Splendors of Godly Love.

Abstract

Chris van der Merwe, Professor Emeritus of Afrikaans and Dutch Literature at the University of Cape Town, has enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a literary scholar during which he has done pioneering work on, amongst other things, the intersections between narrative, trauma, memory, identity and place in the South African context. Since his retirement from teaching in 2009, he has continued to publish on these themes, but have also, interestingly, been writing books of a more theological nature, dealing with different aspects of the Christian faith. One of these books, Die Wonder van Goddelike Liefde (2014), has recently been reworked into English and published under the title, Splendors of Godly Love (2017). In what follows, I will offer a few thoughts on this book in which Van der Merwe explores various Christian values, including that of Christian love.