Research Outputs (Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology)https://hdl.handle.net/10500/55262024-03-29T12:15:39Z2024-03-29T12:15:39ZPlurality in the Theological Struggle against ApartheidVan Wyngaard, George Jacobushttps://hdl.handle.net/10500/308922024-02-26T11:25:27Z2019-01-01T00:00:00ZPlurality in the Theological Struggle against Apartheid
Van Wyngaard, George Jacobus
The church struggle against apartheid remains a key case study in ecumenical public
theology, with particular relevance for the Reformed tradition. The importance
of Christian theology in both the justification of and opposition to apartheid is well
known. Also, the process of ecumenical discernment for responding to apartheid
became a significant marker in global ecumenical reflection on what today we might
describe as public theology. However, the idea of a theological struggle against apartheid
risks ironing out the different theological positions that oppose apartheid. This
article highlights some of the attempts to analyze the theological plurality in responses
to apartheid. Then it proceeds to present an alternative way of viewing this plurality by
focusing on the way in which different classic theological questions were drawn upon
to analyze apartheid theologically. Using as examples the important theologians David
Bosch, Simon Maimela, and Albert Nolan, it highlights how apartheid was described
as a problem of ecclesiology, theological anthropology, and soteriology. It argues that
this plurality of theological analyses allows us to rediscover theological resources that
might be of particular significance as race and racism take on new forms in either
democratic South Africa or the contemporary world. Simultaneously, it serves as a
valuable example in considering a variety of theological questions when theologically
reflecting on issues of public concern.
2019-01-01T00:00:00ZThe (Non) acceptance of Belhar in the Dutch Reformed Church: Analysing Synodical Debates of 2011 and 2013Van Wyngaard, George Jacobushttps://hdl.handle.net/10500/308912024-02-26T11:19:02Z2019-01-01T00:00:00ZThe (Non) acceptance of Belhar in the Dutch Reformed Church: Analysing Synodical Debates of 2011 and 2013
Van Wyngaard, George Jacobus
This article analyses the open session debates on the Belhar Confession at the 2011 and 2013 General Synod meetings of the Dutch Reformed Church. It identifies six key themes that repeatedly emerge from arguments made by delegates, namely: 1) accepting Belhar for the sake of the youth and future of the church; 2) Belhar as guide in the mission of the church; 3) Belhar as challenge to racism within the church; 4) Belhar and its relationship to liberation theologies; 5) the role of members in formal adoption of a new confession; and 6) adoption of confessions in ways which would not make them binding on all. From these themes three matters, which remain outstanding in terms of how the Dutch Reformed Church engages with the Belhar Confession, are raised: 1) the relationship between mission and racism; 2) the history of heresy and its implication for the present; and 3) the implication of and response to black and liberation theologies. These matters are identified as challenges given particular meaning in light of the emphasis on local congregations and members of the Dutch Reformed Church when discussing the Belhar Confession.
2019-01-01T00:00:00ZA Next Generation? Young Dutch Reformed Church Ministers and Their Vision for the Church in South AfricaVan Wyngaard, George Jacobushttps://hdl.handle.net/10500/308902024-02-26T11:15:33Z2020-12-23T00:00:00ZA Next Generation? Young Dutch Reformed Church Ministers and Their Vision for the Church in South Africa
Van Wyngaard, George Jacobus
For the foreseeable future, the Dutch Reformed Church will be remembered for its role in the theological justification of apartheid and spiritual support for the leaders driving this political process. Questions on the faith, theology, and spirituality that made this theological and spiritual support possible have been analysed in detail over decades. This church is, however, poised to see a generation of ministers, who were trained after the Dutch Reformed Church’s position on apartheid changed, and after the end of apartheid in South Africa, taking over the leadership of this denomination. This article analyses responses to a 2019 survey among Dutch Reformed Church ministers and licensed proponents aged younger than forty years. Utilising a 7-point praxis matrix, it highlights the way in which these respondents describe the current ecclesial praxis and discern the future calling of the church. It focuses particularly on how they relate to the church’s past, and its historically White identity.
2020-12-23T00:00:00ZBeautiful Places and Recreating Humanity in South AfricaVan Wyngaard, George Jacobushttps://hdl.handle.net/10500/308892024-02-26T11:12:43Z2020-11-30T00:00:00ZBeautiful Places and Recreating Humanity in South Africa
Van Wyngaard, George Jacobus
The article investigates the connection between beauty and justice, by exploring everyday aesthetics through ordinary life, specifically the very concrete reality of contemporary urban South Africa. On the one hand, it delves beneath the statement that apartheid is ugly, by exploring the ugly spaces apartheid created, the devastation of an aesthetic built on segregation, and the distortions of whiteness. It also seeks to explore a theological aesthetic that starts from the ordinary life lived in particular places, arguing that beauty in particular places must be interwoven with humanness in all places, and proposing a theological aesthetic that gives priority to the voices silenced in particular places. Through this, beauty and justice are intimately interwoven in the ongoing work of disruption and transformation of a white racist place.
2020-11-30T00:00:00Z