Geskiedskrywing, kondisionering en die konsekwensies vir teologiese vernuwing: ’n begripsanalise van T N Hanekom se tipering van die liberale rigting

Abstract

This article analyses the way in which T N Hanekom, a prominent church historian who held the chair in Church History at the Theological Seminary in Stellenbosch in the sixties and seventies of the previous century, interpreted and used the concept “the liberal movement”. His penetrating and comprehensive description of the rise and fall of the liberal movement in Europe and South Africa during the nineteenth century is based on a very specific understanding of what “liberal” means. Not only did he link it with a whole cluster of negative associations, but created an attitude and mindset that make it very difficult for his students to deal constructively and effectively with the political, social and theological changes that accompanied the transition to a democratic dispensation in South Africa at the end of the previous century.