Abstract:
This paper - in two parts - aims to participate in the current debate
regarding the writing of a new church order for the Nederduitsch Hervormde
Kerk van Afrika, concentrating on Article III of the current
church order. As a debate within the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk, the
first article traces the thoughts of two previous professors in New Testament
Studies, J H J A Greyvenstein and A S Geyser, on the concept
'people's church' ('volkskerk'). In the following article Greyvenstein
and Geyser's understanding of the Hervormde Kerk as 'peoples church'
('volkskerk') will critically be evaluated by means of a social-scientific
analysis of meals as ceremonies in Mark's gospel.