Still "because of the weakness of" some? A descriptive exploration of the Lord's Supper in South Africa, 1948-2002

Abstract

This article is a preliminary descriptive exploration of the celebration of the Lord's Supper in selected Reformed churches in South Africa over a period of 54 years. Methodologically, it employs a broad anthropological approach towards liturgy, thereby trying to reconstruct parts of the enacted ritual of the Lord's Supper from its historical debris. By making use of the comparative method, significant differences have been highlighted and interpreted. Throughout the article it becomes apparent how this Christian ritual was used to serve various political agendas, how cult and culture influence(d) one another. Finally, some tendencies have been extracted to be used in developing a criterion for the liturgical inculturation of the Lord's Supper as a ritual of reconciliation within the South African context.