References Bosch, David J. Witness to theWorld. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1980. Pomerville, Paul. TheThirdForce in Mission. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Bounds, Edward M. Power through Prayer. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Publishers, 1984. Book House, 1963. Snyder, Howard, A. Liberating the Church. Downers Grove, Ill.: Inter­ Goodall, Norman. Missions under the Cross. London: Edinburgh House Varsity Press, 1983. Press, 1953. Verkuyl, Johannes. Contemporary Missiology: An Introduction. Grand Rap­ Homer, Norman A., ed., Protestant Crosscurrents in Mission. Nashville: ids, Mich.: W. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1978. Abingdon Press, 1968. Walhout, Edwin. "The Liberal-Fundamental Debate." Christianity Today, Kasdorf, Hans. "Gustav Wamecks Missiologisches Erbe." Unpublished March 1, 1963. D.Miss. dissertation, School of World Mission, Fuller Theological Seminary, 1976. The Covenant Restructured: A Shift in Afrikaner Ideology Charles Villa- Vicencio t is difficult to escape the realization that South Africa is South Africa's shift in ideology, followed by a comment on the I at the same time among both the most "Christian" and likelihood of meaningful change, with a view to discerning the the most oppressive countries in: the world. This situation has en­ mission of the church both within and in relation to this country. ticed social analysts, aspirant seers, and many intrigued students of theology persistently to inquire into the self-understanding of From Divine Politics to Secular Adaptation white South Africa, and especially the mind of the Afrikaner. In a sense this essay is simply another such exercise, although the in­ The Afrikaner people, schooled by dominee and volksleier, have tent is of a more modest kind: Namely, to identify what is com­ during a difficult history come to convince themselves that they monly perceived as a shift in white ideology, and to inquire into are a deeply religious, God-fearing, Calvinist, Christian people, the possibility of this shift contributing to meaningful sociopoliti­ placed by God on the southern tip of Africa to fulfill a purpose. In cal change in a country racked with racial conflict while the many ways this "white tribe of Africa," which soon isolated itself churches of the region continue to provide support, in theology from a diverse and rebellious European parentage, and obsessed and praxis, for both the forces of liberation and the oppressive sta­ with a Puritan sense of being an instrument in the hands of a di­ tus quo. Because of the importance attached to "context" in both vine Architect, is not vastly different from the "ideal-type" Puri­ post-Vatican II theology and contemporary Protestant ecumenical tan found anywhere in the so-called New World. Compelled by debate, it can be said that this kind of analysis is an inherent part the familiar need of such religiously driven settlers, entrepre­ of the missiological task concerning South Africa. Or, leaving such neurs, politicians, and nationalists to obtain visible evidence of di­ theological trends aside, if one is to minister with theological in­ vine approval and sanction, they applied themselves to their task tegrity in a situation, it is necessary to know something about that with breathless urgency, while their seers, prophets, and priests situation. The purpose of this essay is to contribute to this process. identified the "hard evidence" of God's ratification of their enter­ Briefly stated, a concerted effort is being made by the present prises.' Afrikaner history, like that of Puritans elsewhere, is lib­ government to convince both South Africans and people around erally punctuated with symbols of this divine affirmation." The the world that peaceful, evolutionary, and orderly change is tak­ prime example is the annual celebration of the Day of the Cove­ ing place in what has hitherto proved to be one of the most ideo­ nant, commemorating a vow that a small group of approximately logically rigid countries in the world. Yet there is also another 200 Afrikaner trekkers into the hinterland in 1838 are reported to perspective on the present shift in ideology, which suggests that have made to God, promising to keep that day as a sabbath and to it is no more than a clever propaganda trick, designed to ensure build a church, if he would give them victory over a marauding continued white hegemony. Between these two positions are sev­ 10,000 Zulu fighting men. Needless to say, with the help of su­ eral other divergent groups, some conservatively resisting all perior fire-power, and driven by a religious fervor, victory was change, and others looking for more than the government is an­ theirs. The Ncombe River, to be renamed Blood River, flowed red ticipating or prepared to allow. What these groups have in com­ with Zulu blood, while the trekkers survived with minimal casu­ mon is the expectation, for the former grounded in fear and for the alties. This event has since become both a religious and political latter in hope, that once it is conceded that change is necessary, it symbol of resistance, annually celebrated by Afrikaner loyalists as is not possible to contain the change process in a society that is as evidence of God's special favor. politically volatile as the South African. It is a persuasion What distinguishes Afrikaners from Puritans elsewhere is grounded in a sociological realization that social movements are their persistence in "true belief" well into the last decades of this more powerful than people, and that ultimately such forces, century. Afrikaners did not move to the cities in any significant rather than those who sanction and seek to control them for their numbers until the 1930s, and they remained largely unsecularized own purposes, will determine the future of South Africa. What until very recently. In many instances the present generation of follows is a brief account of these two divergent perspectives on Afrikaners is the first to have no actual link with rural living and farming. Throughout this history the Dutch Reformed churches have consistently seen it as their duty to share in the Afrikaners' Charles Villa-Vicencio isa Senior Lecturer in theDepartment ofReligious Studies, pilgrimage and determination to forge a place of white dominance University of Cape Town, and an ordained ministerin the Methodist Church of in Africa with the approval of God, providing the motivation and Southern Africa. theological justification of apartheid, which entrenches white January 1985 13 privilege and ensures black subjugation. create the mind-set of whites who have for generations been It is essentially this history of divine politics that has moti­ indoctrinated to resist change. This internal dynamic is most dif­ vated Afrikaner leaders to resist both internal black demands and ficult to accomplish, and to this we need to return in a moment. international economic pressure for change, threatening to stand The external implication is to convince the West that South Africa, alone if necessary and to relive the experience of Blood River. The so rich in economic investment possibilities, is moving away from less doctrinaire and less ideological English-speaking whites legally structured racism, which is so unpalatable to the Western have, in turn, under the threat of hearth and home, slowly moved liberal conscience, to a society that is essentially divided along further and further into alliance with the Afrikaner. While never class lines, although one within which the majority of the poor having shared the Afrikaners' religious ideology of divine favor, will continue to be black, and the majority of the rich white. What their socioeconomic pragmatism has strengthened the white laa­ this means is that the South African problem will tend to be seen ger and perhaps, as more traditional Afrikaners would contend, as an acute form of the capitalist malady, and if the West says No gradually diluted their spiritual will to resist. Yet ultimately the to the reformist moves it is in a sense saying No to itself. The im­ difference between the Afrikaner and the English in Africa, as one plication can only be an increasingly ambivalent attitude by the has come to see in successive independence struggles elsewhere West in its opposition to oppressive practices in South Africa, pro­ in Africa, and most recently in Zimbabwe, is one of degree. In vided the present reformist moves canbegiven substance andcredibility. summary form, the story of white resistance in South Africa is well When P. W. Botha was elected prime minister a few years stated in Hendrick Verwoerd's observation that "this is a white back, he delivered a major speech contending that white South man's country and we mean to keep it that way," which is a state­ Africans need to "adapt or die." Even as hardened a campaigner ment not vastly different from Ian Smith's "Rhodesian adages." for human rights in South Africa as author Alan Paton has rejoiced For all the meanderings of South African politics, this has re­ that for the first time we were dealing with a secular government. mained the official stance of the status quo. The Afrikaans Re­ George Schultz, the United States secretary of state, has, in turn, formed churches have consistently convinced the Afrikaners that stated: "Change in South Africa is inevitable. If it is to be peaceful, their resistance is both moral and of God, which has resulted in we urge the South Africans to get on with the job." Certainly the expulsion of these churches from the World Alliance of Reformed old rhetoric of divine politics