Ned Geref Kerk as vredemaker?

Abstract

The Dutch Reformed Church must find it's role and identity in the coming century in a new context, without the power that came from the church's alliance with dominant Afrikaner nationalism. One role could be to become a peacemaker, if peace is seen in the Biblical sense of a right and just relationship with God, with people, and with creation, based on the eschatological work of Christ. To have any legitimacy, such relationships would have to become visible in the concrete lives of the church and her members. The Biblical basis for peace is contrasted with other possible bases for peaceful coexistence, such as the modern, enlightened idea that all people share a common rationality, or the idea of Ubuntu as general goodwill for all.