Abstract:
The Dutch Reformed Church (DR Church) proclaimed the Year of
Hope in 2001 as part of the church’s response to complex social problems regarding poverty
and factors affecting reconciliation and morality within the South African society at that stage.
The ultimate objective was to mobilise the church to address these matters through different
means, on different levels and within the respective contexts. In this church historiographic
article, newspaper articles and official church documents are reviewed to assess the church’s
dealing with the Year of Hope and its subsequent effects in the years that followed, on the DR
Church’s resolutions, declarations and activities concerning the matters first articulated when
introducing the Year of Hope. It is clear that the DR Church has not neglected its social and
prophetic responsibilities. In this article, interest is also expressed, particularly in how the
theme of hope is superposing matters of poverty, reconciliation and morality. Twenty years
had lapsed since the Year of Hope. In this article it is argued that the theme of hope in social
and ecclesiastical matters is still acutely relevant, and in the conclusion the idea is introduced
of a theology of hope to direct the church in continuing to be a bearer of hope within society.
INTRADISCIPLINARY AND/OR INTERDISCIPLINARY IMPLICATIONS : Although the focus of this study
falls within the field of Church Historiography, the study of the matters concerned, furthers
inquiry in relation to Practical Theology and, more specifically, from a public theological
perspective.
