Thesis (DTh (Practical Theology and Missiology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study is descriptive research and a practical theological study of the schisms in the Reformed Church in Zambia (RCZ) that took place between 1996 and 2001 and led to the formation of the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) and the Bible Gospel Church in Africa (BIGOCA). It aims to analyse the historical, global and local contexts as regards these schisms in the RCZ. The research questions are: What led to these splits, how did they happen and how can they be prevented? No measures have been put in place to educate or guard against further schisms. The goal of this study is to propose informed precautionary measures to the RCZ to prevent a recurrence of schisms in future. Chapter 2 describes the faith tradition of the RCZ. Various historical perspectives from the colonial period to those of the current Zambia are discussed in order to provide an understanding of this denomination's identity. It also tries to determine whether her political and missionary legacy has influenced the RCZ's leadership style and structures. Chapter 3 is an attempt to understand the contextual influences that globalization have brought about. The correlation between the global and religious trends affords a perspective on the "why" question of the schisms. Various global and local developments are the major focus of this chapter. It also discusses three levels of influence: macro (the global society), meso (the Zambian society), and micro (faith communities at congregation level). In Africa, the Pentecostal/charismatic oriented Christian prosperity movements have caused one of its endemic problems, i.e. the tension. Within the context of the RCZ tradition and faith practices, the Pentecostal/charismatic tendencies have challenged the long inherited autocratic church leadership styles. Pentecostal/charismatic prosperity movements flew in the faces of the denominationally organized churches with their Western origin, such as the RCZ. Subsequently, Pentecostal/charismatic movements have caused intense conflict in the church between the pro-conservatives and pro-Pentecostals. The police even had to close certain RCZ congregations because of skirmishes. At this stage of the study, a hypothesis became clear: The one-party state, with its autocratic presidential powers, continued the missionary legacy of autocratic rule in the independence and post-independence era, which had a direct impact on church leadership. Rutoro (2007) came to the same conclusion in his research on leadership in the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe. Chapter 4 is descriptive and provides a survey of what the documental sources of the RCZ and the printed media reveal about the schisms. The Synod's recommendations and resolutions from 1996 to 2001 give a clear picture of what occurred, as well as the intensity of the conflict. This chapter also reveals how the RCZ interpreted and handled the situation. Chapter 5 discusses the empirical data-gathering methods and the pilot study. Chapter 6 deals with the interpretation of the gathered data and compares it with the findings of Chapter 4. It is an exercise in triangulation - done after the first five chapters were written and affirmed what Chapter 4 concluded but, because of the narrative part of many of the answers supplied in the open-ended questionnaire, more was learned from it than was expected. From this study, it is clear that the church leadership should focus on understanding the *winds of change* in order to discern the way forward and adapt to leadership styles and challenges. Making theologically informed decisions are an absolute priority for the RCZ. This study recommends that church leadership, at least all the ministers, should be trained in conflict resolution and management and should stay abreast of God's missional praxis in this fast and ever-changing world. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie is beskrywend van aard en is 'n prakties-teologiese evaluering van die skeurings in die Reformed Church in Zambia (RCZ) wat tussen 1996 en 2001 plaasgevind het, en wat tot die stigting van die Christian Reformed Church (CRC) en die Bible Gospel Church in Africa (BIGOCA) gelei het. Dit beoog om die historiese, globale en plaaslike kontekste met betrekking tot hierdie skeurings in die RCZ te ontleed. Die navorsingsvrae is: Wat het tot hierdie skeurings gelei, hoe het hulle gebeur en hoe kan hulle voorkom word? Geen maatreëls is getref vir opleiding of waaksaamheid teen verdere skeurings nie. Die doel van hierdie studie is om ingeligte voorkomende maatreëls aan die RCZ voor te stel om 'n toekomstige herhaling van skeurings te verhoed. Hoofstuk 2 beskryf die geloofstradisie van die RCA. Vir 'n begrip van hierdie denominasie se identiteit word verskeie historiese perspektiewe vanaf die koloniale tydperk tot dié van die huidige Zambia bespreek. Daar word ook gepoog om vas te stel of die RCA se politieke en missionêre nalatenskap die RCZ se leierskapstyl en strukture beïnvloed het. In Hoofstuk 3 word gepoog om die kontekstuele invloede wat globalisasie mee-gebring het, te verstaan. Die korrelasie tussen die globale en geloofstendensies verleen 'n perspektief op die skeurings se "waarom" vraag. Verskeie globale en plaaslike ontwikkelinge is die hoof fokus van hierdie hoofstuk. Drie vlakke van invloed: makro (die globale samelewing), meso (die Zambiese samelewing), en mikro (die geloofsgemeenskap op gemeentevlak) word ook bespreek. In Afrika het die Pinkster-/charismaties-georiënteerde Christelike welvaartsbewegings een van sy endemiese probleme veroorsaak, naamlik spanning. Binne die konteks van die RCZ tradisie en geloofspraktyke, het die Pinkster/ charismatiese tendensie die lank-oorgelewerde outokratiese kerkleierskapstyle uitgedaag. Die Pinkster/-charismatiese welvaartsbewegings het gestaan teenoor die denominasioneel georganiseerde kerke met 'n Westerse oorsprong, soos die RCZ. Daarna het die Pinkster/charismatiese bewegings intense konflik in die Kerk tussen die pro-konserwatiewes en die pro-Pinkstergesindes veroorsaak. As gevolg van skermutselings moes die polisie selfs sekere RCZ gemeentes sluit. Op dié stadium van die studie het 'n hipotese duidelik geword. Die eenparty staat, met sy outokratiese presidensiële mag, het die missionêre nalatenskap van outokratiese beheer in die onafhanklike en post-onafhanklike era voortgesit, wat ‘n direkte impak op kerkleierskap gehad het. Rutoro (2007) kom tot dieselfde slotsom in sy navorsing op leierskap in die Reformed Church in Zimbabwe. Hoofstuk 4 is beskrywend van aard en bevat 'n oorsig van wat die dokumentêre bronne van die RCZ en die gedrukte media oor die skeurings openbaar. Die Sinode se aanbevelings en besluite van 1996 tot 2001 verskaf 'n duidelike prent van die gebeure, sowel as die intensiteit van die situasie. Hoofstuk 5 bespreek die metode van empiriese dataversameling en die loodsstudie. Hoofstuk 6 handel oor die interpretasie van die versamelde data en vergelyk dit met die bevindings van Hoofstuk 4. Dit is 'n oefening in triangulering – wat gedoen is na die skryf van die eerste vyf hoofstukke. Dit bevestig Hoofstuk 4 se afleidings maar, vanweë die narratiewe deel van baie van die antwoorde wat in die vraelys verskaf is, is meer as wat verwag is hiervan geleer. Deur hierdie studie word dit duidelik dat kerkleierskap op die verstaan van die *winde van verandering* gefokus moet wees om die weg vorentoe te bepaal en die leierskapstyle en uitdagings aan te pas. Om teologies-ingeligte besluite te neem is 'n absolute prioriteit vir die RCZ. Hierdie studie beveel aan dat kerkleierskap, of minstens al die predikante, in konflik-oplossing en –bestuur opgelei moet word, en tred moet hou met God se missionêre praksis in hierdie snelle en steeds veranderende wêreld.

Text in English / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / M. Th. (Church History)

It is surprising that there is no complete account of the life of Pierre Du Moulin in English, but it is much more surprising to find that none exists in French. Excluding three short Bachelor of Divinity theses written in France in the nineteenth century on various aspects of Pierre Du Moulin and his work, no one has given this important Huguenot any more than casual attention since 1700. One regrets that the Reformed Church of France itself has tended to focus its attention upon a few illustrious leaders in its history and to pass by some of its lesser but nevertheless important historical figures. Outside of France it is true that the French Reformed Church has too often been ignored, and its history has not drawn the attention it deserves from students of Church History. That a study of the life of Pierre Du Moulin is needed is emphasized by a letter received from Professor Norman Sykes of the University of Cambridge. He writes, "To the best of my knowledge Pierre Du Moulin has not attracted the attention of any English biographers or historians, so that you seem to have a virgin field before you in that respect." He goes on to state that to undertake such a work on Du Moulin would be doing "a valuable service to historical studies." It would be presumptuous to call this a comprehensive study of Pierre Du Moulin, for the purpose of this dissertation is to write an historical account of his life. It is not an attempt, for instance, to define carefully his theological system, for a full study of his theology or other contributions which he made will have to be done on another occasion. It is an attempt to record the facts of his life in a complete fashion for the first time.

This thesis offers a constructive engagement with T.F. Torrance’s theological reading of the patristic tradition. It argues that Torrance reconstructs the Fathers into a Consensus Patrum, or “Consensus of the Fathers” consisting of catholic/ecumenical themes and figures. Torrance’s consensus is a creative attempt to produce a Reformed and evangelical version of the consensus which involves significant changes to both standard readings of the Fathers in other approaches to the consensus and Torrance’s own Reformed evangelical tradition. It is unique among other interpreters of the Fathers and ecumenically relevant, offering much to contemporary theology in both substance and method. In order to view Torrance’s project in historical context this thesis examines the notion of the consensus as found in historical Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant theology. Each tradition has a lens through which they view the Fathers: Aquinas for the Roman Catholics, Palamas for the Orthodox, Augustinian themes for the Reformers, and “de‐Hellenization” for liberal Protestants. This thesis places Torrance’s project within other contemporary retrievals of the church Fathers arguing for its uniqueness as a distinctively Reformed evangelical approach to the Fathers on their own terms. It inspects the Torrancian consensus exploring its consistence of a Reformed and evangelical approach to patristic themes and figures, rooted in the primary theme of the Nicene ὁμοούσιον and the primary figure of Athanasius of Alexandria. It examines Torrance’s creative reconstruction of the Fathers into a Reformed evangelical consensus and points to his constructive achievements demonstrating that Torrance’s approach is ecumenically relevant, as seen particularly in his work in the Reformed‐Orthodox Dialogue. A critical adoption of the Torrancian consensus is proposed in conclusion.

Permission from the author to digitize this work is pending. Please contact the ICS library if you would like to view this work.

The Reformed church in Hungary and Transylvania had extensive connections with western Calvinist churches during the early seventeenth century, and became more closely linked with co-religionists abroad during this period. In this thesis I shall examine the ideology and shared interests of this international Calvinist community, and assess the significant impact which contacts with fellow Calvinists beyond Hungary's borders had on the development of the Hungarian Reformed church. The early seventeenth century saw increasing numbers of Hungarian student ministers travel to western Reformed universities, western Calvinist teachers travel to work in Hungarian schools, and the transfer and translation of foreign Reformed theological works for use in Hungary and Transylvania. This pattern of broad engagement with western Europe heavily influenced the development of education in the Reformed schools of Hungary and Transylvania, as well as the forms of worship and ceremony adopted by the Hungarian Reformed church. Godly princes, godly gentlemen and clergy were partners in the building-up of the Reformed church of Hungary and Transylvania. The church was indeed reliant in the early seventeenth century on patronage and support from a series of Reformed Transylvanian princes, and from Hungarian nobles. The continuing commitment of these parties to further religious reformation in the region was challenged by some Reformed ministers who, inspired by their experience of Calvinist churches abroad, sought to introduce presbyterial government and reforms of church ceremony and discipline, an agenda dubbed locally as Puritanism. International Calvinist contacts however largely served to bolster the theological orthodoxy of the Reformed community of Hungary and Transylvania against its confessional rivals, invigorating the Reformed church's zeal to defend its position with a stridently anti-Catholic ideology. Comparisons with other Reformed churches reinforced commitment in Hungary to tighten standards of discipline with an ethos of morality which was distinctively Reformed. International Calvinism therefore assisted the Reformed confessionalisation of Transylvania and eastern Hungary in the early seventeenth century. However the ties binding Transylvania with the rest of the Calvinist world in this period also encouraged Transylvania's princes to adopt a diplomatic policy of Protestant cooperation tinged with apocalyptic ideas, which was ultimately to jeopardise the stability of the principality and the place of Reformed religion in east-central Europe.

Recent scholarship has increasingly recognized the unity of Herman Bavinck's (1854-1921) thought, shedding the once-predominant reading that Bavinck was a conflicted thinker caught between modernity and orthodoxy. There were 'two Bavincks', the secondary literature claimed. The catalyst of unity for Bavinck's thinking is located in his deployment of organic language to characterize particular theological loci. The organic motif stems from Bavinck's Trinitarian doctrine of God, according to which God exists as the archetypal and self-existent Three-in-One. Creation, then, is an ectypal reflection of the triune Godhead, and as such can be described as an organism comprising of many unities-in-diversities. This new reading, propelled by James Eglinton, argued that for Bavinck the Trinity ad intra leads to an organic cosmology ad extra. Though this reading has showcased the unity of Bavinck's thought in general, current scholarship on Bavinck's theological epistemology remains fractured along the lines of the 'two Bavinck' thesis, with two sides that emphasize, respectively, the modern strand of Bavinck's thinking or his classical, orthodox, side. This thesis reinvestigates the primary texts in which Bavinck discusses epistemology and argues that the organic motif is also the lens through which his epistemology is to be read. In doing so, this thesis argues that the organic motif allowed Bavinck to utilize both classical (Thomistic) and post-Kantian sources in a way that produces coherence rather than inconsistency. Thus, it is unnecessary to pit Bavinck's use of classical sources against his use of modern sources: particular deployment is not systematic endorsement. The thesis, then, is that a Trinitarian doctrine of God ad intra produces not merely an organic cosmology ad extra, but also an organic epistemology. It then proceeds to demonstrate this in two ways. First, the thesis observes that Bavinck characterizes the sciences (wetenschappen) as a single organism made up of a unity-in-diversity. The specialization and divisions of the sciences mean that each field has its own sphere of existence with unique grounds and methodologies, but there is an underlying theological unity between them that relativizes that diversity precisely because all of the sciences are theological. Second, for Bavinck subjective knowledge can organically correspond with objects because both participate in a larger, organic universe. Mental representations connect with the world because all of creation is primordially interconnected by way of God's organic design. In each of these steps Bavinck's eclectic use of sources and overall creativity and unity are displayed. This thesis also relates his discussion both to his interlocutors and contemporary philosophical and analytic epistemology. Hence, this thesis not only demonstrates the overall coherence of Bavinck's thought, thereby further eradicating ill-conceived notions of there being 'two-Bavincks', but also showcases potentially generative insights concerning the place of theology within the university and the resources theology might provide for philosophical epistemology.

Magister Theologiae - MTh / Taking the recent history and the present situation of South Africa as my context, I have found that with regard to their ethical stance the Lutheran Church has been accused of taking the "cheap grace" (anti-nomian) option and the Reformed Churches have often been criticised (especially by Lutherans, although recently also by some of their own theologians e.g. Johan Cilliers, 1994) for propagating the salvation by "works of the law" (semi-pelagian) option. Both the above "accusations" need to be critically verified by an analysis of the two theologies and their functioning in South Africa. This analysis will be done by using sermons from both churches as its empirical basis. I have decided to use seven sermons from each tradition. The Lutheran ones were brought together by directly contacting my colleagues and asking them to help me in this project by sending their sermons (especially on Exodus 20, if possible) to me. The Reformed sermons used are taken from published sermon collections available in South Africa.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Covenant Theological Seminary, 2007. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 187-189).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Western Theological Seminary, 1987. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 430-432).