and readily absorbed his views on Ethical theology and Higher Criticism.
Valeton’s practice of theology revolved around his concept of revelation. All knowledge of God was based on revelation: either through the ‘general revelation’, which was manifested in nature and in history, or the ‘exceptional revelation’, which was manifested in Israel’s history and in the person of Jesus Christ. In that sense, the Bible was a means by which God revealed himself. Valeton rejected the notion that the Christian faith depended on church dogma or the historical accuracy of the Bible. Faith was based on personal experience and not on academic historical arguments. This personal experience originated from God and could therefore not be separated from him. For this reason, Valeton believed that true theological knowledge was only accessible to the faithful.[87]
Since his own faith was rooted in the experience of God, Valeton was able to accept the findings of the historical-critical method, which was a controversial issue in theological circles at the time, without regarding it as a threat to the basis of his faith. Although it was not the main focus of his own research, he used it as a tool to study the workings of God’s revelation in the history of Israel.[88]
The historical-critical method, which is also called Higher Criticism, did not approach the Bible as a source of supernatural revelation, but as a document that was rooted in time and space and which called for critical study. This meant that advances in the fields of archaeology, linguistics, mythology and the like became important tools in studying the religion of Ancient Israel.[89] Valeton, for example, identified traits that Israel’s religion shared with the beliefs of the other Semitic nations. This did not threaten his own faith, as Israel’s faith differed from that of the other Semitic nations in one important aspect: it was guided by the Holy Spirit and formed part of the exceptional revelation to Abraham and his descendants, as it had fallen to them to carry God’s message to the nations.[90]
These views brought Valeton into direct conflict with Abraham Kuyper. Kuyper was the leading representative of Reformed theology (which has also become known as neo-Calvinism) in the Netherlands, and rejected Higher Criticism in favour of an uncritical acceptance of the Bible’s historical accuracy – everything in the Bible was true and accurate ‘because it is written’.[91] This was his indignant reply to Valeton’s and others’ questions on the problematic aspects of biblical interpretation. Because of Valeton’s prominence as a theologian and his role as an articulator of Ethical theology, he became the focused target of Kuyper’s attacks in the press. These attacks were part of Kuyper’s broader campaign against all established theologians, as he was in the process of establishing the Free University of Amsterdam and used the polemic to attract prospective theology students.[92]
Abraham Kuyper, who became prime minister of the Netherlands in 1901, was the antithesis of Valeton’s dichotomy between religion and politics. A theologian-cum-newspaper editor-cum politician, Kuyper combined politics and religion throughout his illustrious career.[93] Kuyper was able to justify this through the principle of ‘sovereignty in each sphere’, which dictated that society was composed of separate spheres, but that each had to adhere to God’s authority. Thus, the spheres of state and politics were also subject to religious principles.[94]
At this stage of his life, Malan chose his mentor’s side. In later years, although he owned a copy of Kuyper’s Het Calvinisme, along with a number of other standard works of theology, he never expressed much enthusiasm for Kuyper’s theology, and he never had much sympathy for the Doppers[95]– members of the South African Reformed Church who embraced Kuyper’s Neo-Calvinism. But even more important, under Valeton’s guidance, he embraced the practice of Higher Criticism, which set him apart from Kuyper and his Dopper adherents.[96] Back in South Africa, the tension between Neo-Calvinism and Higher Criticism would later erupt into the Johannes du Plessis case, which scarred the Dutch Reformed Church and the Stellenbosch seminary in the early 1930s.[97]
Valeton’s assertion that all knowledge of God was the product of his revelation found resonance in the topic that Malan chose to pursue for his doctoral thesis. In April 1903, Malan could write to his parents to inform them that he had passed his doctoral exams with flying colours and that he was now a doctorandus – the latter part of the word meant that he was not yet a Doctor, but he was well on his way.[98]
With his eyes always fixed on South Africa, Malan had hoped to write a thesis on South African church history, but this was impossible for two reasons: firstly, because similar work was already being undertaken in South Africa, and, secondly, because all of the archival material that he would have needed to consult was in South Africa. Instead, he settled for a philosophical topic: Bishop George Berkeley’s philosophy of idealism. Even though he had always enjoyed philosophy, the prospect of writing a doctoral thesis on such an abstract concept was a daunting one. He was apprehensive of the task ahead of him,[99] but nevertheless set about to work on the topic. His first step was to visit London, where he collected material. The city and its people filled him with revulsion:
The city is large and bustling, but dirty. I don’t want to live here. Otherwise, there was enough to see that would infuriate an Afrikaner. I have never seen greater audacity from this nation, which believes itself to have a calling to rule, civilise, and Christianise the world. Thus they have, among other things, a museum where they display their loot. There one also finds an S.A. collection. A great part of this consists of family Bibles, which they have stolen from our homes … At the Crystal Palace there are more hideous images, Steyn, Kruger, and Mrs Kruger as ‘South African knock-them-downs’, the target of common Englishmen. Indeed, they forgive and forget.[100]
It was a stark contrast to the euphoric adoration of the Boers that he had witnessed in the Netherlands. To Malan, British imperialism represented all that was detestable. It was the opposite of cultural pluralism, which he regarded as the ideal. This ideal was cemented in his mind by what he experienced at the World Conference of the Students’ Christian Association, which he attended in Denmark in August 1902 as the representative of the South African branch.[101] The conference made a profound impression on him, as he described it to his sister:
As far as nations and languages are concerned, it is a true Babel, but not a Babel that separates and drives apart, but one that reunites under the banner of Christ. The Chinese and Japanese travelled halfway around the world to attend the conference. Among others we also have such specimens of humanity as Hungarians, Portuguese, Russians, Norwegians, Swedes, Italians, a Syrian, a Bulgarian, a few Fins, and even an Icelander. The languages that are spoken most are English, German, French, Danish and Swedish. To me, this meeting is such a beautiful promise for the future of humanity. Every nation is allowed here, and it is also expected from each to follow its own methods, to preserve its own national peculiarities. No dominance by the stronger, or trampling or denying the rights of the weaker. No imperialism or dead uniformity, but federation and rich variety. In this way, God’s kingdom of righteousness and peace will come when every nation is itself and no other, and thereby fulfils its God-given place and calling. Yet, all are together and are also bound to one another in the acknowledgement of God’s Kingship and in loyalty to him and his service. There is no other unbreakable bond between the nations than this one.[102]
Decades later, when Malan was explaining the apartheid policy to his supporters, it was precisely this ideal that he evoked. Malan’s interpretation of the conference was in keeping with the South African Dutch Reformed Church’s approach to mission work. It was founded on the notion of a volkskerk (national church), a church that would take cognisance of its members’ linguistic, cultural, and social peculiarities. It followed this route through the institution of segregated worship in 1857, and the establishment of the Dutch Reformed Mission Church for coloured congregants in 1881, thereby contributing to the social order that characterised twentieth-century South Africa.[103]
The Dutch Reformed Church was influenced by the assertions of German missionary societies that the nations of Africa and Asia had to be given the opportunity to become Christians within their own cultural framework. This belief, that separate national churches –
