Retief Müller | VID Specialized University (original) (raw)

Papers by Retief Müller

Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Oct 27, 2021

This chapter considers the leading roles played by Scots ministers in terms of a number of initia... more This chapter considers the leading roles played by Scots ministers in terms of a number of initiatives involving theological education and the religious life in South Africa. This includes the founding of the Stellenbosch theological seminary, their local adaptation of a transatlantic spirit of revivalism within 19th century Protestantism, and also their opposition to Dutch inspired theological liberalism. It furthermore touches on the role played by Scots and their circle of influence at the 1857 synod of the DRC, which made a controversial decision that would ultimately become the basis of racially segregated churches.

Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Oct 27, 2021

Studia historiae ecclesiasticae, Jan 12, 2014

STJ | Stellenbosch Theological Journal, May 16, 2022

UJ Press eBooks, Dec 15, 2022

Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Oct 27, 2021

The Scots Afrikaners

This chapter resumes the thread of the narrative left off in chapter 4 with the focus on events a... more This chapter resumes the thread of the narrative left off in chapter 4 with the focus on events and discussions involving Nyasaland/Malawi. Of central importance here are negotiations leading up to and eventually concluding in the DRC’s Nkhoma mission’s amalgamation with the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian, which was the indigenous church being founded by the Free Church of Scotland’s Livingstonia mission and the Blantyre mission of the Church of Scotland. It further discusses the fallout generated in the DRC of South Africa due to this ecumenical venture participated in by their Malawian mission, a project which was controversial due to the supposedly liberal and heterodox views of the Scottish mission partners.

The Scots Afrikaners

This chapter discusses the evolving nature of the Scots Afrikaners’ divided loyalties as they inc... more This chapter discusses the evolving nature of the Scots Afrikaners’ divided loyalties as they increasingly find themselves in sympathy with the Boer republican cause in the prelude and progression of this war. It starts by focusing on a debate raging in the printed press between Andrew Murray jr. and James Stewart of Lovedale who had divergent views regarding the identities of the aggressors and victims in this conflict. This chapter also considers the case of Boer prisoners of war who were evangelized and recruited for missionary service at the conclusion of the war. Much of the evangelization occurred under the auspices of the Christian Endeavor Society, a group in which some of the Scots Afrikaners were leading figures.

The Scots Afrikaners

This starts by considering the role of a women led missionary impetus from Mount Holyoke Seminary... more This starts by considering the role of a women led missionary impetus from Mount Holyoke Seminary in the USA, which partnered with Andrew Murray jr. in South Africa to initiate an educational program with far reaching consequences for the DRC’s ‘foreign’ missionary enterprise. A related development concerns close collaboration between the Murrays and their circle of influence and Scots Presbyterians regarding partnership in mission in central Africa. Much of this chapter focus on the embryonic stages of this collaborative effort, the early development of the missionary project, and its indigenous reception in Nyasaland.

The Scots Afrikaners

Here the focus is on the ways in which 20th century developments in Afrikaner nationalist theolog... more Here the focus is on the ways in which 20th century developments in Afrikaner nationalist theology, which increasingly became mainstream, led to an ostracization and villainization of the Scots legacy in the DRC. The attacks against the Scots Afrikaners, particularly Andrew Murray jr. and his sphere of influence, did not only emerge from DRC circles but also from other Afrikaner Reformed circles such as theologians connected to the ultra-Reformed, Gereformeerde Kerke. It starts with an early 20th century publicized disagreement between Murray and future Prime Minister of South Africa, D.F. Malan on the relation between Christianity and politics. Then it develops to subsequent detractions to the ecumenical mission interested stance of the Murrays from the side of Afrikaner nationalist Reformed disciples of the Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper.

The Scots Afrikaners

This chapter traces the recruitment and arrival of the earliest Scots recruited to serve in the D... more This chapter traces the recruitment and arrival of the earliest Scots recruited to serve in the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) in South Africa. Prominent names in this chapter include George Thom, Andrew Murray, and William Robertson, among others. It describes the tensions navigated by Scots ministers who were often appointed to pulpits along the eastern frontier of the Cape Colony, in an area where a substantial proportion of the Dutch colonists decided to migrate east and northward in an excursion that would subsequently become known in Boer folklore as the Great Trek. It also describes the early careers of John and Andrew Murray jr., the sons of the abovementioned Andrew.

Anthology of African Christianity, 2016

Contents: Part I Introduction: Introduction and background. Part II The Local Church Context: ZCC... more Contents: Part I Introduction: Introduction and background. Part II The Local Church Context: ZCC worship observed: a world within worlds The ZCC pulpit: a rhetorical focal point in the local church The Prophet's word: charismatic discourse at the grassroots. Part III Pilgrimage to Moria: A Sacred Centre in a Rural Periphery: A 'New Year's' festival at the ZCC headquarters Zion City revisited. Part IV Outward-Bound Pilgrimage: The ZCC Bishop in the Center: The travelling church A border-crossing pilgrimage. Part V Conclusion: The ZCC enigma and the role of pilgrimage Glossary Bibliography Index.

Studies in World Christianity, 2018

The main subject of inquiry here is the interrelationship between war, mission and exile in South... more The main subject of inquiry here is the interrelationship between war, mission and exile in South Africa's Dutch Reformed Church at the turn of the twentieth century. The first setting of note is the Anglo—Boer War (1899–1902) when a group of Boer soldiers decided to form the Commando's Dank Zending Vereniging (Commando's Thanksgiving Mission Society) after visiting a Swiss missionary station in the northern Transvaal. Next follows Boer experiences of exile on the islands of St Helena, Ceylon and elsewhere as prisoners of war. A number of these POWs were evangelised and recruited for mission through revivalist sermons preached by their chaplains. After their return, a substantial number of ex-POWs signed up for the DRC's missionary enterprise into wider Africa, most prominently Nyasaland. The missionary experience itself often lasted for…

Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Oct 27, 2021

Studia historiae ecclesiasticae, Jan 12, 2014

STJ | Stellenbosch Theological Journal, May 16, 2022

UJ Press eBooks, Dec 15, 2022

Edinburgh University Press eBooks, Oct 27, 2021

The Scots Afrikaners

Anthology of African Christianity, 2016

Studies in World Christianity, 2018

Stellenbosch Theological Journal, 2024

It is a well-known history that the Dutch church in South Africa’s Cape colony up until the early... more It is a well-known history that the Dutch church in South Africa’s Cape colony up until the early 19th century had readily accommodated the institution of slavery as commonly practiced within Cape Dutch society. Slavery was not seen as “good” but generally accepted as an unfortunate reality of life. Some groups of people, particularly those of non-European heritage, were seen within this colonist society as naturally predisposed
for slavery. Biblical arguments regarding examples of the non-denunciation of slavery in both Old and New Testament scriptures could easily be mustered in defence of the institution against the rare voices protesting the practice. In that sense the Cape Church was not any different from most other Christian churches in colonial societies
worldwide.
Yet the Cape church also had some strong antislavery statements and advocates from within its ranks since at least the first half of the nineteenth century. As seen for example in Dreyer’s collection of documents under the title, “Die Kaapse Kerk en die Groot Trek”, several high placed church leaders opposed the migration of Dutch farmers from the Cape colony in the 1830s on the basis that the migration occurred
in disobedience to British colonial legislation that were effectively seen as seeking to stamp out slavery and associated practices. The Dutch farmers tended to see the British Empire as an evil empire. The Cape Church leadership, to the contrary, which by then included a number of abolitionist Scottish pastors in its ranks viewed their emigrating members, at least initially, as being in rebellion not only against the civil rulers but also against the church, and they, albeit for the most part unsuccessfully, sought to dissuade the emigrants from abandoning their chosen paths. In the subsequent decades a number of Cape Church pastors sought contact with the migrants with the intent of bringing them back into the fold. This article presents the case of a noteworthy equalisation campaigner in this regard, Rev. D.P.M. Huet.
Another episode occurred later in the 19th century in the mission fields associated with the Cape Church in central Africa, Nyasaland as it was known at the time. Again, it is a well-known story that some of the early Christian missionaries in these areas, most notably David Livingstone, confronted slave traders and agitated against the practice which was still rife throughout the region during much of the 19th century. Yet, as far
as the Cape Church and Afrikaners more generally were concerned, historical accounts often suggest that particularly the northern Boers were more often themselves involved in the slave trade rather than acting against it. Yet, as this article will indicate the early missionary enterprise of the Cape Church in central Africa actively engaged in antislavery activities with a central character in this being missionary, William Hoppe Murray who served as leader of the mission in Nyasaland for a substantial period.
The article finally discusses the case of De Kaapsche Kerk (the Dutch Reformed Church in the Cape Colony) in relation to slavery and empire with reference to notions of good and evil.

Stellenbosch Theological Journal , 2022

Since their arrival in South Africa in the early 19 th century, the Murray family walked somethin... more Since their arrival in South Africa in the early 19 th 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 20 th century proceeded. This article describes and analyses the ways in which some of these complexities played out.

Verbum et Ecclesia , 2021

Taking Wentzel van Huyssteen’s work on early human uniqueness in relation to symbolic or religiou... more Taking Wentzel van Huyssteen’s work on early human uniqueness in relation to symbolic or religious awareness as a starting point, this article raises a question whether an implicit connection between humanity and the capacity for religiosity had anything to say about how one could evaluate the so-called other’s religion and their humanity. Does the recognition of the other’s full humanity demand an equal recognition of their religiosity, or are these separable? Rather than attempting to answer this hypothetically, the question is approached historically. The article touches on how the capacity to evaluate religion from the outside emerged in modernity and discusses some of the ways this capacity played out in Christian theology. In reference to the colonial era Afrikaner missionaries in Central Africa, the article argues that even partial recognition of the other’s religiosity might have detrimental consequences particularly where this is tied to a partial recognition of their humanity as had happened during the apartheid and proto-apartheid periods.

Religions , 2021

During the first few decades of the 20th century, the Nkhoma mission of the Dutch Reformed Church... more During the first few decades of the 20th century, the Nkhoma mission of the Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa became involved in an ecumenical venture that was initiated by the Church of Scotland’s Blantyre mission, and the Free Church of Scotland’s Livingstonia mission in central Africa. Geographically sandwiched between these two Scots missions in Nyasaland (presently Malawi) was Nkhoma in the central region of the country. During a period of history when the DRC in South Africa had begun to regressively disengage from ecumenical entanglements in order to focus on its developing discourse of Afrikaner Christian nationalism, this venture in ecumenism by one of its foreign missions was a remarkable anomaly. Yet, as this article illustrates, the ecumenical project as finalized at a conference in 1924 was characterized by controversy and nearly became derailed as a result of the intransigence of white DRC missionaries on the subject of eating together with black colleagues at a communal table. Negotiations proceeded and somehow ended in church unity despite the DRC’s missionaries’ objection to communal eating. After the merger of the synods of Blantyre, Nkhoma and Livingstonia into the unified CCAP, distinct regional differences remained, long after the colonial missionaries departed. In terms of its theological predisposition, especially on the hierarchy of social relations, the Nkhoma synod remains much more conservative than both of its neighboring synods in the CCAP to the south and north. Race is no longer a matter of division. More recently, it has been gender, and especially the issue of women’s ordination to ministry, which has been affirmed by both Blantyre and Livingstonia, but resisted by the Nkhoma synod. Back in South Africa, these events similarly had an impact on church history and theological debate, but in a completely different direction. As the theology of Afrikaner Christian nationalism and eventually apartheid came into positions of power in the 1940s, the DRC’s Nkhoma mission in Malawi found itself in a position of vulnerability and suspicion. The very fact of its participation in an ecumenical project involving ‘liberal’ Scots in the formation of an indigenous black church was an intolerable digression from the normative separatism that was the hallmark of the DRC under apartheid. Hence, this article focuses on the variegated entanglements of Reformed Church history, mission history, theology and politics in two different 20th-century African contexts, Malawi and South Africa.

Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, 2020

The Awkward Positioning of a Dutch Reformed "Missionary" in Apartheid South Africa: Rev. D. P. Bo... more The Awkward Positioning of a Dutch Reformed "Missionary" in Apartheid South Africa: Rev. D. P. Botha and the Cape "Coloured" question Retief Müller https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9569-9368 Stellenbosch University Abstract The Rev. D. P. (David) Botha was a lifelong apartheid critic and minister in the Dutch Reformed Mission Church (DRMC) and later the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA). Early in his career, he served as a "missionary" in a DRMC congregation in Wynberg, and subsequently in other congregations in the Western Cape, South Africa. During his career, he wrote an important book and engaged in public discourse through contributions in newspapers and other mainstream publications. Focusing on these sources, most of which now form part of his private collection in the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) Archive, this article traces Botha's growing agitation regarding the implementation of apartheid policies, in the aftermath of the institution of the 1950 Group Areas Act. Among other things it illuminates the early apartheid-era white view of the other, as experienced and critiqued by this insider-outsider minister with respect to his assessment of general white perceptions of so-called "coloureds" in the Cape Town area. Through specific attention to Botha's correspondences with A. P. Treurnicht and Beyers Naudé, this article also shows the problematic perspective of a white missionary seeking to alleviate the impact of policy decisions on his church members, while simultaneously buying into the predominant ideology of racial categorisation.

HTS , 2019

This article considers the ambiguous translatability of the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinit... more This article considers the ambiguous translatability of the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity. The theme of the Trinity, as a central Christian doctrine, is brought into conversation with the so-called ‘translatability thesis’ regarding Christian history, which has been particularly expounded upon by Lamin Sanneh and Andrew Walls. Does the translatability of the gospel also imply the translatability of the Trinity, or is the equation not that straightforward? In answering this question, specific reference is made to early church formulation and controversy surrounding the theme, as well as attention to specific attempts at translation or interpretation in the modern and contemporary forms of Christianity. The article acknowledges the problematic nature of Trinitarian translatability and concludes that such translatability is nonetheless possible as long as a static conception of Trinitarian doctrine could be avoided.

The Journal of World Christianity, 2019

World Christianity attracts attention from a wide array of scholars, including theologians and re... more World Christianity attracts attention from a wide array of scholars, including theologians and religious studies scholars. However, do these approaches communicate with each other? Should they? Or may a hardening of disciplinary and conceptual boundaries be expected, and even preferred? The principal problem informing this article is an abiding dichotomy between theology on the one hand and religious studies approaches on the other. From our perspective, the question is whether theologically oriented research in world Christianity can be of value across the academic spectrum. Or are theological studies conceptually confined by the walls of their own normative commitments? The authors argue that maintaining an open threshold between different disciplines in the study of "other" expressions of world Christianity is important and that this may require that theologically rooted researchers adopt what the philosopher of religion D. Z. Phillips calls a "hermeneutics of contemplation. " In an important book on the subject, Phillips-addressing religious studies scholars rather than theologians-identifies theology with what he terms the "hermeneutics of recollection, " and secular theories of religion with the "hermeneutics of suspicion. " When the latter approach is shown to fall short of doing justice to religious complexity, Phillips posits the "hermeneutics of contemplation" as a more appropriate response to the religious other. We ask whether the reverse may also hold true for theologians, namely, a shift in disposition from a hermeneutics of recollection to contemplation? To ground the theoretical discussion, reference is made to research on the theme of rain rituals and prayers.