Scielo RSS http://www.scielo.org.za/rss.php?pid=2413-946720220003&lang=pt vol. 8 num. 3 lang. pt http://www.scielo.org.za/img/en/fbpelogp.gif http://www.scielo.org.za http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2413-94672022000300001&lng=pt&nrm=iso&tlng=pt http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2413-94672022000300002&lng=pt&nrm=iso&tlng=pt Since their arrival in South Africa in the early 19th century, the Murray family walked something of a tightrope with respect to the formation of Afrikaner national identity. This article describes the Murrays' positioning regarding that identity formation as a "precarious hybridity". On the one hand, the Murrays identified themselves closely with the Afrikaner people among whom they ministered, an identification that was particularly tested by the traumatic experience of the South African War (1899-1902). On the other hand, they maintained wider ecumenical and international linkages, which were particularly enhanced by their involvement in missionary activities in Nyasaland. Such variegated positioning necessitated a pragmatic, accommodationist approach that was increasingly at odds with the hardening identity formation characteristic of Afrikaner nationalism as the 20th century proceeded. This article describes and analyses the ways in which some of these complexities played out. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2413-94672022000300003&lng=pt&nrm=iso&tlng=pt Pauline Pretorius, born Murray, worked as a Dutch Reformed Church [DRC] mission doctor in Nyasaland (now Malawi) from 1928-1976, but little has been written about her life and extraordinary career. A disproportionate number of books and articles have been published by or about male DRC missionaries in Nyasaland, while women's stories have been overlooked. This article discusses the significant contributions made by Dr Pauline Murray to improve healthcare practices for women and children in Nyasaland and her efforts to train local midwives in Mlanda, Nyasaland, from 1928-1941. This article argues that recovering female missionaries' stories is important and suggests that Murray's work in Nyasaland can be read as an example of a medical missionary who considered her work an "act of service to others". Many descendants of Andrew Murray Sr worked as (medical) DRC missionaries in Nyasaland and, although this article focuses on the life and work of Pauline Murray, mention is made of the notable contributions made to the field of medicine by members of the extended Murray family. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2413-94672022000300004&lng=pt&nrm=iso&tlng=pt This article traces the footprints of the remarkable Murray family (including the Louw and Hofmeyr branches) in the founding years of the Dutch Reformed Church Free State (DRC FS) and the Reformed Church in Zambia (RCZ). Andrew Murray Jr played a significant role in the early formation of the DRC FS, contributing to its original evangelical character and its inclination towards the DRC of the Cape Colony. Other members of the Murray family also played a vital role in establishing the DRC FS's mission approach. The Hofmeyr branch of this clan was instrumental in laying the foundation for the DRC FS's mission to Northern Rhodesia (today's Zambia) and its historical development in becoming the RCZ. This article endeavours to answer the questions: What was this Murray influence? Why was it so significant? http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2413-94672022000300005&lng=pt&nrm=iso&tlng=pt When assessing Andrew Murray Jr's role in missions, it should be done in the light of various factors, such as the particular spiritual and evangelical background of Scottish ministers who came to South Africa in the 1820s, the influence of Andrew Murray Sr on his children and descendants, also, regarding missions, a growing missionary awareness in the Dutch Reformed Church, and the advent of Societal Missions. The life and ministry of Andrew Murray Jr within the church and in the wider Christian community demonstrates the significance of the multifaceted role he played. This included his leading role in promoting missionary awareness and involvement within the church, establishing societies such as the Women's Mission Society and the Ministers' Mission Union, developing missionary training facilities for women and men, maintaining an ecumenical openness, initiatives in extending missions into various other parts of Africa and, added to all this, his extensive literary contribution, much of which was aimed at promoting the cause of mission, coupled to a growing emphasis on the importance of prayer and personal devotion. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2413-94672022000300006&lng=pt&nrm=iso&tlng=pt The Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa [DRC] is currently in a season of reorientation, or perhaps one can say, rediscovering its mission. The aim of this article is twofold: firstly, to reflect on the journey of the DRC over the past two decades to discern its role and function in a "new" South Africa¹ as well as the challenges deriving from this journey. Secondly, this article wants to contribute to the commemoration of the arrival of Andrew Murray Sr (1794-1866) in South Africa in 1822. The influence of this family on the life and spirituality of the DRC and its mission over the past two centuries is extensive and probably beyond description. When this article therefore dares to explore possible links between the current missional movement in the DRC and the spirituality of Andrew Murray² Jr (1828-1917), it is done humbly and hesitantly. The article will be presented in four sections. The first section briefly describes the discernment process followed by the DRC since 1998. In the second section the major transformational challenges awaiting the DRC in the next decades will be highlighted, and the third section briefly explores what the transformation may entail. Then the article goes back to the time when Andrew Murray Jr ministered in the DRC Wellington (1871-1906). It is well known that under Murray's leadership the Wellington congregation and community played a leading role in the awakening of missionary work by the DRC as well as social development, and the fourth section alludes briefly to some characteristics of Murray's spirituality. The article concludes with a suggestion that the evangelical piety (De Gruchy, 2009:221) of Andrew Murray Jr may be regarded as an early form of missionai spirituality. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2413-94672022000300007&lng=pt&nrm=iso&tlng=pt The article compares two views on the missionary problem: one was expressed in Andrew Murray's book The Key to the Missionary Problem,1 about 120 years ago. Murray emphasised the low level of the spiritual life of the church as the main missionary problem; the key to solving this problem is the revival of a strong personal spiritual life in all missionaries and in all church members. The second view on the missionary problem has to do with one of the unfinished tasks of the missionary movement that Murray helped to establish. It is tacitly found in the Nova Institute's work over the last 26 years. It is not presented as the key to the missionary problem but as a small effort to contribute to the solving of one of the missionary problems, namely the gap between the spiritual and the everyday lives of church members. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2413-94672022000300008&lng=pt&nrm=iso&tlng=pt This article explores a novel perspective on Andrew Murray Jr, namely his entrepreneurial spirit and characteristics. Instead of building on the view that he was a mystic who gained his energy to contribute to the practical challenges of everyday life in the spiritual realm, the article explores to which extent Murray's role in the modernisation of Christian mission and education in South Africa can be attributed to an entrepreneurial character. The article investigates how his family history, personality, and exposure to various influences during his early life, shaped him to approach his ministry entrepreneurially. These influences include elements from various strands in the protestant tradition, including Lutheranism, Calvinism, pietism, Methodism, and the inner-worldly asceticism of English puritanism, as famously described by Max Weber. The analysis concludes that Andrew Jr approached his calling of preaching the gospel and growing the church to convert unreached souls to the love of Christ in an entrepreneurial manner. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2413-94672022000300009&lng=pt&nrm=iso&tlng=pt Rev. Dr Andrew Murray Jr became a well-known theologian in the history of South Africa. He wrote many books and played a founding role in establishing the Huguenot College in Wellington in the Cape Colony. A lesser-known fact is the important role that he played in the founding of one of South Africa's top schools - Grey College in Bloemfontein. Hy did not only play a founding role but was also the first rector of the school. When looking back at the role that Andrew Murray played as an educationalist, Grey College serves as an important part of his living legacy, which did not only contribute to the history of the country but will also do so in the future. The focus of this article is to describe how Andrew Murray contributed to the founding of Grey College and how he became the first rector. To do justice to his legacy, the article will also explore how the roots of education in South Africa go back to the Reformation and how that influenced Murray while he was educated in Scotland and the Netherlands. Cooperation between church and state to serve the purpose of education was therefore nothing new to Murray. It was his collaboration as Dutch Reformed minister with Sir George Grey, governor of the Cape Colony, that made the founding of Grey College possible. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2413-94672022000300010&lng=pt&nrm=iso&tlng=pt The opening of the Andrew Murray Centre for Christian Spirituality in Wellington creates a space for potential research on the legacy of Andrew Murray in South Africa. In retrieving his spiritual legacy, it is important to understand the contextual character of spirituality. In this article, the importance of methodology in studying history and spirituality as part of such an enterprise is motivated, and possible avenues of research will be proposed. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2413-94672022000300011&lng=pt&nrm=iso&tlng=pt As a community of silence, solitude and prayer, and a place of learning and formation the Andrew Murray Centre for Spirituality (AMCS) is a remarkable institution in the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC). In this article it will be studied from the perspective of spirituality, understood as an academic discipline. The leading question is how the AMCS can find its own way of learning as distinct from the learning in seminaries and local communities of the DRC. The chapter starts with an insider's perspective of the AMCS which provides the context for the research question. Based on Waaijman's distinction of three main forms of spirituality, the AMCS will be considered as a school of spirituality in the Reformed tradition. The connection between Andrew Murray and Bernard of Clairvaux will guide the further exploration of a truly authentic way of learning of the AMCS within the Reformed tradition. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2413-94672022000300012&lng=pt&nrm=iso&tlng=pt In the writing of letters to his children Andrew Murray Jr gives the reader a glimpse in his understanding of reading not only of Scripture but of other books and texts. In his letters he teaches his children "how to read" using terminology that can be traced back to the Desert Fathers and the Benedictine tradition. This way of spiritual reading can be used fruitfully in dialogue with literary studies especially Reader Response theories in an age where reading, especially Bible reading, has become problematic. http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2413-94672022000300013&lng=pt&nrm=iso&tlng=pt For Andrew Murray Jr (1828-1917), John 15 was significant for understanding believers' unification in Christ. Imagining a conversation with him, the essay explores experiences of Jesus' presence and absence in the Fourth Gospel [FG]. References to God's presence are characterised by the transferral of "temple" imagery to both Jesus and the Johannine community as the dwelling place where God's "tabernacling" presence is experienced (1:14; 2:13-22; 14:1-6). These images, distinctive of the 'household' dynamic of the FG (1:12-13, 18), are reflected in Jesus' engagement with his disciples (Jn 13-17) as mutual indwelling between God and them. Amidst his departing words (13:33; 14:2) and his followers' disillusion and grief (13:36-38; 14:1, 27; 16:20-22), Jesus invites them to "remain/dwell" in him/his love (15:4, 9), waiting upon the Counsellor whom 'the Father' will send in his name (14:26; 16:7, 13).