Religion &Theology Religion & Theology 18 (2011) 147–172 brill.nl/rt A Spirituality of Mercy in a Time of War Pieter G. R. de Villiers Department of Old and New Testament, University of the Free State, P.O. Box 339, Bloemfontein 9300, Republic of South Africa
[email protected] Abstract This article discusses the diary of the Rev. A. D. Luckhoff, written during the South African War in the infamous Bethulie concentration camp from the perspective of his Spirituality of mercy. It analyses the diary in terms of mercy as giving love, as charitableness and as respect for human dignity. It then investigates mercy in the diary as compassion and vulnerability, before it con- cludes by discussing how Lukchoff ’s faith in providence, his awareness of a divine call, his inner space of homeliness and love empower mercy. Keywords mercy, vulnerability, compassion, spirituality, A. D. Luckhoff 1. Introduction One of the best-known personalities in the Dutch Reformed church of the early twentieth century was the Rev. Abraham D. Luckhoff. Born in 1874 from a colourful family of pastors from Rhenish, Wesleyan and Dutch Reformed contexts,1 he is first and foremost remembered for his lifelong work in the Dutch Reformed Church’s welfare department for a period of 27 years (1916–1943). His upliftment of communities made a lasting impression on the church, his community and even the country to the extent that his advice on matters of upliftment was often asked by state departments, whilst he was 1 Cf. F. Pretorius’ introduction to A. D. Luckhoff, Woman’s Endurance (Pretoria: Protea, 2006 [1904]), iii–ix.