{"title":"Diversity in unity - voices from the past, the focus on Belhar and the on-going quest for unity","authors":"J. Botha","doi":"10.5952/54-0-342","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5952/54-0-342","url":null,"abstract":"This contribution focuses on the on-going ecclesiological quest by the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) family to become a visible, living and practicing diversity in unity. It highlights remarkably clear and foundational theological contributions with regard to this matter, by trustworthy voices from inside (e.g. individuals like Botha, Durand, Jonker as well as by several church meetings and synods) and outside (e.g. theologians like J Calvin and K Barth) the DRC Family, in opposition to wrong ecclesiological convictions and practice. In relation to this the core focus of the confession of Belhar on the church as visible and as diversity in unity, is emphasised as foundational to the character of the church of Christ. Guiding perspectives on this fundamental truth are also drawn from important contributions by Dirkie Smit, in particular from his thoughts on the ecclesiology in the confession of Belhar.","PeriodicalId":18902,"journal":{"name":"Nederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81784005","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"DJS as \"populist\" theologian - on Dirkie Smit's newspaper column","authors":"G. Brand","doi":"10.5952/54-0-343","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5952/54-0-343","url":null,"abstract":"Dirkie Smit’s weekly newspaper column, written under the pseudonym DJS, is understood as constituting an important part of his academic theological literature. One of the characteristic theological perspectives found in these columns is the problematizing of any clear distinction between “church theology” and “public theology”. A further typical element of these columns is that forms of interpretation in which both “points of departure” as well as “hermeneutical horizons” appear, but these do not function in any contrasting way. Amazement and hope are themes often found in the columns. The column’s inherited title, “Geestelike Waardes” [Spiritual Values], can even be interpreted in those written by Smit as referring to the often-made distinction between “spiritual” and world in the ways he breaks through this distinction. Finally, the contrast of “public” and “popularistic” is analysed with reference to these columns.","PeriodicalId":18902,"journal":{"name":"Nederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81598390","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The doing of the little righteousness - the on-going search for justice after the TRC","authors":"A. Boesak","doi":"10.5952/54-0-341","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5952/54-0-341","url":null,"abstract":"Taking as point of departure, South African theologian Dirkie\u0000 Smit’s theological oeuvre, particularly his theological reflections on issues such as\u0000 politics, justice, peace and reconciliation, the essay moves on to focus on Mahmood\u0000 Mamdani’s view of the differences between the Nuremberg trials, South Africa’s\u0000 political negotiations held in Kempton Park and the TRC and his critique of the\u0000 latter. This once again raises the matter of justice, different forms of justice –\u0000 especially as either “victor justice” or “survivor justice” and the consequences of\u0000 this for the TRC and for christians in the call for the doing of justice. With\u0000 reference to the views of Desmond Tutu (especially his understanding of the concept\u0000 of ubuntu), it is suggested that the TRC’s only choice was not just between\u0000 retributive and restorative justice, revenge and forgiveness, but that it was\u0000 incumbent upon it to advance the gains made at Kempton Park and to move from\u0000 victim’s justice to survivor’s justice and from the foundation of political justice\u0000 to social justice which it did not do.","PeriodicalId":18902,"journal":{"name":"Nederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89978390","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Poverty, wealth and ecology – A theological perspective","authors":"H. Bedford-Strohm","doi":"10.5952/54-0-340","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5952/54-0-340","url":null,"abstract":"Reflecting on poverty, wealth and ecology - and connecting it with a call for social and environmental transformation - demands an understanding of the present and at the same time a vision of a transformed future. For this reason this the essay takes as point of departure a fictitious newspaper report on a conference in 2100 that reflects on the history of the world over the past century, a history of exploding globalization, economic injustice, massive growth in the divide between rich and poor and increased ecological degradation. All of this, this according to the report, lead to a gradual global change in consciousness and efforts to address these challenges to make the twenty-first century an age of global transformation towards a true \"world society\". In light of this fictitious future, our societies, but especially also our churches, and where they find themselves today are reflected upon. Then some of the sources we come from, beginning with the Bible and continuing onto some of the rich traditions of our churches is followed by an appeal for overcoming certain false alternatives in how we as churches act in a developing global civil society.","PeriodicalId":18902,"journal":{"name":"Nederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89282886","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Toekomsverwagting en hoop by inwoners in die informele nedersettings rondom Bloemfontein","authors":"P. Verster","doi":"10.5952/54-3-4-403","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5952/54-3-4-403","url":null,"abstract":"Is there any prospect of hope for the inhabitants of informal settlements? This question is asked concerning the inhabitants of informal settlements around bloemfontein. An introductory section on the theological implications and biblical aspects of hope is followed by the results of qualitative empirical research. respondents replied in five ways. some regarded the situation as without any hope (a) while others saw some hope if the government could become involved (b). some saw the only hope in God changing the situation (c) while others believed that the church should be responsible for change (d) and, finally, some regarded it as the task of citizens of the country and the inhabitants of the informal settlements to take responsibility for change themselves (e). A theological perspective emphasizes individual hope in christ as well as the renewal of society. Te church has a definite task in achieving this.","PeriodicalId":18902,"journal":{"name":"Nederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83197787","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Too little too late … On the reaction of the WARC to the resurgence of violent identity politics in the 1990s","authors":"Eddy Van de Borgth","doi":"10.5952/54-0-364","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5952/54-0-364","url":null,"abstract":"This contribution offers an analysis of the manner the World Alliance of Reformed Churches reacted to the influence of the identity politics of the 1990s on its way to the 23rd General Assembly in Debrecen in 1997. contrary to the outspoken position of the 21st General Assembly in Ottawa in 1982 over against the South African Reformed churches that supported apartheid and adopted its racial structures correspondently, the 1997 Assembly’s reaction was much more subdued. Attempts to find an answer in the traditional Reformed teaching on church-state relations and in the Presbyterian Synodal structure were finally dismissed as not to the point. Instead a Barmen Declaration like call for a multicultural church was accepted. But with its eschatological style no church felt pressed upon to reflect on its link with nation, ethnic group, or tribe. The conclusion weights the consequences of reducing an ecclesial problem to an ethical issue.","PeriodicalId":18902,"journal":{"name":"Nederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84661911","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Religion in the public sphere of a pluralistic society: The South African attempt - A Reformed perspective","authors":"P. Coertzen","doi":"10.5952/54-3-4-401","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5952/54-3-4-401","url":null,"abstract":"The debate about the place and role of\u0000 religion in a pluralistic society is and remains very acute in many countries around\u0000 the world. The question can also be formulated by asking how different worldviews and\u0000 life experiences can live, interact and dialogue in the same public sphere. To try\u0000 to answer the question two concepts need closer attention, that of the “public\u0000 sphere” and that of “religion”. The role that a Charter of Religious Rights and\u0000 Freedoms can play to help a variety of religions to live in the same public sphere\u0000 is presented and discussed as a possible answer for the South African Society and\u0000 perhaps also for other societies although they will have to develop a charter of\u0000 religious rights and freedoms that meets their specific context and\u0000 requirements.","PeriodicalId":18902,"journal":{"name":"Nederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85221529","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Missional Church movement","authors":"T. Sheridan, H. J. Hendriks","doi":"10.5952/54-3-4-402","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5952/54-3-4-402","url":null,"abstract":"At the beginning of the 21st century, many different voices have been drawing our attention to two realities that are shaping the future of Christianity: the centre of gravity for the Christian faith has shiſted to the global South and to the East; and the church in Western societies has been pushed to the margins and is facing serious decline (Guder 1998, 1). Many are asking themselves, “what are the implications of these facts for the future of the church in Western culture?” For many, the term “missional” has begun to capture the imagination of the church in the West. Rather than find “missional” as a new programmatic or methodological solution for the church today, something at the foundational level needs to be discerned, namely, “who we are and what we are for” (Guder 1998, 3). Discernment of the church’s identity and vocation is a critical task facing us today. In the previous article, the Emergent Church movement was engaged in order to summarize its important contributions toward the recovery of a missional identity and vocation of the church in the West. In this article, the Missional Church movement as observed in the North American scenario will be engaged and its contributions toward the development of a missional identity and vocation for the church in the West will be summarized.","PeriodicalId":18902,"journal":{"name":"Nederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87409048","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Remembering Cottesloe: Delegates to the Cottesloe consultation tell their stories","authors":"P.G.J. Meiring","doi":"10.5952/54-3-4-385","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5952/54-3-4-385","url":null,"abstract":"The Cottesloe Consultation (December 1960) was a watershed\u0000 moment in the life of the church in South Africa, especially in the life of the\u0000 Dutch Reformed Church (DRC). The eight South African member churches of the World\u0000 Council of Churches were called together to reflect on the churches’ role during the\u0000 emergency in the aftermath of the Sharpeville massacre earlier that year. In the\u0000 article the author looks at the consultation through the eyes of the delegates,\u0000 allowing them to tell their stories about the proceedings – and about the many\u0000 crises that followed in the wake of the consultation. Cottesloe’s message was\u0000 strongly critical of apartheid and the fact that the DRC delegates aligned\u0000 themselves with the message, was unacceptable to many. In the last section of the\u0000 article the “bitter fruits of Cottesloe” are discussed. Finally the question is\u0000 asked: Has the ghost of Cottesloe been put to rest?","PeriodicalId":18902,"journal":{"name":"Nederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86525316","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The rocky road travelled by the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa towards church unity: from Tshilidzini to Pretoria, 1971 to 1991","authors":"L. Modise","doi":"10.5952/54-3-4-383","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5952/54-3-4-383","url":null,"abstract":"This review of the rocky road travelled by the Dutch Reformed\u0000 Church in Africa (DRCA) towards church unity consists of five parts. First, the\u0000 historical background to the DRCA is briefly traced. Second, the author investigates\u0000 the various decisions of the general synod of the DRCA regarding church unification\u0000 from Tshilidzini in 1971 to Pretoria in 1991. Third, decisions of the general synod\u0000 of the then DRCA on the fourth confession are considered. Fourth, the decision of\u0000 the general synod regarding the Belhar confession prior to 14 April 1994 and the\u0000 unity talks among the then Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) members and their impact on\u0000 unity are discussed. Fifth, the final decisions of the then DrcA regarding church\u0000 unification with the Dutch Reformed Mission Church (DRMC) as the result of the delay\u0000 on the part of the DRC are investigated.","PeriodicalId":18902,"journal":{"name":"Nederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82226982","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}