Abstract:
Research in the field of church history reveals that the Dutch Reformed Church disposes its own human rights tradition that should be viewed and
judged alongside and not in opposition to its apartheid tradition. As common factor "Human Rights" proved to be a suitable key to unlock the
history of the theology of apartheid ("evangelie van volksvryhede") of the Afrikaans churches, the theology of civilisation ("gospel of co- peration") of the English churches and the theology of liberation ("gospel of humanisation") of the Black church movement in an impartial and
systematical way.