The Belhar Confession and liturgy : a hymnological study

Abstract

Much study regarding the Belhar Confession has been conducted already such as: The Belhar Confession in its historical context Plaatjies-van Huffel (2014), Chronicle of Conference Barman/ Belhar Consultation 18 and 19 October 2004 Hansen (2005), A gift from heaven-the receptions in the Belhar Confession in the period 1982-2000 and its ecumenical significance today Naudè (2003) and On violence, the Belhar Confession and human dignity Koopman (2008) to mention but a few. From preliminary observations and some initial research, it seems that there is still a need to do an indepth study on the liturgical function of the Belhar Confession in Music. The working hypothesis of this study is if the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa URCSA uses Belhar more in the liturgy, especially in singing it will have an impact on the congregations and members. In other words the working hypothesis is that there is a link between liturgy, here specifically hymn singing, and the formation of worshippers. If URCSA is expecting others to adopt this confession it is its responsibility to embrace it during worship in church and to the rest of the society outside church vicinities. The literature survey that will be carried out later in this study confirms this state of affairs and that there is thus indeed a huge research gap in this regard. The researcher did a literature study, conducted semi-structured group interviews, as well as the some empirical research in order to explore the basic research question.