Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T19:01:24.071Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

God and the Covenant in the South African Wilderness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

J. Alton Templin
J. Alton Templin
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of Historical Theology, The Iliff School of Theology, Denver, Colorado
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

When South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd was assassinated on September 6, 1966, a writer in the Cape Town Afrikaans newspaper, Die Burger, included an instructive comment. He said, “May the God in whom we believe make clear to us in His own good time what this terrible event is to signify to our country and her people.” This statement reminds us of a dimension in South African nationalism which goes beyond the normal interests of a nation. A theological motif is introduced which remains dominant in the South African mind. In the eyes of Afrikaners this theological concern lifts their problems out of the area of purely political and economic discussion for their whole cultural effort involves fulfilling a divine mission.2 Therefore, the death of Hendrik Verwoerd was more than a tragedy for the nation—it was a tragedy with divine implications.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 37 , Issue 3 , September 1968 , pp. 281 - 297
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1968

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Die Burger, September 6, 1966.

2. van Jaarsveld, F. A., The Afrikaner's Interpretation of South African History (Cape Town: Simondium, 1964), Chapter 1.Google Scholar

3. Quoted in Bunting, Brian, The Rise of the South African Reich (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1964), p. 88.Google Scholar

4. The various interpretations of the Great Trek in Afrikaner historiography are well analyzed in van Jaarsveld, F. A., Die Beeld van die Groot Trek in die Suid-Afrikaanse geskiedskrywing (Pretoria: Mededelings van die Universiteit van Suid-Afrika, 1963)Google Scholar.

5. Quoted in van Jaarsveld, F. A., Die Afrikaner en sy Geskiedenis (Cape Town: Nasionale Boekhandl, 1959), p. 98.Google Scholar

6. Quoted in van Jaarsveld, F. A., The Awakening of Afrikaner Nationahsm, 1868–1881, p. 192Google Scholar. All translations from Afrikaanns are those of the author.

7. Reply to Landdrost of Stellenbosch to the Fiscal, April 2, 1812. Quoted in MacCrone, I. D., Race Attitudes in South Africa (London: Oxford University Press, 1937), p. 130n.Google Scholar

8. The term “myth” in the sense of God's direct actions in the affairs of man was used in reference to South Africa by Thompson, Leonard, “Afrikaner Nationalist Historiography and the Policy of Apartheid”, Journal of African History, III (1962), 125–141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

9. Pint Retief's Manifesto, in Eybers, , Select Constitutional Documents Illustrating South African History, 1795–1910 (London: George Routledge & Sons, 1918), pp. 143–145.Google Scholar

10. Ibid.

11. Ibid., For other summaries of reasons for the Trek see Bird, John, The Annals of Natal, 2 vols. (Pietermaritzburg: P. Davis & Sons, 1888)Google Scholar; Anna Steenkamp, “Record of Migration,” in Bird, Ibid., I, 459–468; Boshof, J. N., to editor of Grahamstown Journal, 02 17, 1839Google Scholar, in Bird, Ibid., I, 504; “Journal of Sarel Celliers,” Bird, Ibid., I, 251; “Narrative of W. J. Pretorius,” Bird, Ibid., I, 230. See also Trigardt, Louis, Dagboek van Louis Trigardt (1836–1838) (Bloemfontein: Het Volksblad Drukkery, 1917).Google Scholar

12. Boshof, J. N., to the editor Grahamstown Journal, 02 17, 1839,Google Scholar Bird, Ibid., I, 504.

13. Anna Steenkamp, “Record of Migration,” Bird, Ibid., I, 459–408.

14. Spoelstra, B., Die“Doppers” in Suid-Africa, 1760–1889 (Cape Town: Nasionale Book-handel, 1963), p. 87.Google Scholar

15. Trigardt, , Dagboek van Louis Trigardt, p. 347.Google Scholar

16. Their travels are summarized in a letter written by Trigardt to Portuguese settlers at Delagoa Bay, May 1, 1838, in Trigardt, , Dagboek, pp. 90f.Google Scholar

17. Trigradt, Ibid., October 24, 1837.

18. Trigardt, , Dagboek: 04 21, 24, 1938.Google Scholar

19. Details in Preller, Gustav, Voortrekkermense, I, 118–119Google Scholar; quoted in Nathan, Manfred, The Voortrekkers of South Africa (London: Gordon and Gotch, 1937), p. 138.Google Scholar

20. Charl Celliers, October 16, 1836, Journal, Bird, Ibid., I, p. 239.

21. Ibid.

22. Erasmus Smit later wrote a detailed diary of his experiences on the frontier, which is one of the valuable primary sources of the period. The first entry in the diary is dated November 14, 1836. In Preller, , ed., Voortrekkermense, II.Google Scholar

23. Voortrekkermense, I, 297Google Scholar; quoted in Nathan, Ibid., pp. 153f.

24. Preller, , Piet Retief, pp. 73f.Google Scholar

25. Smit's diary is printed in the Voorstrekkermense, II, 101–3; quoted in Nathan, Ibid., p. 164.

26. Retief was sworn in on June 1, 1837. The Rev. Erasmus Smit administered the oath. Preller, , Piet Retief, pp. 62f.Google Scholar, Nathan, Ibid., p. 166.

27. Nathan, Ibid., p. 168. This Bible is preserved in the Voortrekker Museum in Pretoria.

28. Eybers, , Selected Documents, p. 149.Google Scholar

29. Retief's letter is dated January 26, 1838; in Nathan, Ibid., p. 196.

30. See Cory, George E., ed., The Diary of the Rev. Francis Owen, M.A., Missionary with Dingaan, 1837–8 (Cape Town: Van Riebeeck Society Publications), VII, 1926.Google Scholar

32. A photograph of the plaque and monument is in Nathan, Ibid., p. 208.

33. Anna Steenkamp, in Bird, Ibid., I, 459–468.

34. Celliers, Journal, in Bird, Ibid., I.

35. Preller, , Piet Retief, pp. 216–236.Google Scholar

36. Celliers, Journal, in Bird, op. cit., I, 243.

37. Monday, August 13, 1838; Nathan, op. cit., p. 241.

38. August 13, 1838; Anna Steenkamp's reflections, in Bird, op. cit., I, 463.

39. Ibid.

40. Report of Mr. J. G. Bantjes, in Bird, Ibid., I, 442.

41. Report of J. G. Bantjes, Ibid., I, 442.

42. Celliers, Journal, in Bird, op. cit., I, 244.

43. Celliers, Journal, in Bird, Ibid., I, 244.

44. Pretorius“wanted to make a vow to God Almighty if they were all willing, that should the Lord be pleased to grant us the victory, we would raise a house to the memory of His great name … and that we would note the day of the victory in a book, to make it known even to our latest posterity, in order that it might be celebrated to the honor of God.” MacKeurtan, Graham, The Cradle Days of Natal (London: Lougmans, Green and Co., 1930), pp. 246f.Google Scholar

45. Celliers, Journal, in Bird, op. cit., I, 245.

46. Celliers, Journal, in Bird, op. cit., I, 246.

47. Ibid.

48. Andries Pretorius, December 22, 1838, in Bird, op. cit., p. 454.

49. Hattingh to Pretorius, March 30, 1839; in Voortrekker-Argiefstukke, pp. 60f.

50. Hattingh from Agter Sneeuwberg to Pretorius, Ibid., p. 64.

51. Carstens at Cape Town to Pretorius, May 29, 1839, Ibid., p. 71.

52. Brand to friend, June 13, 1839, in Voortrekker-Argiefstukke, p. 82f.

53. September 11, 1839, Voortrekker-Argiefstukke, p. 91.

54. A. Carstens from Capetown to Pretorius, September 11, 1839, Voortrekker-Argiefstukke, pp. 92f.

55. Carstens to Pretorius, October 4, 1839, Vortrekker-Argiefstukke, p. 95f.

56. Engelbrecht, S. P., Die Nederduitsch Hervormde Gemeente Rustenberg, 1850–1950 (Published by the Kerkraad of the South African Republic, n.d.), p. 2.Google Scholar

57. Smith, , Life of Lindley, pp. 421–423.Google Scholar

58. Eybers, , Select Documents, pp. 151fGoogle Scholar. The proclamation was issued November 14, 1838, but was effective from December 4, the date of their landing in Natal.

59. Bird, op. cit., I, 236. The first Trekker constitution was written at Winburg in 1837.

60. Eybers, , Constitutional Documents, p. 158.Google Scholar

61. This was published in the Grahamstown Journal, October 31, 1839, in Bird, op. cit., I, 544–556.

62. Ibid., p. 546.

63. Ibid., p. 605.

64. M. W. Vorster, November 4, 1847, Voortrekker-Argiefstukke, p. 281.

65. Quoted in Carter, Gwendolen M., The Politics of Inequality: South Africa since 1948 (London: Thames and Hudson, 1962), p. 252.Google Scholar

66. Ibid., p. 253.

67. Quoted in Bunting, Brian, The Rise of the South African Reich (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1964), p. 7.Google Scholar