ABSTRACT

The Dutch Reformed Church (NGK) in South Africa during and before the apartheid years was long seen as an obstacle to social change. Occasional critical Afrikaner voices in the 1960s and early 1970s were firmly silenced by church authorities. After 1976, scattered clerical dissent was more clearly asserted, but at the national synod of 1982 it was abjured and critics were removed from positions of authority. At the 1986 synod, however, in a complete turnaround, church policy was radically reformed and former dissenters were returned to positions of clerical authority. As a result, in 1990, Professor Jonker of the theological faculty at Stellenbosch University was able publicly to confess his deep regret about his and his church’s responsibility for the manifest evils of apartheid. This paper provides a social and intellectual history of how such transformation was brought about, its personal costs and its ultimate limitations.

摘要

种族隔离年代期间和之前，南非的荷兰归正教会（NGK）长期以来一直被视为社会变革的障碍。1960年代和1970年代初期，偶尔出现批评性的Afrikaner声音，教堂的主管部门对此坚决地保持沉默。1976年后，更明确地主张了散布的文书异议，但在1982年的全国会议上，它被废除，批评家被撤离了权威职位。然而，在1986年的会议上，教会的政策得到了彻底的改革，彻底改变了教会的政策，使以前的持不同政见者重新回到了牧师的职位上。结果，在1990年，斯泰伦博斯大学神学系教授琼克（Jonker）公开承认他和他的教会对种族隔离的明显弊病负有深切的遗憾。