THE CHRISTIAN AFRIKANERS - The Works of F. N. Lee

University -- where I took my second doctorate -- is very largely a Calvinist university. More andmore, the policy seems to be that of reserving new professorial appointments only for those whoare professing Calvinists. That University has excellent faculties of Theology, Philosophy, Historyand Education -- all of them teaching exclusively from a Calvinistic perspective. Then there is theRand Afrikaans University, one of the newest in South Africa - and to an increasing extent theUniversity of Port Elizabeth (and so forth).Well, from 1930 through 1960, the Calvinist educators organised especially underground. Theyemerged in the 60's. Finally, with the approval of Parliament toward the 70's, they recapturedcontrol of Public Education from kindergarten through the Ph.D. level -- ever increasingly -- and atthe South African Universities.The real turning point in all this, was 1948. Then the National Party of Dr. Malan gained thevictory at the polls. The very next week the Bible was being read even in the English languagePublic Schools throughout the land -- which had not been done before. I remember it vividly,seeing I was about fourteen or fifteen years of age at the time.Since then, courses and degrees in Biblical Studies have been developed at the Universities moreand more. Quite apart from Theology Courses (which are offered specifically to train Preachers forthe pulpit), you can today major in Biblical Studies (which are not designed to prepare you for apreaching ministry but to give you at least a Bachelor's degree and thereafter a Masters degree toenable you to become a full-time Bible Teacher in the Public Education System in South Africa).As a matter of fact, the Catalogues of the South African Universities are more and more offeringthese majors in Biblical Studies. This seems to be rather unique in the world today. Indeed, theBible is now being taught, for credit, in the Public Schools -- from kindergarten right through towhat would be 10th or 12th grade in America, and from thereon out at the Universities at least tothe Master's level.Organisations hold Conventions for Christians regularly, discussing matters of educationalimportance. A determined effort is now being made to rethink the curriculum even in areas such ashistory, geography and mathematics at the Public School -- and so to restructure them more andmore in terms of the Christian life and world view.Of course, if people do not like all of this Calvinism being increased in the Public School System,they are perfectly free to leave the Public Schools and to start their own atheistic private schools.There are some, but not many cases, of that taking place in South Africa.There are powerful Calvinist educational organisations in South Africa working at the nationallevel to infiltrate the whole of culture. Such are COVSA (the Calvinist Teachers' Association ofSouth Africa); VCHO (the Association for Christian Higher Education); and SAVCW (the SouthAfrica Association for the Promotion of Christian Scholarship). I myself have membership in thetwo latter organisations.In 1961 the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa was formally adopted after the RepublicanReferendum. If my memory serves me well, the Preamble runs roughly as follows: "In humbleacknowledgment of Almighty God Who has assembled our ancestors from a variety of countries,Who has led us through many perils, Who has maintained us in this land in a remarkable way; wethe people hereby establish the Republic of South Africa. The educational system of this countryshall be Christian." This gave a tremendous impact to the development of Christian educationwithin South Africa.