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Oct 30, 2008Article Details
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Main Article Content
<i>Ecclesia reformata semper reformanda</i> – die ongemaklike eis
Abstract
This article is a reworked version of the Moderator's opening address at the 68th General Assembly of the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa in October 2007. Against the fourth-century background of Emperor Constantine's “church politics”, the paper
reflects on the first-century rhetoric of the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 10:3ff and 17ff about non-worldly, divine weapons of warfare, and about boasting and self-commendation. It shows how Paul understood oral rhetorical words as theatrically performed by
employing the genre of the so-called “Fool's speech” by means of which Paul argues that masks disguise the authentic identity of Christ-followers. Paul's rhetoric is applied in the article as an appeal to the modern-day church to be ecumenically open and
anthropologically inclusive. The article demonstrates the uneasiness of some members in the institutional church to proceed along a path of ongoing reformation (ecclesia reformata semper reformanda).
HTS Theological Studies Vol. 64 (1) 2008: pp. 123-138
