The Thousand Generation Covenant: Dutch Reformed Covenant Theology and Group Identity in Colonial South Africa, 1652-1814
The Thousand Generation Covenant: Dutch Reformed Covenant Theology and Group Identity in Colonial South Africa, 1652-1814

Author: Gerstner

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2021-12-06

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 900447708X

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This study presents the religious factor in the development of a separatistic group identity among the forebears of the Afrikaners during the Dutch colonial period of South African history. Dutch Reformed covenant theology and baptism practice rooted in the thousand generation covenant theory helped to shape this self-understanding. It traces the basic developments of covenant theology in the Netherlands during the period and demonstrates how these concepts were conveyed to colonial South Africa. The dominant strain of covenantal thought treated the entire community as redeemed and called to be separate. It was presented through a variety of means through which virtually every colonist was exposed. This study offers a balanced historical approach to the role of theological concepts in the colonial roots of Afrikaner group identity. It answers traditional scholarship in the field which either directly identify the concepts behind the development of apartheid with Calvinist theology or, more recently, deny that the Reformed faith had any role in the development of apartheid ideology until the twentieth century.

State, Civil Society and Apartheid in South Africa
State, Civil Society and Apartheid in South Africa

Author: T. Kuperus

Publisher: Springer

Published: 1999-04-07

Total Pages: 227

ISBN-13: 0230373739

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An examination of the role played by civil society in the legitimisation of South Africa's apartheid regime and its racial policy. This book focuses on the interaction of dominant groups within the Dutch Reformed Church and the South African state over the development of race policy within the broader context of state-civil society relations. This allows a theoretical examination and typology of the variety of state-civil society relations. Additionally, the particular case study demonstrates that civil society's existence in and authoritarian situations can deter the establishment of democracy when components of civil society identify themselves with exclusive, ethnic interests.

Being Missionary, Being Human
Being Missionary, Being Human

Author: Willem A. Saayman

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13:

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Willem Saayman presents a brief overview of 350 years of Dutch Reformed Church Mission history. He attempts to write DRC mission history into Afrikaner history, and finds four distinct ?waves? of mission corresponding to four important events and turning points in Afrikaner history. This is an original and innovative attempt togain a better understanding of mission history.

Black, Not Dutch
Black, Not Dutch

Author: M. William Howard (Jr.)

Publisher:

Published: 2020

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781569026717

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"This book is an important account of a critical struggle for equity, inclusion and reparation of African Americans in a historic ethnic church in America and beyond. The Reformed (Dutch) Church in America (RCA) traces its origins back to 1628, making it one of the oldest Protestant churches in the United States. This book is an account of how this overwhelmingly ethnic denomination, when confronted by the Black Manifesto's 1969 demand for reparations over its historic role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and its support for the system of chattel slavery, reacted and struggled through the years"--

Reforming Memory
Reforming Memory

Author: Robert Vosloo

Publisher: AFRICAN SUN MeDIA

Published: 2017-10-02

Total Pages: 299

ISBN-13: 1928314368

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Although we should acknowledge the fragility of memory, we should nevertheless affirm the remarkable ability of memory to reform and transform our identity. Our memories and ways of remembering are, however, often marked by trauma and violence. Memory, therefore, not merely reforms; it too is in need of reformation, redemption and transformation. With this emphasis in mind, Reforming Memory grapples with the question what a responsible engagement with the past entails, also for Christians and churches associated with the Reformed tradition. The history of Reformed churches in South Africa is, one can argue, a deeply divided and ambivalent one. The same figures are heroes to some and villains to others; historic events are deeply ambiguous and conflicting views surround different discourses. Yet the histories, and perhaps futures, of these churches and traditions are inextricably interwoven. Reforming Memory fundamentally combines an interest in the notion of ?memory? with an interest in (South African) Reformed theology and history. Central is the question: how should we remember and represent the past responsibly? The essays collected in this book engage in different ways with this question, attending in the process to some episodes in the history of the Dutch Reformed Church, some influential Reformed theologians, and some important Reformed practices and confessional documents.

Christianity
Christianity

Author: David Chidester

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2001-11-27

Total Pages: 640

ISBN-13: 0062517708

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David Chidester, one of the world's foremost scholars of religion, traces Christianity's growth and development from the time of Jesus to the dawn of the third millennium, revealing its rich diversity through the deeds and beliefs of heretics and saints, witches and healers, preachers and inquisitors. Chidester explores the emergence of the major streams of Christian thought and practice, distilling the cultural history of the Church and its impact on the world into this superbly readable book. Alongside this broad panorama is a richly human story that the author brilliantly encapsulates in incisive character sketches and historical vignettes. Christianity, in all its many facets, has been and continues to be one of the most influential forces in history. Chidester shows that this religion, with its roots deep in the ancient world, has always been in a constant state of evolution, affecting and affected by the religions and societies around it. At times Christianity has coexisted peacefully with other forms of belief, exchanging ideas and practices with them. At other times profound, even violent, conflict has arisen. In this book David Chidester intelligently and objectively portrays Christians in different times and places, as a minority and as the majority group, a religion both absorbing and resisting the world around it. Christianity reveals the religion as it was and is lived in the life of everyday people rather than focusing on the dry dogmas and beliefs that fill most histories. Chidester's accomplishment is to capture the complexity and grand sweep of this story in one remarkable volume that is destined to take its place as a classic of religious history.

The Church Struggle in South Africa
The Church Struggle in South Africa

Author: John W. De Gruchy

Publisher: Fortress Press

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 9780800637552

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No more heartrending yet hopeful case study in Christian ethics exists than in the story of South African apartheid and its recent decisive transformation. John de Gruchy's authoritative and newly updated account of Christian complicity with and then resistance to one of the world's most notoriously repressive regimes holds indispensable lessons and "dangerous memories" for all concerned about evil, justice, and racial reconciliation.