The Reception of Karl Barth in South Africa during the Apartheid Struggle

Confessing church today?

“…This is what happened to Barmen -although Barth himself could not have imagined that this would happen, in contexts far away and in much later todays (on Barth and Barmen see e.g., Barth 1984;Brinkman 1979;Busch 2004;Lippischen Landeskirche 1998;Möller 1999;Niemöller 1998). This is what happened to Belhar -although it was never the intention in the crisis moment in which it was born (on Barth, Barmen & Belhar see e.g., Berkhof 1985;Cloete & Smit 1984;Huber 1991;Tshaka 2010) It is for this reason that Belhar has been received in different places -in different continents, countries, churches -but every time for different reasons and for different todays (Smit 2003(Smit , 2017.…”

“…When, in 1982, during the church's struggle against apartheid, the Dutch Reformed Mission Church in South Africa joined the World Alliance of Reformed Churches in declaring a status confessionis in South Africa and drafted the Confession of Belhar, many of these insights of Karl Barth played a key role (Tshaka 2015; see also other essays in Lessing et al 2015). This is how the Dutch Reformed Mission Church understood what they were doing at the time.…”

“…The South African black theologian Rothney Tshaka described the whole work of Karl Barth, including the Church Dogmatics, as confessional theology and showed how this understanding of being a confessing church contributed to the story of the Belhar Confession (Tshaka 2010).…”