Abstract
Professor Johannes du Plessis (1868–1935) of the Theological Seminary at Stellenbosch was fascinated by the results of the historical-critical research into the Bible. He acquainted his students and readers of the journal Het Zoeklicht with the results of this way of studying the Bible. However, in 1928, he was accused of heresy for cherishing views not aligned with the reformed confessions of faith. After 2 years and many meetings, he was dismissed as the professor. Being convinced that the Dutch Reformed Synod did not act in good faith, he took his case to the High Court and won. Almost a century later, the General Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) once again had to defend a resolution in the High Court. This time it concerned gay marriages and the ordination of people with a homosexual orientation as elders and ministers. The DRC again lost its case and had to retract the resolution of the Special General Synod held in 2016. The underlying issue in both cases is the doctrine of Scripture. Since the Du Plessis case, the DRC has struggled to come to terms with the historical-critical methods of reading and studying the Bible and to formulate a doctrine of Scripture aligned with it. Had it embraced the new way of reading and studying the Bible which emerged in the late 19th and the early decades of the 20th century, its history of support for the apartheid policy and the almost homophobic resolutions concerning gay members might have looked differently. Contribution: This historical overview on how the Bible has been used in the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) the past century (1920–2020) highlights the problems which the Bible creates when it is not read as a document from a different time and culture.
Highlights
The selection of the dates 1920 and 2020 to demarcate a century in the history of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) may seem rather arbitrary because nothing out of the ordinary happened during 1920 and the year 2020 is still in its infancy.1 there are good reasons for taking 1920 as the beginning of serious reflections on the interpretation and authority of the Bible in the DRC
Looking back over a period of a 100 years, it becomes evident that the DRC is still struggling to embrace the paradigm change that occurred towards the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century in the field of biblical studies
Different Synods have been struggling to formulate a doctrine of Scripture aligned with it but without success
Summary
The selection of the dates 1920 and 2020 to demarcate a century in the history of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) may seem rather arbitrary because nothing out of the ordinary happened during 1920 and the year 2020 is still in its infancy. there are good reasons for taking 1920 as the beginning of serious reflections on the interpretation and authority of the Bible in the DRC. Some of the representatives of the Federal Council of Churches were dissatisfied with the way Du Plessis was treated and felt that, he was co-responsible for the negative outcome, his publications addressed issues, which needed to be discussed These included, inter alia, the character of the DRC, the authority of Scripture, the historical-critical study of the Bible, creation and evolution, Jesus as a human being, missionary work amongst the indigenous people of Africa and the church’s relationship with the state and broader society. Already at the first meeting of the newly established General Synod of the DRC in 1962, a proposal was submitted that the synod should appoint a commission to formulate its theological viewpoint concerning the Bible and human relations because the previous Federal Council only acted as a co-ordinating body (Loubser 1987:89). The Bible remains the Word of God – sometimes in an almost literal sense
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