Reformed Church Southern Suburbs in Cape Town will host a conference with the theme “Apartheid of church and state: global perspectives” on 11 and 12 August 2023. The conference features a line-up of respected Reformed theologians and pastors, including RCSS’s Simon Jooste. More information about the conference will be releasedContinue Reading
Simon Jooste I am the pastor of a multi-cultural English-speaking Reformed church on the southern tip of Africa in a city called Cape Town. Since 1652, when the first Dutch settlers landed in the Cape, the church has struggled to fulfil the Great Commission amid common cultural enterprise with itsContinue Reading
The tensions and inconsistencies that I have attempted to illustrate in this book review beg another question: What kind of reformation is The Gift of Life after? The answer Professor Vorster appears to provide is one of “flourishing personhood” that roots out of church and society the dehumanizing idols of racism, sexism,Continue Reading
On 21 September 2022, RCSS pastor Rev. Dr. Simon Jooste gave a presentation at Westminster Seminary in California on the proposal for his book, Pilgrim politics: recovering the cruciform in our creed. The book proposal is below. I. Book topic and rationale for its writing The Apostle Paul once wroteContinue Reading
What unites […] various reactions to the collapse of Christendom is the marginalising of doctrine. Anyone who knows the history of Christendom, however, will not be surprised. As Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920) observed as part of his argument for the revision of Belgic Confession article 36, the church-state complex (Christendom) wasContinue Reading
As Christians turn to social media to decry the new abuse of the day, a sad development is happening. Both of the current responses in crying for social justice or redeeming the state, are having the same sad effect on the church. We are being swallowed up in these pursuitsContinue Reading
Augustine taught the two kingdoms approach. This view made it possible for profound Christian involvement and influence in secular society, while at the same time never giving in to the naïve assumption that any human culture or nation is – or can become – truly righteous or good. For onlyContinue Reading
Eugene Osterhaven called this “the most difficult and disputed” article in the confession. The desire to revise this article has existed in the Reformed churches in both the Netherlands and in the USA since the late 19th century, and revision has come in fits and starts. Further, there is noContinue Reading
As socio-religious phenomena, Theonomy and Christian Reconstruction are closely related. The individuals involved in the one are ordinarily involved in the other. However, theologically and religiously, they can be distinguished. Christian Reconstructionists exist in a variety of forms, and are ordinarily united in their belief that the Western world, andContinue Reading
According to Augustine, the distinction between the two cities — the city of God and the city of man — is grounded in the two loves: love of God and love of self. The former leads to genuine fellowship and a communion of mutual giving and receiving, while the latterContinue Reading