Calvyn en die Akademie van Geneve

In this article Calvin's founding of the College and Academy of Geneva (1559) is discussed against the background of the medieval school system in order to appreciate his part in the renewal of education. Imbibing the humanism of his day, Calvin's engagagement with education reveals common ground with the humanist ideals of his limes. Yet there were fundamental differences: by combining the classical artes liberates with the study of God’s Word, his ideal was not the creation of better human beings through education (the ideal of humanism) but the formation of useful men and women in the kingdom of God, i.e in church and society. Some stipulations of his church order (1541) and Leges for the Academy are placed in the context of his theology. Finally, Calvin’s ideals and contribution to education challenge us to consider our choices for education in a 'new South Africa’

Straatsburg en artikel 2 van die dordtse kerkorde

In art. 2 K.O. word daar vier soorte kerklike dienste on dcrskei, nl. „dié van die bedienaars van die Woord, dié van die professore aan die teologiese skool, die van die ouderlinge, en dié van die diakens”

Teologie en ontologie : Oor die wetenskap as nagmerrie vir die Teologie - en omgekeerd

The author argues that the Christian world view, rooted in the biblical revelation of the transcendent almighty God, is incompatible with the currently still popular concept of science, which presupposes a world view whose roots lie embedded in Greek ontology. Tracing the prominent role of determinism as embodied in the concept of Anangké in Greek ontology, it is shown that A ristotle's breakthrough in acknowledging change and teleology was mere appearance and that his world view was still enchained to the determinism of traditional ontology. It was Duns Scotus who exposed the determinism inherent in A ristotle's System and who broke free from these schackles by conceding the p ossibility of synchronic contingency. The medieval absorption of Greek ontology into Christianity firmly entrenched Greek notions in Western thought. Con­ sequently science viewed creation as a closed, causally determined sys­tem. While modern physics has opened up a new vision of the universe, the traditional (outmoded) "scientific" outlook is rampant and many of its presuppositions and models are projected on theology in order to safe­ guard theology's "scientific" character. In this way theology largely forfeits its true task

Die afbuiging van Calvyn se denke in die 17e eeu

The period of the Reformation was in certain aspects a lonely beacon in the cultural history of Western civilization. I his fact is illuminated by comparing the anti scolastic stand of Luther and Calvin, and especially Calvin's trinitarian view o f revelation with its ensuing knowledge, of God with the views of Perkins and Ames, in whose works tendencies towards a natural knowledge of God become discernable. Though the language of the later theologians remains “calvinistic”, yet there is a dear shift of accent in the whole theological structure o f their works and a growing emphasis on subjectivity

Aspekte van Stoker se kritiek op die Wysbegeerte van die Wetsidee1

Some points of Stoker’s criticism of the Philosophy of the Creational Ide. Stoker had appreciation for many aspects of the Calvinist philosophy of Vollenhoven and Dooyeweerd, as is evident inter alia from his articles in Die Wagtoring (1932-1933) and in Koers (1937-1941). Yet, he also had some misgivings about the new philosophy. Some of his reservations, illustrating his independence as philosopher, are treated in this article, viz. (I) his criticism o f the 'law-idea’; (2) his rejection o f the notion that theology is a special science (vakwetenskap), and (3) his remarks that some humanistic and idealistic elements are incorporated in the Calvinist philosophy of Vollenhoven and Dooyeweerd. To undercut these deficiencies in the philosophy of Vollenhoven and Dooyeweerd he proposed his Philosophy of the Creational Idea

Connecting Angular Momentum and Galactic Dynamics: The complex Interplay between Spin, Mass, and Morphology

The evolution and distribution of the angular momentum of dark matter (DM) halos have been discussed in several studies over the past decades. In particular, the idea arose that angular momentum conservation should allow to infer the total angular momentum of the entire DM halo from measuring the angular momentum of the baryonic component, which is populating the center of the halo, especially for disk galaxies. To test this idea and to understand the connection between the angular momentum of the DM halo and its galaxy, we use the Magneticum simulations. We successfully produce populations of spheroidal and disk galaxies self-consistently. Thus, we are able to study the dependence of galactic properties on their morphology. We find that (1) the specific angular momentum of stars in disk and spheroidal galaxies as a function of their stellar mass compares well with observational results; (2) the specific angular momentum of the stars in disk galaxies is slightly smaller compared to the specific angular momentum of the cold gas, in good agreement with observations; (3) simulations including the baryonic component show a dichotomy in the specific stellar angular momentum distribution when splitting the galaxies according to their morphological type (this dichotomy can also be seen in the spin parameter, where disk galaxies populate halos with slightly larger spin compared to spheroidal galaxies); (4) disk galaxies preferentially populate halos in which the angular momentum vector of the DM component in the central part shows a better alignment to the angular momentum vector of the entire halo; and (5) the specific angular momentum of the cold gas in disk galaxies is approximately 40 percent smaller than the specific angular momentum of the total DM halo and shows a significant scatter.Comment: 25 pages, accepted by ApJ, www.magneticum.or

Calvyn en die Heidelbergse Kategismus

To ascertain the influence of Calvin on the Heidelberg Catechism has been complicated by at least three circumstances: (1) Olevianus' acknowledge­ment that the catechism was the work of many pious people from Switzer­land: (2) the fact that many facets of the Catechism's content were common currency during the 16th century; (3) the obvious independence of the Reform movement in the Palitinate. In this article it is argued that the typical Calvinian accent on the three-fold office of Christ as reflected in the Heidelberg Catechism is perhaps the dearest example of Calvin’s influen­ce. Yet even in this respect the Heidelberg Catechism retains its own cha­racter by condensing Calvin's exposition of the triplex munus in his Genevan Catechism