Om oor God te praat: �n Kritiese oorsig van gesprekke onder Afrikaanssprekende Christene van die gereformeerde tradisie (1998�2003)

Abstract

The book� Die� vreemde God en sy mense (The enigmatic God and his people) � published in 1998 � marks the beginning� of a new debate about God amongst Afrikaans-speaking people of� the reformed� tradition. The fall of the National Party government and the end of the Apartheid policy in 1994 forced� theologians to reflect on the authority of the Bible; the issue of creation, the Big Bang and evolution; the relationship between Christianity and other religions; the historical Jesus research and the possibility of a new reformation. Afrikaans-speaking people suddenly became part of the global village and could not ignore these issues anymore. Four tendencies in the debates are identified: (1) clinging to the credos of the reformed tradition and adhering to the master narrative of Western Christianity; (2) looking at the credos as cultural and time-conditioned ones but trying to integrate the theories of the Big Bang and evolution with the master narrative of Christianity, (3) breaking away from the master narrative of Western� Christianity and creating a new� tradition; (4) abandoning the Christian tradition altogether and exploring another religious tradition, especially Buddhism.