Reformed Church Research Articles

ЦАРЬ БОГОИЗБРАННЫЙ, А НЕ САМОЗВАННЫЙ В РОССИИ 1666 ГОДА (ТЕМА БЛАГОСЛОВЕНИЯ РОДА ПРАВЕДНЫХ ГОСУДАРЕЙ В «МЕЧЕ ДУХОВНОМ» ЛАЗАРЯ БАРАНОВИЧА)

The author explores the question of how the theme of God`s chosen king`s power was interpreted in the book “Spiritual Sword” of Lazar Baranovich in 1666. The idea of the choice of God of the supreme ruler and the protection of God of righteous sovereigns spread in the culture of the Christian world back in the Middle Ages. In Russia in the 1660s it was updated by a specific set of circumstances: church reform, expansion of the territory of the state through the annexation of new lands by military means, the absolutization of the power of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and the expectation of the End of the World. At the same time, the second sovereign of the House of Romanov was interested in additional arguments legitimizing his autocracy, as evidenced by the documents of the Secret Prikaz, concerning rumors about his “illegal” origin, and some details of the conflict between the Tsar and Patriarch Nikon. The article shows how Lazar Baranovich, with the help of scholastic theological and literary techniques, which includes, among other things, abundant quoting, creates a harmonious and convincing concept of the righteous family of the Russian sovereign, a dynasty that found itself at the pinnacle of power by the will of God. According to her, the sovereign Alexei Mikhailovich is not an impostor and an accidental minion of fate, but a God-chosen king, similar to the biblical David, Emperor Constantine the Great and other famous rulers of antiquity. By the right of the chosen of God one, the Russian Tsar wields both swords of power – secular and ecclesiastical.

The future of empirical research in and through the Dutch Reformed Church

The future of empirical research in and through the Dutch Reformed Church

A travel journal of a preacher during the annual Pentecost prayer meetings in the Dutch Reformed Church: An auto-ethnographic reflection

A travel journal of a preacher during the annual Pentecost prayer meetings in the Dutch Reformed Church: An auto-ethnographic reflection

The use of empirical data in communal discernment and decision-making processes in the Dutch Reformed Church

The use of empirical data in communal discernment and decision-making processes in the Dutch Reformed Church

‘Het zijn onze armen’

Since its inception in 1824, the Western Cape Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) has played a key socio-economic role as provider of a range of poor relief strategies. However, the purpose of these charitable efforts was not solely rooted in theological principles. In the nineteenth and twentieth century South African context, poor relief work carried distinct political undertones, particularly surrounding the so-called ‘poor white problem’. A substantial body of literature has emerged surrounding ‘poor whites’ and the political efforts employed to ‘save’ them in the decades before the implementation of apartheid. While the Church’s poor relief schemes are often mentioned as significant in these studies, the Church’s poor relief systems and their development over time remain understudied. This paper identifies and discusses five distinct phases of development of DRC poor relief strategies over the past two centuries (1824-1860s; c. 1860-1900s; 1910-1940; c. 1940-1980s; and 1990-present) and argues that these stages and the practical implementation of the Church’s poor relief efforts has been notably shaped by the contemporary socio-economic and socio-political zeitgeist in which it was embedded.

De Kaapsche Kerk, the British Empire, slavery, and the discourses of good and evil

It is a well-known history that the Dutch church in South Africa’s Cape colony up until the early 19th century had readily accommodated the institution of slavery as commonly practiced within Cape Dutch society. Slavery was not seen as “good” but generally accepted as an unfortunate reality of life. Some groups of people, particularly those of non-European heritage, were seen within this colonist society as naturally predisposed for slavery. Biblical arguments regarding examples of the non-denunciation of slavery in both Old and New Testament scriptures could easily be mustered in defence of the institution against the rare voices protesting the practice. In that sense the Cape Church was not any different from most other Christian churches in colonial societies worldwide. Yet the Cape church also had some strong antislavery statements and advocates from within its ranks since at least the first half of the nineteenth century. As seen for example in Dreyer’s collection of documents under the title, “Die Kaapse Kerk en die Groot Trek”, several high placed church leaders opposed the migration of Dutch farmers from the Cape colony in the 1830s on the basis that the migration occurred in disobedience to British colonial legislation that were effectively seen as seeking to stamp out slavery and associated practices. The Dutch farmers tended to see the British Empire as an evil empire. The Cape Church leadership, to the contrary, which by then included a number of abolitionist Scottish pastors in its ranks viewed their emigrating members, at least initially, as being in rebellion not only against the civil rulers but also against the church, and they, albeit for the most part unsuccessfully, sought to dissuade the emigrants from abandoning their chosen paths. In the subsequent decades a number of Cape Church pastors sought contact with the migrants with the intent of bringing them back into the fold. This article presents the case of a noteworthy equalisation campaigner in this regard, Rev. D.P.M. Huet. Another episode occurred later in the 19th century in the mission fields associated with the Cape Church in central Africa, Nyasaland as it was known at the time. Again, it is a well-known story that some of the early Christian missionaries in these areas, most notably David Livingstone, confronted slave traders and agitated against the practice which was still rife throughout the region during much of the 19th century. Yet, as far as the Cape Church and Afrikaners more generally were concerned, historical accounts often suggest that particularly the northern Boers were more often themselves involved in the slave trade rather than acting against it. Yet, as this article will indicate the early missionary enterprise of the Cape Church in central Africa actively engaged in anti-slavery activities with a central character in this being missionary, William Hoppe Murray who served as leader of the mission in Nyasaland for a substantial period.The article finally discusses the case of De Kaapsche Kerk (the Dutch Reformed Church in the Cape Colony) in relation to slavery and empire with reference to notions of good and evil.

“All is withered and burnt”

In the years 1923-1929 the Clanwilliam Ring of the Dutch Reformed Church was struck by a drought that left the area’s traditionally rural and agricultural population struggling with issues of food security, unemployment, and bankruptcy. Occurring in the early 20th century, the still nascent Union government was unwilling to dedicate the resources to direct food assistance schemes under flawed sociological reasoning and lacked the institutional capacity necessary to provide direct alleviation for the impacts of the drought. Consequently, the Dutch Reformed Church became the main overseer of food provision and charitable relief efforts among stricken communities through its Algemene Armesorg Kommissie. Local Dominees, deacons and elders of the church bodies in the arid Karoo acted as a grass roots organization in the monitoring and distribution of assistance (primarily through clothing and food donations) for local communities. This article focuses on the social and political realities that led to the Dutch Reformed Church playing a central role in combating the impact of the 1923–1929 drought in the ring of Clanwilliam. The study made use of archival primary sources mostly from the Dutch Reformed Church Archive in Stellenbosch, with additional sources from the Western Cape Archival Repository System and the National Archive of South Africa. Secondary research sources such as published journal articles and books, as well as unpublished dissertations were used to contextualize primary information and to add previous studies’ discussions on the topic. The study proves that the church, through its well-organized Algemene Armesorg Kommissie charity wing, acted as a much-needed intermediary often organizing and distributing donations of food, clothing and money from donors in other congregations to drought-stricken areas in a time when the government could not or would not provide such assistance.

Akiga Sai from the perspective of Dutch Reformed Church missionaries:

Akiga Sai (1898-1959) is heralded as one of the few indigenous African anthropologists and historians of the early twentieth century. His work for the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (DRCSA) as evangelist, teacher, and translator (1915-1945), however, is under-researched. Furthermore, despite the significance of Sai’s life and work, no biography of his life has been published. This article illustrates that it is possible to extract valuable biographical and contextual data regarding Sai from the records of the DRCSA Sudan Mission, demonstrating the collection’s value regarding early documentation of indigenous communities. By compiling a partial biographical profile of the Nigerian Tiv writer, politician, translator, and evangelist Akiga Sai as a case study, this article highlights the importance of the DRCSA’s archival collections, specifically the documentation relating to the Cape Synod’s Sub-Commission for Foreign Missions [Buitelandse Sending Subkommissie]. Part of the DRCSA’s heritage is its archive: the rich and varied sources, available in a wide variety of languages, contains valuable information about aspects of (Southern) African history unavailable elsewhere.

Gevolg van die Loedolf-saak van 1862

On the 2nd of November 1824, the first General Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) convened in Cape Town. The unity that was established through synodical ties did not last long. In 1862 the denomination was thrown into turmoil when an elder of the church took the church to court. HH Loedolff challenged the participation of congregations outside the Cape colony to be part of the General Synod. After the court ruled in his favour, congregations of the church in the Transgariep established three individual synods, namely, Orange Free State (1864), Natal (1865) and Transvaal (1866). Two hundred years after the first General Synod, the DRC again finds herself in troubled waters with the denomination. Due to decisions taken by the General Synod, regional synods, presbyteries, and congregations want to sever their ties with the General Synod. To save the unity of the church, this can lead to a reorganisation of the church. This article focuses on the events and consequences of the ruling of 1862 to find directives for the current challenges in the church. The author makes use of the study of important literature which entails both primary and secondary sources to explore the topic. Many of the original documents were consulted online from the archives of the Dutch Reformed Church in Stellenbosch.

Ontstaan en groei van ’n seminarium aan die Fakulteit Teologie Stellenbosch en ander ontwikkelinge in die teologiese opleiding van die Ned Geref Kerk in die Sinode van Wes-Kaapland.

The article focuses on the developments of theological training in die Western Cape Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) in the last decade. In this era a Seminary was founded to facilitate ministerial formation for the DRC; Uniting Reformed Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of South Africa (ELCSA). The article unpacks the historical, demographic, and especially pedagogical complexities of theological education that aims to build missional leadership capacities. The theology and missional ecclesiology, rhetorical pedagogy and capacity theories are some of the building blocks that the synod utilise to build a new era for theological education.

“Pous van die Kaap”

“Pope of the Cape”: Koot Vorster and ultra-right politics in the 1960s The Dutch Reformed Church (DRC), with an entrenched relationship with Afrikaner nationalism and apartheid, had to face socio-political changes in Afrikaner society in the 1960s. International pressure on the state, economic prosperity of Afrikaners, cultural exposure to the West, and internal criticism from cultural and academic spaces began to crack the bastion of Afrikanerdom during this decade. While the state had so-called dangers from outside under control at the time, it was the DRC’s focus to strengthen the people from within against unseen dangers such as liberalism and communism. In this context, Dr Koot Vorster emerged from the Cape NG Church as a leading national figure of Afrikaner anticommunism when he became head of the newly established National Council for the Fight against Communism in 1964. This article shows how Vorster was in fact a foreman for an ultra-right political pressure group from the Transvaal. Vorster is therefore considered here as a churchman and “organisation man”, as termed by N.P. van Wyk Louw, within verkrampte ranks. As the political winds blew against the verkramptes under the leadership of Koot’s brother, Prime Minister John Vorster, Koot also stood more and more on the periphery of popular politics as he tested the boundaries at the right of Afrikaner politics. As an organization man he would then stand on the periphery, but as a church man he did not lose his prestige.

Recoding of a society

The undercarriage of Afrikaner nationalist mobilisation was assembled by a small group of language engineers during the opening decades of the twentieth century. Particularly influential within this broad literary project were the Afrikaans clerics who clustered around the Zuid-Afrikaanse Bijbel Vereniging (ZABV, later N.G. Kerk Uitgewers van Suid-Afrika), the official publishing wing of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC). Propped up by this platform, DRC writers contributed to the linguistic shape of Afrikaans and crucially steered the affixed matter of nation building along a defined religious route in the image of a Christian-National Afrikanerdom. By the start of 1940 a sociological function within the operation of the ZABV lent itself to the nationalist agenda of capturing the consciousness of Afrikaner society. This notably contributed to the creation of an indoctrinated and self-concealed Afrikaner bloc based on the perpetuated myth of an unquestioned and divinely affirmed national uniqueness.

The Theology of the Church of England: The Origins of Anglican Orthodoxy

Church historians and theologians debate the nature and boundaries of the theology of the Church of England. This contested theological identity leads some scholars to merge the liturgical, ecclesiological, and doctrinal distinctions between the reformed Ecclesia Anglicana and other Reformation churches. This article surveys the development of the theology of the Church of England from the reigns of Henry VIII to Charles II, arguing that members constructed a liturgical, ecclesial, and doctrinal consensus that constitutes Anglican Orthodoxy. This broadly Augustinian identity draws from the Evangelical and Reformed reformations while maintaining its own distinctive dogmatic boundaries.

Corrigendum: Observing systemic conflict: The emotional affect on pastors in the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa

No abstract available.

Papa Francesco e il cattolicesimo in Germania Da ultimo una grande delusione?

The article provides an overview of the reception of Pope Francis in Germany following his election in 2013. The initial euphoric reactions are understandable, as Francis raised high expectations, particularly with Evangelii gaudium, regarding the resolution of the enormous backlog of reforms in the Catholic Church in Germany, whose religious situation differs significantly from that of other countries. However, since the post-synodal letter Querida Amazonía, disappointment with Francis has predominated. In particular, the Vatican’s reactions to the ‘Synodal Path’ have caused irritation.

Illegal Marriages

Pope Innocent III has drawn constant scholarly attention in the realm of medieval history. Not only was his papacy fundamental in the shaping of the modern-day Roman Catholic Church, but his time as Roman Pontiff is also considered the apogee of the medieval papacy. He expanded papal influence into realms previously dreamt of by Church reformers and exerted it over secular rulers. An often-contested topic of Innocent’s historiography is the motivations and justifications for his actions. Are we to view them through the lens of reform or the mind of a pragmatist? This paper contributes to this debate by analyzing Innocent’s letters and actions pertaining to the consanguineous marriages of Alfonso IX with Berenguela in the Iberian Peninsula and Otto IV with Beatrix in the German lands. By comparing the actions and justifications of Pope Innocent III in the Iberian Peninsula and the German lands—an area on the periphery of Europe and one central in it—this paper seeks to uncover, firstly, whether Innocent acted similarly in comparable situations from both areas and, secondly, whether Church reform or pragmatism influenced his arguments and measures. This paper finds that Innocent acted in a reformist manner (disregarding temporal outcomes in favor of spiritual strictness) in the Iberian Peninsula while he focused on temporal matters through a pragmatic approach in the German lands due to the severe threat the German Empire posed to Church independence and the ongoing Reconquista in Iberia. Utilizing a comparatist approach to this topic allows for conclusions to be made from his actions in different regions rather than a case study in a singular region.

On the Role of Eschatology in the Ideological Confrontation between the Church and the Old Believers

The article describes the process of formalizing the eschatological teaching among the Old Believers and attempts to refute it by Church hierarchs. The focus is on the doctrine of the ultimate destinies of the world, which gained significant support among opponents of church reform in the latter half of the 17th century. The study demonstrates the con tinuity of ideas and the evolution of the views of the authors who explored in their works the theme of the reign of the Antichrist in the world and affirmed the idea that only the defenders of the old rite are able to serve the guarantors of the salvation of mankind. The authors built their arguments on quotations from the Holy Scriptures and their interpretations in patristic literature, explaining the facts of modern reality through them. Such constructions appeared quite convincing to the Russian population's religious consciousness, resulting in an increasing number of supporters of the Old Believer doctrine, turning the intra-church movement into a broad religious and social one. The fight against schism became relevant not only for the Church but also for secular authorities since the defenders of the old rite used the doctrine of the ultimate destinies of the world to justify their opposition towards governing bodies and solutions to social and political issues proposed by them. The Church battled against the Old Believers in alliance with the authorities. Council resolutions and legislative acts evidence this. The article concludes by arguing that the Church and authorities in the 17th – 18th centuries saw the main threat in the dissemination of the teachings of the Old Believers in handwritten propaganda texts, which necessarily contained a statement about the possible accession of the Antichrist in Russia. However, no attempts by the Church hierarchs to rebut the eschatological teaching of the defenders of the old rite were successful, and the religious-social movement only continued to grow. Both sides believed that eschatology played an essential role in the ideological confrontation between the Church and the Old Believers, substantiating the right to oppose the innovations brought into ritual and liturgical practice due to the reform.

The Dutch Reformed Church (1974–2024): From Dancing with the Devil to Waltzing to Heavenly Music

The jubilee celebration of Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae (SHE) reminds church historians of important events that have taken place during the past 50 years. This article gives an overview of important events that took place in the history of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC). Being the largest white Afrikaans-speaking church and the church which biblically supported the political policy of apartheid, the history of Christianity in South Africa cannot be understood without taking note of the DRC’s journey. For the DRC, 1974 was an important turning point in its history as the policy document Ras, Volk en Nasie en Volkereverhoudinge in die Lig van die Skrif (hereinafter Ras, Volk en Nasie) was approved by the General Synod of the DRC. This document explained how the church motivated apartheid from a biblical point of view. It was – metaphorically speaking – the official start of the DRC’s dance with the devil. During the past 50 years, the DRC has taken important decisions that ended its dance with the devil and started a new dance, waltzing to heavenly music. This happened when the church decided to take a new road to reconciliation which was the primary goal. The article revisits Ras, Volk en Nasie, but also some of the important milestones along the road to reconciliation. It concludes with an example of how a congregation of the former apartheid church succeeded in making a difference in the local community. This confirms the fact that the dance with the devil has indeed ended and that many congregations of the church are now waltzing to heavenly music.

Folk Spiritism: Between Communication with the Dead and Heavenly Forces

Examples of how Spiritism merged with local beliefs have been the subject of research in religious studies, ethnology, and folkloristics. Serbian Spiritism can also be viewed as such, but its history is an under-researched topic. We examine the syncretic product we will call ‘folk Spiritism’, being different from the ‘high Spiritism’ of elite and middle-class intellectuals. Folk Spiritism was part of a grassroots movement for Church reform in the first half of the 20th century. The difference between folk and high Spiritism is also confirmed in the emic perspective. Based on a closer reading of its texts, we can discern a better image of the dead and communication with them in the practice of folk Spiritism. We conclude that the difference between the traditional and Spiritist image of the dead is that the former causes fear, while the later brings comfort; folk Spiritism gave preference to communication with heavenly forces (God, Christ, Holy Mother, angels, saints) while retaining the traditional view of the dead.

Interpreting History. Unlocking Various Phases of History in the Story of the Upington Uniting Reformed Church over its first Hundred Years of Existence (1875–1975)

The Upington congregation of the Uniting Reformed Church in South Africa (URCSA), established in 1875, is one of two URCSA congregations in Upington in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. The congregation has a long, interesting history entrenched in the sociopolitical realities of the “Coloured” people of the Orange River Valley in and around Upington. This article explores the history of this congregation, its origins as a mission station on the other side of the Orange River, and the complexities and perceived cultural boundaries linked to its establishment and development. Furthermore, there is the story behind the significant church schism of 1902. The article also focuses on the interesting, complex link between the former Dutch Reform Mission Church (DRMC) Upington congregation and the Dutch Reform Church (DRC) Upington over certain periods—a relationship of many phases. This is an attempt to discover new elements and perspectives on the history of the URCSA Upington, adding to current engagements and evaluations of congregational histories in eras before the so-called postcolonial era. Church and congregational records (including celebratory publications), theses linked to the establishment of churches in the 1800s in the Orange River Valley, and historical documents of the former DRMC form the basis of this study (source analysis).