Abstract:
Heyns was probably the most noteworthy Afrikaans speaking theologian of the 20th century,
considering the quantity of Afrikaans theological publications from his pen. It is a well
known fact that he used the kingdom of God as a systematic-theological category that flows
like a perennial river of opportunity through all of his writings. It created an opportunity
to be consistent in both his systematic theology and in his ethics, show clearly how man
and God can be coworkers in a dialogical relationship and to integrate philosophy with
theology. Unfortunately, there was sometimes flooding, because he filled the kingdom of
God with philosophical concepts and viewed it as an ontological cosmic-universal entity. His
philosophical background also occasionally led to inadequate speculations in his theology and
inadmissibly he didn’t always use the Bible appropriately, although his doctrine of Scripture
and hermeneutics were satisfactory. Lastly, his philosophical modus operandi helped him to
differentiate between important theological concepts, which have problem solving abilities.
Description:
This article is based on
research the author did for
the PhD degree in Systematic
Theology in the Department
of Systematic Theology
and Christian Ethics at
the University of Pretoria.
The title of the thesis was
‘The kingdom of God as
a systematic theological
category in the work of JA
Heyns’. The promoter was
Prof. C.J. Wethmar.
