Behind Belhar: South Africa Theologians Lecture on Context, Concepts of Confession by Martha Skelton, Presbyterian Outlook February 13, 2006
A denomination dealing with questions of diversity, theology, and culture in a country with ongoing divisions of race, economics, and social norms. Today’s Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)? No, Reformed churches in the South Africa of the 1980s.
The time and situation out of which the Belhar Confession was born were evoked during the annual Sprunt Lectures at Union Theological Seminary/ PSCE in Richmond, Va., January 23-25 (2006). Speakers included two of the originators of the confession: H. Russel Botman, professor of missiology and vice rector of the theology faculty of Stellenbosch University in Matieland, South Africa; and Dirk J. Smit, professor of systematic theology on the theology faculty at Stellenbosch University.
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The political climate of South Africa was the context for both the confession, and the work of the churches in general. The confession was attacked as a Communist document. It was a predominately black statement at a time when that whole segment had no way to speak to the powerful. “The church was called ‘the voice of the voiceless.’ Funerals were the only places where there could be public speeches. Ministers played a very important role,” Smit recalled.
They had no expectation in the mid-1980s that the prevailing regime would end. “When we wrote the Confession, I never actually believed I would see the end of apartheid in my lifetime,” said Smit. “It was too totalitarian, too powerful. When it happened, it was a major surprise, a miracle, wonderful.”
For both the church and the country, the years since have fallen into five-year segments dealing with common themes: 1) struggle for freedom; 2) struggle for unity; 3) struggle for reconciliation; 4) struggle for justice. The churches have not completely achieved any of the four, but have moved forward while continuing to work, said Smit.
To read the full commentary on the context of the Belhar go to http://www.pres-outlook.com/news-and-analysis/1-news-a-analysis/1150.html
