Van buite bekyk : die teologie van die Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika tussen 1938 en 1950

Abstract

This article depicts the theology of the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika as embodied in especially influential ecclesiastical publications, namely Die Hervormer, the Almanak van die Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika and the Hervormde Teologiese Studies. These sources indicated the period between 1938 and 1950 to be of significance in the history of the formation of the theology in this church. Hence the delimitation 1938–1950. The memorial dates in 1938, 1939 and 1942 offered the church the opportunity to shape its historical existence theologically. This was done along clear-cut ecclesiastical lines. As the Voortrekkerkerk, the Hervormde Kerk was in fact a Christ confessing church of the (Afrikaner) people. By 1950 a shift in this theological image occurred: from historical identity to a contextual insistence: the racial issue. The traditional theology of the Church was accordingly adapted and contextualised in a praxis of separate development and separate churches. From its own ranks this theology was also critically questioned. The interrogation did not take its departure in either history or context, but argued the case in terms of the church of Christ.