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

Eight: Influential Afrikaner Thinkers since the 'SixtiesWe have now reached 1960/61. Here we wish to spend this lecture in looking at the eschatology ofvictory in the Afrikaner thought of some very brilliant and relatively young Afrikaner thinkers --Johan Heyns, Danie Strauss, Adrio König, Errol Hulse and Cornelius van der Waal.Professor Johan Heyns started preaching and teaching at an early age. He was born on a farm. As alittle boy, he would scoop together empty cobs of corn (after the corn had been eaten off), and buildhimself a pulpit. He would assemble around him the little Black boys of men working on the farmand get them to listen to his expositions.Since then, he has never looked back. When he grew up, he went to Potchefstroom University forChristian Higher Education. There he majored in philosophy under Professor Hendrik Stoker who-- says Heyns -- "left an ineradicable stamp on my whole thought and outlook." We will see that,when I give you a few quotations from the work of Heyns a little later on.Heyns then proceeded in 1949 to the University of Pretoria. There he took his B.D. (Bachelor ofDivinity), and his M.A. in Philosophy -- both of them cum laude (with honours). That is verydifficult to achieve in South Africa, by the way. Then he went to the Free University ofAmsterdam, where he took his theological Doctor's Degree under Professor Berkouwer with adissertation on the modalistic or Sabellian doctrine of the Trinity with specific reference to KarlBarth.After that, he undertook a further Doctor's Degree in the area of anthropology under Stoker.Berkouwer sent Heyns to Barth in Switzerland. In Basel, he attended lectures at the feet of KarlBarth (about whom he later wrote a book). Heyns also had the privilege of studying at the feet ofthe great Existentialist Philosopher Karl Jaspers.Heyns has written much. Some of his publications include: the doctoral dissertation on The BasicStructure of the Modalistic View of the Trinity. Then there is also his work on anthropology, IsChristianity Dying? Also: Theology in the Grip of the Spirit of the Times; The Bridge Between Godand Man; The Church; Karl Barth, Who Is He and What He Wants; Systematic Theology; TheMillennial Idea (a critique of premillennialism); and his long and very important essay on TheTheology of Obedience.The last mentioned work was at the time somewhat criticised by Prof. Norman Shepherd ofWestminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. But I believe, since then, Shepherd himself hasreached a position that would be in almost complete agreement with what Heyns then wrote in thatwork some ten or twelve years ago. This can also be seen from Heyn's ethical work on theexposition of the Law of God entitled The New Man Underway.Here are some very interesting quotations from Heyns's work on systematic theology that I believeyou will enjoy. He points out that man must exist in relationship not only to God but also to nature."Being a man, means being in the world. Man and world belong together. They are directed towardone another, intended for one another, and cordially interwoven with one another in a whole host ofways. For his existence, man is dependent upon nature, and for its transformation, nature isdependent upon man. Man, himself part of the nature around him, received the words from God:'subjugate it, work at it and guard it and keep it.'"To the animals, man was to give names, and plants and seeds of trees and fruit were to be his food.