The other side of whiteness: The Dutch Reformed Church and the search for a theology of racial reconciliation in the afterlife of apartheid
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Authors
VAN DER RIET, RYNO LOUIS
Van Wyngaard, George Jacobus
Issue Date
2021
Type
Article
Language
en
Keywords
Dutch Reformed Church , apartheid , racism , whiteness , reconciliation
Alternative Title
Abstract
This article will provide an overview and analysis of developments in the Dutch
Reformed Church’s (DRC) General Synod concerning race, racism, and racial
reconciliation from 1986 until 2019. It seeks to extend the multiple accounts of the
DRC’s adoption and rejection of apartheid theology by tracing its further attempts at
grappling with questions of racism during and after the transition to democracy, into
the present. Three primary discourses are explored, namely the search for an inclusive
ecclesiology, the commitment to community involvement in the reconstruction of
South Africa after apartheid, and the transformation of interpersonal ethics towards
greater respect and care for others. Thereafter, the article highlights four territories
that remain largely unexplored within the DRC in the past quarter of a century and
argues for their future exploration. These trajectories could contribute to a deeper
transformation and conversion from the white Christianity historically tied to the
DRC.
Description
Citation
Publisher
Pieter de Waal Neethling Trust
License
Journal
Volume
Issue
PubMed ID
DOI
ISSN
2226-2385
0028-2006
0028-2006