Abstract
The book Die vreemde God en sy mense (The enigmatic God and his people) — published in 1998 — marks the beginning of a new debate about God amongst Afrikaans-speaking people of the reformed tradition. The fall of the National Party government and the end of the Apartheid policy in 1994 forced theologians to reflect on the authority of the Bible; the issue of creation, the Big Bang and evolution; the relationship between Christianity and other religions; the historical Jesus research and the possibility of a new reformation. Afrikaans-speaking people suddenly became part of the global village and could not ignore these issues anymore. Four tendencies in the debates are identified: (1) clinging to the credos of the reformed tradition and adhering to the master narrative of Western Christianity; (2) looking at the credos as cultural and time-conditioned ones but trying to integrate the theories of the Big Bang and evolution with the master narrative of Christianity, (3) breaking away from the master narrative of Western Christianity and creating a new tradition; (4) abandoning the Christian tradition altogether and exploring another religious tradition, especially Buddhism.
Highlights
The book Die vreemde God en sy mense (The enigmatic God and his people) — published in 1998 — marks the beginning of a new debate about God amongst Afrikaans-speaking people of the reformed tradition
Wat hier volg is dus die perspektief van iemand wat in die Protestantse tradisie van die Christendom en meer spesifiek die gereformeerde tradisie groot geword het
Alhoewel ek as tiener aan die hand van hierdie belydenisdokumente gekatkiseer is en dit ook as teologiestudent moes bestudeer, het dit na jare se studie van die Bybel vir my duidelik geword dat hierdie dokumente nie voorgehou kan word as tydlose vertolkings van die Bybel nie
Summary
Alvorens ’n mens oor God kan praat, is dit noodsaaklik om uit te spel vanuit watter godsdienstradisie jy oor die “onderwerp” gaan praat. Alhoewel ek as tiener aan die hand van hierdie belydenisdokumente gekatkiseer is en dit ook as teologiestudent moes bestudeer, het dit na jare se studie van die Bybel vir my duidelik geword dat hierdie dokumente nie voorgehou kan word as tydlose vertolkings van die Bybel nie. Dit het ook mettertyd vir my duidelik geword dat die belydenisskrifte nie in die eerste plek op die Bybel gebaseer is nie, maar op ’n verhaal wat nie in dáárdie vorm in die Bybel staan nie. Die resultaat van hierdie soendood is dat ons almal nou weer vir ewig kan leef soos God dit van die begin van die skepping bedoel het. Die voorveronderstellings (of die “bril”) aan die hand waarvan hulle die Bybel lees, is die meesterverhaal van die Christendom en dáárdie verhaal berus hoofsaaklik op die interpretasies van die Griekse en Latynse kerkvaders. Meesterverhaal is nie maar net ’n bondige samevatting van dit wat die Bybel van Genesis tot Openbaring bied nie
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