Johan Heyns

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Johan Heyns

Johan Adam Heyns (1928 – November 5, 1994), was an influential Afrikaner theologian and moderator of the general synod of the Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK). He was assassinated at his home in Waterkloof Ridge, Pretoria. Although his murder was never officially resolved it is widely believed^[1] that it was directly related to his criticism of Apartheid. Nelson Mandela paid homage to him as a martyr for his country^[2]and a soldier of peace^[3].

1 Career
2 Views on Apartheid
3 Assassination
4 References
5 See also
6 External Links

[edit] Career

Johan Heyns completed his undergraduate studies at the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education where he formed a lifelong friendship with H.G. Stoker, the South African Calvinistic thinker and critical protagonist of the Philosophy of the Cosmonomic Idea^[4]. Stoker’s reasoning had a marked influence on the rest of his academic career.

Heyns completed his training as a minister at the University of Pretoria, and decided to continue his theological studies at the Free University. In 1953 he obtained a Ph.D. under the supervision of G.C. Berkouwer with a thesis titled Die Grondstruktuur van die Modalistiese Triniteitsbeskouing (The Basis of the Modalistic Trinity View). After several years, he also obtained a Ph.D. in philosophy under the supervision of Stoker on the anthropology of Karl Barth. From 1966 Heyns worked as lecturer in dogmatological subjects at the University of Stellenbosch, and in 1971 he succeeded A.B. Du Preez as professor in Pretoria. He retired at the end of 1993.

During the more than 20 years that Heyns served the NGK as a professor, he exerted an enormous influence on the church. He was distinguished by a large number of publications^[5] and he filled many public positions in the church, causing him to be regarded as one of the best known theologians in the NGK^[6].

[edit] Views on Apartheid

In the 1980’s and the early 1990’s Heyns became a central figure in the struggle to change the NGK’s stance on Apartheid, leading to the church’s eventual rejection of that policy^[7]. In 1982 Heyns publicly rejected the notion that Apartheid was the will of God, and caused a furor at that year’s synod by openly supporting multiracial marriages. For a year he stayed out of favor with the church hierarchy, but reemerged in 1986 to become moderator - the highest position in the church. He immediately tried to persuade the church that there was no biblical foundation for Apartheid.

Following the NGK Synod of 1986 (at which Heyns presided), tens of thousands of church members broke away to form their own right wing Afrikaanse Protestante Kerk. In September 1989, at a time when the government indiscriminately crushed all protest marches, mediation by NGK leadership under Prof. Johan Heyns convinced the government to allow peaceful protests ^[8]. This heralded the first swing away from the armed struggle to a strategy of non-violent confrontation.

In 1990, speaking for the NGK, Heyns declared Apartheid a sin. His theological contributions had a large impact on changing the thinking of the Afrikaner government^[9].

[edit] Assassination

On Saturday evening (November, 5 1994) Heyns, was playing cards with his wife, Renee, and three grandchildren (then aged 2, 8 and 11) at his home in Pretoria. He died instantly when an unidentified attacker using a .303 caliber rifle delivered a single gunshot through an open window. The bullet entered at the back of his neck and left near his eye, leaving a wound as big as a man's fist.

Although the police would not speculate on a motive, many were convinced that Heyns was killed by extremists.^[10] Shortly after his assassination a secretary of Die Burger, an Afrikaans newspaper, received threats that three Afrikaans-speaking cabinet members would be next. The caller told the secretary that he had already lost everything as a result of affirmative action: "We belong... I belong to no organization. And this will not be the last one." Subsequent threats followed, indicating that Mandela was also a target.^[11]

Heyns's assassin left very few clues, and no arrests have been made.