Abstract
The idea that God sides with particular groups as they try to achieve their political goals by way of violence has emerged and re-emerged throughout the history of the Christian Church. This article examines some of these occasions where partisan theologies led to inhuman actions justified by a self-identified divine cause. The purpose is to explain how the motto, ‘God with us’ ( Gott mit uns ), was used to justify inhuman actions and selfish goals and that Christians should be hesitant to design a theology on the foundation of this idea and to further a certain political cause with a divine purpose. The central theoretical argument of this investigation is that the dictate Gott mit uns leads to partisan theologies that can be misused to justify inhuman policies and practices. Four theologies are selected as examples: the Puritan theology in the colonial America of the 17th century, Reformed theology in the Dutch colonisation of the South Africa and the formation of apartheid, the theology in the Reichskirche in Germany in the 20th century and liberation theology in the developing world in the 20th century.
Highlights
Inhumane actions were promoted in the name of God. The same tendency can be discerned in the South African history two centuries later where another manifestation of the covenant theology emerged in the theology of the Voortrekkers (the movement of Dutch settlers to the interior of Southern Africa)
The idea that God sides with particular groups in their efforts to achieve their political goals by way of violence has emerged and re-emerged throughout the history of the Christian Church
The war the Puritans waged against the Pequots was based on religious grounds and this event is a clear example of how a partisan theology inspired by the motto ‘God is on our side’ can lead to immoral and violent means
Summary
Inhumane actions were promoted in the name of God. The same tendency can be discerned in the South African history two centuries later where another manifestation of the covenant theology emerged in the theology of the Voortrekkers (the movement of Dutch settlers to the interior of Southern Africa). It would be fair to state that the theology of ‘God with us’ that formed the foundation of the events at Blood River and that was founded on the idea of theocracy, the covenant, the status of the people of the covenant and the Exodus motif was a very important contributing factor to the ideology and policy of apartheid in the 20th century.
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