Abstract

STRAUSS, P.J.. "Hervormd" or "gereformeerd?": The choice the General Assembly of the Dutch Reformed Church had to make in the South African Republic in 1866. Tydskr. geesteswet. [online]. 2019, vol.59, n.3, pp.367-381. ISSN 2224-7912.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2224-7912/2019/v59n3a4.

The Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa, which has congregations within South Africa as well as beyond South African boundaries, is an offspring of the Reformed Church in the Netherlands of the 17^th century. The word "Dutch" in its name indicates a link with the Dutch people, the Dutch language and the Netherlands itself, while "Reformed" refers to the church's spiritual heritage. This being a heritage which can be traced back to the Calvinistic reformation of the 16^th century and particularly the National Synod of Dordrecht (1618-1619), where it was established that the Three Formulas of Unity would henceforth be the confessions of churches in this tradition. These decisions taken at the Dordrecht Synod had a major influence on both the character and governance of the church. In the 19^th century, by means of articles 20 and 23 of the Constitution (1855-1858) of the South African Republic, it was determined that the church of the state would be officially known as the Dutch Reformed Church ("Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk"). In the Dutch of those days two words were alternately used for the notion reformed: "hervormd" and "gereformeerd". However, in the 1860's it became clear that some congregations within the church no longer interpreted the two terms as having the same meaning. While in the said constitution the church of the state was called the "Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk", in the church itself "Hervormde Kerk" and "Gereformeerde Kerk" were used as synonyms. But in the church of the 1860's people openly associated the designation "Hervormd" with a changed liberal Reformed or "Hervormde" Church in the Netherlands. A change of which its church law of 1816 was an indication. Generally, this liberal change referred to a church in which the Three Formulas as a whole were no longer regarded to be scriptural nor was the Bible believed to be the authentic Word of God. It became a church, then, with which some sincere reformed congregationists no longer wished to be associated. The name "Dutch Reformed Church" ("Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk") in the constitution of the Republic was formulated without consulting the church, a legal assembly or representative body of the church. Moreover, no notice of its name in the constitution was given to the church. In other words, the state named the church without having sought the latter's consent. Some ministers of the Dutch Reformed Church in the Republic accepted this state of affairs, thereby embracing the fact of a new church in a new state with its own name, while others objected to the ruling unilaterally enforced by the constitution of the Republic. However, the latter group did not opt for a separate church and wanted to maintain the relation with the Dutch Reformed Church of the Cape as well as membership of a Dutch Reformed congregation. The Cape Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church of 1842 decided explicitly and officially on the name Dutch Reformed ("Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk"). The same synod was associated with the spirit of the Synod of Dordrecht of 1618-1619. In addition, members of Dutch Reformed congregations in the Cape Colony who had emigrated during and after the Great Trek of 1835-1840 to the South African Republic, wished to stay in their church. The Dutch Reformed congregation of Utrecht of which Frans Lion Cachet became the minister from 1865-1873, spearheaded this movement during the 1860's. The years 1865-1866, and especially 1866, proved to be decisive for members of the Dutch Reformed or Dutch-Afrikaans Church in the Republic with regard both to their differences about the choice between "hervormd" and "gereformeerd" and the impact of such divisive opinions in the church. In 1865 a general assembly of the "Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk" rejected a proposal by the visiting reverend Cachet to accept the name "Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk", together with the wording of the Dordt Synod in 1619 on the acceptance of the Three Formulas. Almost a year later, in December 1866, the first general assembly of the "Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk" was formed and convened in Utrecht, thereby signalling the separation of two Dutch Reformed Churches in the South African Republic. For many years the impression lasted in the latter that the "Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk" did not regard the Three Formulas of (confessional) Unity as totally in accordance with scripture. It was not until the beginning of the 21^st century that the two reformed churches agreed to accept each other's ministers and members as if they were their own.

Keywords : State church; state constitution; separate; independent church; reformed as "hervormd"; theological liberalism; Dutch Reformed Church.

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