Erik A. de Boer - Böcker

The Synod of Dordt 1618/1619 was one of the most important church councils in the history of the Reformed tradition. International delegates from all over Europe served as important participants and played a significant role in the evaluation of Remonstrant doctrine and in the formation of the Canons of Dordt. The Synod made important pronouncements on other issues such as Sunday observance, catechism instruction and theological education. Given the continuing worldwide historical significance of the Synod’s Canons and church order, the absence of a critical scholarly edition of the majority of documents of the Synod is remarkable. The Johannes a Lasco Bibliothek in Emden, a leading research center for the history and theology of Reformed Protestantism, has taken the initiative to edit the Acts and documents of the Synod of Dordt. The edition is organized as a RefoRC project, with the participation of other institutions and scholars in Europe and North-America.Vol. II/1 edits the Convening of the Synod.

In the wake of the arrival of the East India Company and its settlement at the Cape of Good Hope, also the Christian faith came to South Africa. In a series of biographical studies, this book looks at the lives of men and women, including the enslaved people, and their relation to the Church.Based on extensive archival research from both the Netherlands and South Africa, the book uncovers the story of young men and women, freeborn or enslaved, in the emerging society at the Cape, a halfway station for ships between the Low Countries and the Indonesian archipelago. It is the first book to provide such indepth research to uncovered sources. The author demonstrates that the face of the Church was surprisingly broad in confession and policy as it also counted emancipated slaves among her members.Telling the story of two early decades at the Cape, the book will be of interest to researchers in the history of society and Church in the seventeenth century of colonial Europe and Africa and the history of colonization, slavery, and South Africa.