NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: This is the fifth article in a series that will run the next few months called “The State of Neo-Calvinism.” Come back each week to read about the state and influence of Neo-Calvinisim in nations all over the globe. To listen to the kick-off podcast interview with George Harinck click here. For Jordan Ballor on the USA click here, Thiago Machado Silva on Brazil click here, Surya Harefa on Japan click here, for Steve Bishop on England click here, and for Andrés García on Mexico click here.
by Tinus van der Walt
Writing an article about the state of Neo-Calvinism in South-Africa can be a daunting task. I will not aim at providing a systematic and comprehensive overview. A few basic facts, some highlights and a statement of my hopes for the future, will have to do. The account that I will give, will be mostly derived from the orbits in which I have been involved.
Calvinism as a world view was brought here by Dutch Calvinists, the French Huguenots, Germans, and others, as Europeans first settled on the Southern tip of the African continent. The progenitor of our Van der Walt families for instance, came from Friesland, and arrived at the Cape in 1727. From this mixture of Europeans, to which were added some blood from Malaysian and other slaves, arose a new nation – the Afrikaner – that identified itself with Africa more than Europe. Historians often mark this self-awareness of a “Euro-Afro” identity with the year 1707. That is almost three centuries ago. For comparison sake, the thirteen colonies in North America declared their independence from Britain only 69 years after this date, in 1776.
There are also many English-speaking Calvinists in South Africa. In the 2001 census for example, they counted over 800 000 Presbyterians, which I gather is mostly English. A greater number of Calvinists in South Africa is however Afrikaans speaking. Three prominent denominations are the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (Dutch Reformed Church), the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika and the Gereformeerde Kerke van Suid-Afrika (Reformed Churches of South Africa). But even within these denominations, great efforts have been made to proclaim the Word of God in other languages. For example, according to the website of the Reformed Churches of South Africa, our pastors serve the Word in a total of 15 different languages.
The formation of the Reformed Churches of South Africa in 1859, and the subsequent need for a place where our own pastors can receive theological training, were the impetus for the establishment of the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education (PU for CHE). Initially it was a university college, and later became a full-fledge university. As the name indicate, this institution was located in a small town called Potchefstroom. The PU for CHE expanded, and in later years opened also a campus in Vanderbijlpark. This campus was previously known as the Vaal Triangle Campus.
The reason I am placing emphasis on this particular educational institution, is because it became an important center for teaching and developing Neo-Calvinist thought. The other denominations in the reformed family of course also have theological schools in various universities across South Africa, but the PU for CHE held Christian higher education in all academic fields as an ideal to strive for. The influence of Abraham Kuyper and the model of the Free University of Amsterdam (VU) is quite evident in this goal of Christian higher education and Christian scholarship across the board of academic disciplines.
In this regard, the establishment of a philosophy department at the PU for CHE deserves special mention. It is there that several generations of philosophers in the Neo-Calvinist tradition taught and did research. The most famous person among them is perhaps HG Stoker (1899-1993). Not only was he the first philosopher appointed at the PU for CHE in 1925, but he can also be regarded as one of the three original pioneers of what was then called a Neo-Calvinist philosophy. The other two pioneers are the dutchmen D.H.Th. Vollenhoven and Herman Dooyeweerd.
Some historical perspective will help clarify the relationship between the three pioneers. Dooyeweerd did his doctoral exam in 1916, Vollenhoven obtained his doctoral degree in 1918 (both of them at the VU), and Stoker went to Europe for his doctoral studies in 1922, but this was before Vollehoven and Dooyeweerd obtained their positions at the VU. Stoker earned his doctorate in 1924. Historically speaking, it is impossible for Stoker to have been a student of either Vollenhoven or Dooyeweerd. In any case, Stoker’s original plan was to study under the Calvinist theologian, Herman Bavinck, but circumstances led him to the famous German philosopher, Max Scheler. I think it is fair to say that, in broad strokes, Vollenhoven and Dooyeweerd were influenced more by Abraham Kuyper, and Stoker more by Herman Bavinck. All three were Neo-Calvinists and were fully committed to the development of a uniquely Christian philosophy in the early twentieth century. Their strand of Neo-Calvinist thinking became more commonly known as “reformational philosophy” (not to be confused with reformed epistemology).
A very interesting part of the history of reformational philosophy at the PU for CHE, is how JAL Taljaard came to be a philosopher there. During the second world war, the Jan Smuts led government of South Africa arrested citizens who expressed opposition to South Africa’s military support of Britain. The two Anglo-Boer wars, the horrors of the British scorched earth policy, and the concentrations camps where tens of thousands experienced excruciating deaths, most of whom were women and children, were still fresh in the minds of Afrikaners. Many didn’t want their sons to be sent to a battle field on behalf of the British empire. Stoker was among these dissidents who were held as political prisoners at Koffiefontein internment camp. Wanting to make the most of the time there, the prisoners arranged lectures and classes among themselves, and even issued certificates. This is where Taljaard came into contact with Stoker and the Neo-Calvinist tradition.
Taljaard would later continue his studies, work for a period as Vollenhoven’s assistant and, like Stoker, make a deep impact on students of the PU for CHE. The other philosophers who, over the course of decades, worked diligently at the PU for CHE in pursuit of Christian scholarship, are professors NT van der Merwe, PGW du Plessis, Elaine Botha, Bennie van der Walt, JJ (Ponti) Venter, Mr. Tienie van der Walt (Vaal Triangle Campus), professors Benoon Duvenhage, Michael Heyns, Renato Coletto, Mrs. Helena Hoogstad and myself. Except for the first few generations of reformational philosophers (i.e. Stoker, Taljaard and NT van der Merwe), and except for prof. Duvenhage, I had the privilege of either doing courses with, attending lectures by, or receiving postgraduate study guidance from all the other reformational philosophers at the PU for CHE. In the final years, profs. Coletto , Heyns and myself were colleagues, with Michael Heyns also acting as the director of the School of Philosophy for several years.
One of the things that made the tradition of reformational philosophy at the PU for CHE special, was the earnest desire to see scholarship of a Christian character in all academic fields, and not just in theology and philosophy. This meant that philosophers taught a wide variety of students – also in large numbers – in addition to their philosophy students proper. In Stoker’s days, he gave a compulsory course for all students called “Interfaculty-philosophy” (interfakultêre wysbegeerte), for which he wrote the book Principles and Methods in Science (Beginsels en metodes in die Wetenskap).
As the case with the German term “Wissenschaft”, the meaning of the Afrikaans “wetenskap” is much broader in scope than “science”. In later years there were courses in philosophy of science (wetenskapsfilosofie), and then it became “Understanding the world.” Prof. Bennie van der Walt also established the Institute for Reformational Studies (IRS), and prof. Michael Heyns directed the Institute for Foundational Studies (IGO). Some of the other means used for promoting integral Christian scholarship at the PU for CHE, included compulsory courses for new lecturers, a yearly event called the “Faculty Forum”, and the Stoker Lectures, which was open to all faculty members and the public.
So far, I have been trying to give a sense of the rich history of the reformational tradition at one particular institution, namely the PU for CHE. This is one piece in the puzzle of understanding the status of Neo-Calvinism in South Africa today. I am not in a position to unravel all the individual actors, governmental pressures and multiple ideological forces that brought the PU for CHE to an end. The PU for CHE went through several transformation process in the last couple of decades. The first, under tremendous pressure from Department of Higher Education, entailed the merger of the PU for CHE with another South African university with which it had no historical ties, and which didn’t share in its ideal of Christian scholarship. Dropping the suffix “for CHE” from the name, was necessitated by this “inter-faith marriage.” Some central figures in the leadership of the PU for CHE at the time of the merger, promised that this will not negatively affect the Christian character of the university. As can be expected, the actual historical unfolding of events proved otherwise.
The second transformation process came as a result of the replacement of many of the leaders of the previous PU for CHE. The initial model for the merger were federalist oriented, so that the new university would consist of three campuses, each with its unique identity, as well as an institutional office on top. All of this meant a slightly more complex, bureaucratically top-heavy organizational structure. Under the direction of the new Vice-Chancellor, this federalist model was again replaced with a “unitary” model. The organizational structure became even more complex and top-heavy, and the bureaucratic burden on lecturers increased significantly. Faculties, schools, qualifications and modules had to be aligned across the three campuses.
In practice, this means ever-increasing uniformity. Lecturers on the different campuses, for instance, has to find agreement among themselves regarding the outcomes, study material, content of assignments, tests and exam papers for a module. This entails a cumbersome negotiation process for what should be easy and straight forward tasks. More importantly, in order to reach agreement, compromises constantly have to be made. In the process, a good chunk of academic freedom is lost, and – to some extent – the scholarly coherence of what is presented to students sacrificed.
This second transformation process also included a high turn-over of academic staff, especially higher up in the institutional hierarchy. Part of the aims of the transformation seems to be cutting off historical continuity and “institutional memory”. An appeal to a rich tradition of Neo-Calvinist thought became meaningless, if not detrimental to one’s cause. Several ideologies drove this transformation process, or attached themselves to it. These include the decolonization movement, Africanization (in essence, an African nationalist movement), social justice, critical race theory, and some other radical ideologies of the political left. They all demand serious re-curriculations, and are all fundamentally inimical to Christianity. In a climate like this, reformational philosophy couldn’t continue.
Thankfully, a small group of Christians have taken the initiative a few years ago to build some from scratch, but this time it was a private higher education institution, rather than a public one. AROS was founded! The acronym “AROS” stands for Academy Reformational Training and Studies (Akademie Reformatoriese Opleiding en Studies). After resigning in 2019, Prof. Michael Heyns was appointed vice rector of this young institution. Prof. Coletto took early retirement in 2020 and, after almost a life time in South Africa, plans on returning to Italy soon. Two years after prof. Heyns resigned, I followed suite and joined AROS as a lecturer. I was the last reformational philosopher to teach and supervise at the institution that once was the PU for CHE.
The focus of AROS is on educational training. Currently it only offers qualifications in education, but hopefully it will expand its offering in the near future. With the demise of the PU for CHE, we lost one of the very few places where a student can study reformational philosophy on a post-graduate level. We are therefore currently working on a post-graduate diploma in Christian philosophy. We are still in the planning phase, and need to apply with the Department of Higher Education for accreditation. We are nevertheless very excited about the prospects. My hope is that we will be able to revitalize reformational philosophy, transfer crucial knowledge to the next generation, and thereby contribute to the continuation of a very rich tradition that is ultimately much bigger than its local manifestation in South Africa.
To succeed, is going to require a lot of work, sacrifice and resources. We will have to start with the basics of reformational philosophy, and foster a critical mind among our students. We have to do this so that they themselves don’t easily succumb to any of the ideologies rampant in our times – whether they are ideologies of the radical left or the radical right – and so that they can discover ways of being a light in all spheres of society.
The sketch of Neo-Calvinism in South Africa presented here is by no means comprehensive or systematic. What I presented is very much dependent on my own journey and the institutions I have been involved with. What should be added for a bit of balance, is the fact that there are other kinds of Neo-Calvinist institutions as well. Their influence and levels of activity varies. And since I don’t have much experience of their inner-workings (apart from churches), my discussion admittedly neglects them. I can nevertheless mention the two journals, Koers and the Journal for Christian Scholarship. There has also been Christian scholars coming from the Neo-Calvinist heritage at other institutions in South Africa, besides the PU for CHE. Professor Danie Strauss, who taught philosophy at the University of the Orange Free State in Bloemfontein, is a case in point.
Tinus van der Walt is a lecturer at AROS (Akademie Reformatoriese Opleiding en Studies) in Pretoria, South Africa. He obtained a master’s degree in philosophy at the North-West University under the guidance of Prof. Renato Coletto. Articles published from this research can be found here and here. He is currently enrolled for a PhD at the same institution, this time under the supervision of Prof. DFM Strauss. The title of the thesis is Epistemic ideals in Western thought in light of a non-reductionist ontology.