It examines the thinking on apartheid at the time, within the Dutch Reformed Church and outside it, as reflected in resolutions of the General Synod and other ecclesiastical assemblies and in other documents. South Africa's National Party, which won a surprise victory in the 1948 national elections, coined the term "apartheid" (apartness) to describe its legislative policy of segregation of "separate development" of the races. Roots of Apartheid. In 1990 the General Synod of the church confirmed the policy of the church as stated in Church and Society of 1986 but also made certain revisions which stated the church’s critique on apartheid much clearer. The Dutch Reformed Church, which speaks for Afrikanerdom, is not part of the South African Council of Churches and has distanced itself from churches that oppose apartheid… In 1996 the Dutch Reformed Church (mainly white) had 1,288,837 members, the Uniting Reformed Church (mainly coloured) had 1,216,252 members, and the Reformed Church in Africa (mainly Indian) had 2,386 members (Europa Publications Ltd. 1997, Vol … General Synodal Commission (GSC) of the Dutch Reformed Church, on the history of the three decades between 1960 and 1994. Theologizing in the Midst of Apartheid. Dutch Reformed Church. The Evangelical Origins of Apartheid: However from 1817, in response to a shortage of Dutch clergy to fill the DRC pulpits, the British Governor Somerset imported Scottish evangelical ministers, including the Murray family, to fulfill these Reformed pulpits. In 1982 the Dutch Reformed Mission Church (DRMC) declared a state of Confession ‘as a protest against Christian Apartheid beliefs’. In 1991, Dr. Coenie Burger of Stellenbosch University published his research on the state of practical theology for the South African Council of Human Science Research. The Dutch Reformed Church was created during an incredibly tumultuous period of European History known as the Protestant Reformation. Bloemfontein: NG Sendingpers, p.47. apartheid translation in English-Northern Sotho dictionary. Very simply. Serfontein.1 Based on years of extensive interviews with church people, it contains many appendices with translations of important documents as well as an admirable effort to situate church debates within political developments from 1978 to 1982. The reformed theology or Calvinism, named after the doctrines of Johan Calvin (1509-1564) lead to the establishment of a state church from 1588 – 1795. branch of the Dutch Reformed Church, a denomination that condemns as theological heresy any effort to use the Bible or Calvinist theology as justification for apartheid. This contribution examines the changing attitude of the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika (NHKA) towards apartheid, specifically since the … Dutch Reformed Church or Hervomde Kerk. South Africa’s Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) and the Afrikaner people it served had, since the 17th century drawn a distinction between white ‘Christians’ and the apparently unconvertible ‘heathen’ peoples around them. However, the DRC's seminaries had accepted theistic evolution, effectively denying the authority of Scripture. The Reformed Church and apartheid. Church and society. speaking reformed church-goers) remains Apartheid, Change and the NG Kerk, by J.H.P. This article focuses on the way the Bible was used in the 1940s in some Reformed theological circles in South Africa as part of the discourse to justify apartheid. Church members in South Africa generally resisted liberal trends that arose in Europe in the nineteenth century, but rifts occurred in the church in 1853 with the formation of the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk (also translated, the Dutch Reformed Church), and in 1859, with the formation of the Gereformeerde Kerk van Suid-Afrika (the Reformed Church of South Africa). The ruling National Party spent many years and much effort in justifying apartheid. This is a collection of papers delivered at a church conference held in Pretoria in 1953 which involved leading Dutch Reformed theologians and church leaders from other Christian traditions in South Africa. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who chairs the body, said much had been achieved and expressed the hope that the Church's truth-telling would lead to an improved moral climate in South Africa." Tutu and others like him chose non-violent methods, for example protest movements, and petitions. The Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) helped apartheid tie the black and red threats together as a challenge to white, Christian, and Western values. JAMES OGLETHORPE A Minister of the Dutch Reformed South Church Africa, of now on study leave in Holland. Theological justification of apartheid in South African churches, 978-3-8443-8811-4, 9783844388114, 3844388117, Religion / Theology, Now that Apartheid as a political system has been abolished it is time to analyse the factors that evoked a theology of Apartheid. He believes his Church has been much misunderstood abroad on these matters. In 2013 it claimed 1.1 million members and 1,602 ordained ministers in 1,158 congregations. The But the National Party did not invent racial discrimination. Secretary of the General Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa Dr. Landman gives an account of the social policy of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa and of its attitude to the ' apartheid ' policy. Major Christian (Protestant) Church, originally in the Netherlands, but spreading to other parts of the world through missionary work.It was organized during the revolt of the Low Countries against Spain in the 16th cent. Why did the Dutch reformed church in south africa condone and support the cruel system of Apartheid? The white Dutch Reformed Church, which had been a strong supporter of apartheid, counts 80 percent of white South African legislators among its 1.7 million members. World Cultures 2 Essay 1471 Words | 6 Pages. 6 The “conditional” confession by the DRC of its complicity in the political system of apartheid also weakened the credibility of its After three centuries of experience in Africa, the National Party contended that multiculturalism would always, inevitably, fail. nso Nelson Mandela, yo e bilego mopresitente wa pele wa Afrika Borwa wa motho-moso, o ile a bolela mabapi le molao wa mmušo wa gore batho ba bašweu ba phagame, gore: “Molao woo o be o thekgwa ke Kereke ya Dutch Reformed, yeo e ilego ya dira gore mmušo wa kgethollo (apartheid) o thewe bodumeding ka go šišinya gore ma … The struggle of the Dutch Reformed Church did however not stop with the acceptance of Church and Society and the reaction of 1987. Page 1 of 13 - About 129 essays. The Church which would during the 20th century give birth to the doctrine of apartheid. With the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck and the Dutch colonists in 1652 the Dutch Reformed Church were established in South Africa. Many different threads of Reformed theology and church order were entangled together until the Synod of Dort (1618–19) led … The response of South Africa's religious institutions to apartheid spanned a wide spectrum – from overt support to tacit acceptance and outright rejection. But the support for the Apartheid policies came from Calvinism's view of the world and not from Christ. Blacks in South Africa usually talk of the Dutch Reformed Church as the National Party at prayer, and not without good reason. Afrikaner Calvinism is a cultural and religious development among Afrikaners that combined elements of seventeenth-century Calvinist doctrine with a "chosen people" ideology based in the Bible. And why did it take almost 300 years for christian churches worldwide to finally speak out against the dutch reformed church of south africa and severing links with it ? The Dutch Reformed Church and Apartheid Susan Rennie Ritner Among the many sad ironies of South African life perhaps none is more poignant than the role of the dominant church of the Afrikaner people - the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk.1 For the Afrikaners remain one of the few western peoples of the mod- In 1814 it became known as the Dutch Reformed Church. The Dutch Reformed Church submission brings to an end three days of testimony from the religious community about their role in the apartheid system. In spite of the abolition of apartheid the distinctive racially based groupings within the Dutch Reformed Church continues to exist in practice. How a Church could ever support any form of discrimination is still surprising. a testimony of the Dutch Reformed Church. 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