative in Dutch Reformed churches, churches, especially rural churches, were selective about which church orders they adopted and followed and thus demonstrated agency in how they conducted religious life in their communities. As one example, the chapter includes a discussion of a local church order that a Reformed consistory in rural Wemeldinge produced for their congregation; this church order further demonstrates the above points.