by virtue of the mind and nothing could exist independently of the mind. Esse est percipi: to be is to be perceived, was Berkeley’s grounding principle. This did not mean that an object ceased to exist when one was no longer engaged in perceiving it – in order for it to exist, it was only necessary that some mind perceived it. God’s perception guaranteed the continued existence of all objects.
God was central to Berkeley’s philosophy. At a time when rapid advances in science made atheism all the more attractive, Berkeley tried to emphasise the world’s dependence on God.[123] He argued that all perceptions or ideas originated in God’s mind. Malan absorbed many of Berkeley’s ideas. Years later, he would refer to God as ‘an Omnipotent Brain’, a great Engineer who had designed the road on which the Afrikaner nation travelled.[124]
In the meantime, Malan felt overwhelmed by all the reading that he had to do. To Nettie he complained that all the ‘isms’ were enough to make anyone dizzy – idealism, realism, immaterialism, nominalism – there seemed to be no end.[125] It forced him to make his grudging peace with the fact that his stay in the Netherlands would have to be longer than he had initially hoped.[126]
Unlike his relationship with Valeton, Malan did not have a close relationship with his supervisor, Hugo Visscher, a political appointment whom Abraham Kuyper had foisted on the university’s theological faculty in 1904.[127] He was probably appointed as Malan’s promoter shortly after his return from Edinburgh – after Malan had already formulated his thesis topic and conducted most of his research.
Malan found the writing process arduous and the topic so tricky and extensive that he struggled to keep all the loose ends together.[128] In the spring weather he kept his windows open as wide as possible,[129] but the clarity in the air did not give him the same clarity of thought. He was never satisfied by the amount of work that he had completed, and at times found himself struggling to concentrate and unable to get anything done, which made the situation even worse.[130] By the time summer arrived, Malan decided not to go anywhere, but instead to finish his thesis.[131] He simply wanted to go home.
The strain began to take its toll. His handwriting became unshapely and difficult to read. In a letter to Nettie, he was unable to write in proper paragraphs, but merely wrote a list of his main points. One of the points simply read: ‘Fifthly: it is hot here.’[132]
His parents were worried about him, but he tried to dismiss their concerns in a letter in which his characters were noticeably misshaped – a far cry from his usual legible handwriting that is such a pleasure to read, and surely a sign to his parents of his mental state:
You should not think that I am at death’s door. I believe that if I had written that I am deadly ill, you immediately would have said: No, nonsense, it cannot be that bad, it is only idle talk. However, now that I write to you saying that I need a bit of rest and want to forget about a long and monotonous labour for a week or so, now you suddenly think: the man is close to death. Well, luckily there is no reason to be concerned. I went to the doctor for safety’s sake and he said that there is nothing radically wrong with me. The only thing is that my nervous system is a bit out of sorts, which, with a bit of care and carefulness and a change, will repair itself. He advised me to go and work outside the city for a while at a place where I can also undergo a cold water cure.[133]
Malan followed the doctor’s orders, and booked himself into a sanatorium near Arnhem for about six weeks. Here he obeyed his caretakers’ instructions to get a certain amount of sleep and to go for long walks in the scenic surroundings. He was told what to eat, and was only allowed to work for four hours a day. Malan now realised that his obsession to complete his thesis as quickly as possible had driven him to this point.[134] His stay at the sanatorium helped, and by early October most of his thesis had gone to the press. In a letter to his parents – in a much calmer tone than the one before, with his characters back to their old, legible shape – Malan expressed his newly acquired wisdom that ‘it is much easier to prophesy that one will write a thesis within a particular time span than to actually do it’.[135]
Back in Utrecht, Malan could finally prepare for the event that he had been looking forward to for more than four years: his return to South Africa. His promotion ceremony took place on 20 January 1905 and was a great success. Malan answered his professors’ questions calmly and clearly, and received his degree cum laude.[136] Afterwards he and his friends were received at Professor Valeton’s house, which was regarded as an exceptional gesture. Such was the relationship between mentor and protégé.[137] Malan booked his passage on a German ship, the Kroonprinz, the same steam liner that carried former President Steyn and his family back home.[138]
His time in the Netherlands had shaped Malan into an articulate young Afrikaner nationalist, the product of a Continental education. He had become an independent thinker, who had witnessed the nationalism that dominated the Continent before the ravages of the First World War. In this way, his Afrikaner nationalism was shaped by nineteenth-century European nationalism. Once back in South Africa, it would be the example that he would endeavour to follow.
3 (1905-1912)
THE MINISTER OF MONTAGU
The man who arrived home in the midst of the South African summer was now a learned doctor – in a country where the title inspired awe and respect, and where ministers of the church towered over their communities – and yet, somehow, he still felt uncertain about himself. He was thirty years old, but painfully aware of his inexperience. He felt certain that this was not lost on those around him, especially his father, who mock-sighed in jest: ‘Yes, Danie, you have studied for such a long time that you are almost old enough to retire.’[1] These words were not spoken with harmful intent, but to the recipient, they were painful.[2]
His family was changed. His father had retired from farming during his absence and had handed the farm over to Fanie, who had since married. Even though Malan knew that he would never have become a farmer, he felt as if a bond between him and his home had been severed forever. He was filled with a sense of sadness and loss upon realising that he would in future be a mere visitor in the house of his birth.[3]
He now had to take his own, independent steps into the world. The prospect of leading a congregation by himself was still too daunting – he preferred to become an assistant preacher in a parish where he would be able to learn from the senior minister.[4] In May 1905, after successfully completing the necessary admission exams to enter the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC),[5] Malan accepted the position of assistant preacher in the parish of Heidelberg, Transvaal, where he lived in the same house as the church’s minister, the Rev. Adriaan Louw.[6] Louw was well acquainted with Malan and his family: he had served as the minister of the Riebeek West congregation during the 1880s, during which time he had become close friends with Malan’s parents.[7] Louw had always taken an interest in the young Malan’s progress, and invited him to join him in his work shortly after his return to South Africa.[8]
Malan arrived in Heidelberg right in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the clerical year. It was Pentecost, and Malan was overjoyed at the success of the Pentecostal services, during the course of which a number of new souls dedicated themselves to the Lord for the first time.[9] On 29 July 1905, Malan’s own big day arrived: he was officially ordained into the DRC. None of his family members were able to attend, which saddened him, but his old schoolmaster Theunis Stoffberg and his wife were there. The event itself was deemed to be an exceptional one. Malan’s ordination coincided with a mission conference in Johannnesburg. The delegates all decided to attend the ceremony, and so it happened that, at the height of the proceedings, Malan knelt in front of the pulpit with an unheard-of number of seventeen ministers in attendance to give him their blessing.[10] They formed a crowded half-circle around him, each with his left arm stretched out in order to lay his hand upon Malan’s head.[11]
The
