Abstract

The free church: Some comments on the origins and contents of this idea.In 1859 fifteen members of the then established Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk in the ZAR notified the Synod of that church that they were relinquishing their membership of the said church to form their own free church. Thus the first Afrikaans free church was formed. In this study the history of the idea of the free church is traced to independentistic tendencies in English puritanism which found its way to the Dutch Nadere Reformatie. From there the idea was carried forward by the Moravians and implanted in the European Réveil. Within the climate, created by the Réveil, the 1834 schism took place in the Netherlands. From this Dutch free church the idea was brought to the ZAR. The contents of the idea are briefly examined and contrasted with the idea of the established church based on the covenant.