There is only one Church! Albert Geyser’s ecclesiology in Delayed Action

Wim A Dreyer

doi:10.4102/hts.v73i1.4598

Abstract

A.S. (Albert) Geyser was professor of New Testament at the University of Pretoria from 1946 to 1961, when he accepted an appointment at the University of the Witwatersrand. He was one of the most active and outspoken critics of apartheid and played a leading role in the establishment of the Christian Institute and the appointment of Beyers Naude as the first director of the Institute. However, Geyser received very little attention either in church history or in the history of South Africa. This contribution, presented as the Third A.S. Geyser Commemorative Lecture at the University of Pretoria, reflects on Geyser’s ecclesiology. It is quite remarkable that Geyser chose ecclesiology as point of entry into the discourse on apartheid. He engaged in fundamental theological criticism of segregation in church and state based on his understanding of the unity of the church in Christ and a humanity unified under the kingship of Christ.

Highlights

Wider recognition of the critical voice of Afrikaans theologians is growing, for instance, the contribution of Prince Mashele in Sowetan Live (01 May 2015) where he says the following of Albert Geyser: Here was a white man, an Afrikaner by blood, adhering obstinately to a biblical truth that essentially shattered the religious foundations of Afrikanerdom – his very own being
The ‘ecumenical’ character of Delayed Action was twofold: On the one hand, it was intended as an ecumenical witness of Afrikaans theologians in South Africa and, on the other hand, the language and influence of the international ecumenical movement is manifest in various contributions
Doing mission at ‘an arm’s distance’ is contrary to the nature of the church and in contradiction to the unity of the church. He rejects the view that church unity is ‘invisible’. It is the same criticism of ecclesiastic dualism, the distinction between the ‘visible’ and ‘invisible’ church of Christ, which we find in the ecclesiology of Karl Barth (1956, CD IV.1) when he writes

Summary

Introduction

It is important to note that Geyser, with the other authors of Delayed Action, chose to enter the discussion on justice in South Africa from the perspective of ecclesiology. Geyser and Marais made it clear that the purpose of Delayed Action was to assist churches in their Christian calling and in their public witness.

Results

Conclusion