Drie Dreyers, twee kerklike kwessies – ’n Klein kroniek

Abstract

Three Dreyers, two ecclesial issues – a brief chronicle. The three Dreyers to whom this article refers are firstly, Willem Akkerhuys (Wim) Dreyer, church history scholar, to whom this volume of the HTS Theological Studies is dedicated; secondly, his father, Petrus Secundus Dreyer, in his lifetime theologian and professor in philosophy at the University of Pretoria, and myself, Yolanda Dreyer, the first woman to be licensed and ordained in the Netherdutch Reformed Church of Africa (NHKA), and the first female professor in theology at the University of Pretoria. Our histories converged at two theological and ecclesial issues, namely, the ordination of women and the gay issue. In this article these histories are explored from the autobiographical perspective of a participant, with the further aim to document history (herstory) from a female experience. The NHKA passed the resolution to ordain female persons in 1979, and the resolution with regard to the unconditional acceptance of gay persons in all walks of ecclesial life in 2016.

Contribution: This article presents original research in an autobiographical format. The research contributes to the theological discourse on gender justice in the South- African frame work of ecclesial history. It describes the inception of the ordination of women in the Afrikaans-speaking churches and persons belonging to sexual minorities.