Abstract
This article honours Professor Bennie van der Walt as a bridge builder between white Afrikaners and black Africans as well as a renowned Christian scholar. Historical Western colonialism in South Africa divided its citizens against each other by means of white racism and apartheid. The whites in general were pitched against the blacks on the basis of white racism and its doctrine of apartheid. This doctrine of separation of races kept the white Afrikaners from the Bantu Africans. However, apartheid as a form of political, social, cultural and religious racism is now history in South Africa. The role which Professor Van der Walt played in bridging the gap between this racial divide is highly commendable and needs to be acknowledged and appreciated, hence the primary objective of this article in honour of his 71st birthday. Furthermore, the article discusses the immense contributions of Professor Bennie van der Walt to Christian scholarship in Africa.
Highlights
I write this article to contribute to this special issue of Koers in honour of Professor Bennie van der Walt, a dear friend of mine
Professor Van der Walt gradually and systematically responded to this immediate background in South Africa and the wider African context. He faced the great challenges of white racism and apartheid, Western theological dualism and secularism, the conflict of Western and African cultures, and the search for a reformational worldview and transformational theology for Africa
Besides the numerous articles in various journals and monographs, the following books are important and worth mentioning: Anatomy of reformation: flashes and fragments of a reformational worldview (Van der Walt, 1991b); A Christian worldview and Christian higher education for Africa (Van der Walt, 1991a); The liberating message: a Christian worldview for Africa (Van der Walt, 1994); Transformed by the renewing of your mind: shaping a biblical worldview and a Christian perspective on scholarship (Van der Walt, 2001a); and Transforming power: challenging contemporary secular society (Van der Walt, 2007). These works expose the devastating effects of Western dualism and secularism for Western Christianity and theories of society which are destructive and dangerous for African Christianity and society
Summary
I write this article to contribute to this special issue of Koers in honour of Professor Bennie van der Walt, a dear friend of mine. Professor Van der Walt was a bridge builder between white Afrikaners and black Africans. He made substantial contributions to Christian scholarship in Africa. The article is focused on describing how Professor Van der Walt is a bridge builder, on the one hand, and a renowned Christian scholar, on the other hand. The aim is not to give an in-depth analysis of the works of Professor Bennie van der Walt, but to focus on his person and his major contribution to Christian scholarship in Africa. I limit myself to some comments and opinions about Professor Van der Walt and his works
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