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The paper investigated religious and social transformations within a specific religious tradition in South Africa. After clarifying the charged concept of �transformation�, the authors showed that transformation is about more than changed systems and structures, for, on a deeper level, it is also about the change in relationships and attitudes between the different cultural groups in South Africa. The argument was supported by making use of data from the SA reconciliation barometer 2010 and the 2009 Transformation audit. In the next part of the paper, the authors took a closer look at the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) as a case in point. The basic question they asked was how do these social transformations affect the religious transformations within the DRC and vice versa? By making use of Mary Douglas�s concept of �the enclave� it was proposed that a new enclave developed in the DRC after 1994, the characteristics of which were investigated in the remainder of the paper.

SUN PRESS is a division of AFRICAN SUN MeDIA, Stellenbosch University's publishing division. SUN PRESS publishes academic, professional and reference works in electronic and print format. This publication may be downloaded or ordered directly from www.sun-e-shop.co.za. Three previous books by Johan Cilliers, all published by Lux Verbi, Cape Town, have been fundamentally adapted and extended to become The Living Voice of the Gospel. They are Die uitwissing van God op die kansel. Ontstellende bevindinge oor Suid-Afrikaanse prediking (1996), Die uitwysing van God op die kansel. Inspirerende perspektiewe op die predikingom God te sien en ander te láát sien (1998) and Die genade van gehoorsaamheid. Hoe evangelies is die etiese preke wat ons in Suid-Afrika hoor? (2000).

The optics of homiletics: Preaching as reframing of perspective This article explores the notion of preaching as a form of perception, in particular as pertaining to viewing life through the lenses of Scriptures. The aesthetical concept of "reframing" is utilised to argue that preaching as perception intends behavioral change of a second order (as opposed to first order, i.e. superficial change). Three aesthetical examples are introduced to illustrate this art of reframing, namely works by Duchamp, Zapiro, and Grünewald. The conclusion is that reframing offers a unique option to preach the foolishness of the gospel, in contrast to the wisdom of the world. 1 Intree-rede, gelewer op 21 Februarie 2012, by die Fakulteit Teologie, Universiteit van Stellenbosch. 2 Volgens Bohren is ons sintuie in werklikheid nouer verbind as wat ons dink: Ons 'sien' byvoorbeeld ook met ons ore, en ons 'hoor' met ons oë. Oor hierdie interaksie van die sintuie, hierdie "engen Verknüpfung von Hören und Sehen", skryf hy soos volg: "Was ich höre, stelle ich mir vor, und das heisst doch, dass ich auch mit den Augen höre." [Rudolf Bohren, Predigtlehre (München: Kaiser, 1980), 268.] 3 Bethel Müller skryf soos volg: "Naturally, all biblical texts are lenses through which we can look at the world, especially imaginatively, at the future. After all, the imagination is the ability to see, to see better, to see further, to see differently, to see the Invisible … Texts are adventures (with Alice!) 'in wonderland' … A hermeneutic of amazement is a hermeneutic that looks into, and then through, the multidimensional lenses of the text, thereby opening creative new interpretations of the text." [Bethel Müller, "Liturgical and homiletical revisioning to generate hope for a just society", Divine Justice-Human Justice, reds J.S. Dreyer & J.A. van der Ven (Pretoria: RGN, 2002), 209.] 4 Tom Long, die Amerikaanse praktiese teoloog, praat van ʼn dubbelvisie: om terug te kyk deur die lens van die teks sowel as om deur dieselfde lens vorentoe, na die gemeente toe, te kyk, en as ooggetuie van die groot dade van God op te tree.

Preaching is basic and central for building up a congregation (Nel 2001:5). This does not mean that preaching alone can build up the people of God to be and to do what He intended them to, but that the latter indeed can also not happen without preaching. Preaching should, however, not be understood in abstraction from liturgy: being part of liturgy, it plays a paramount role in the formation and motivation of communities of faith, moving them in the direction that God has in mind for them as his people in a given context.If we intend to build up the church to fulfill her calling, especially in this time of transition in South Africa, we need to revisit our understanding and practices of liturgy. It would seem as if we are presently going through a phase of homiletical and liturgical experimentation as never before, with the tendency to develop in (superficial) width, but not in (theological) depth (cf. Cilliers 2007a:54). There seems to be a fine line between responsible renewal, following the calling of ecclesia semper reformanda, and the opportunism of fashionable liturgical cosmetics, which Leonora Tubs Tisdale calls the movement from saying 'Holy, Holy, Holy', to saying 'nice, nice, nice ' (Tisdale 2001:182