Allan Aubrey Boesak, renowned theologian, anti-apartheid activist and politician, turned 70 on 23 February 2016 and in his honour a number of his friends, colleagues and students contributed to this festschrift. These essays can be regarded as academic commentary, impressionistic overviews or brief notes on the life and work of Allan Boesak. For much of his public life Boesak has been a controversial figure: for the politically oppressed during the apartheid years he represented their anger and resistance; for the politically dominant he was an irritant, a troublesome preacher. The contributors write with unconcealed admiration about Boesak’s theological and political activism, leadership, eloquence and intelligence. His life and his formation as a black liberation theologian are recounted, often framed by the contributor’s view of his prophetic calling.

Het die Christelike geloof enigiets met die openbare lewe te make, het die geloof enigiets betekenisvol by te dra tot die openbare lewe ? en indien wel, hoe gebeur dit? Wat beteken ‘die openbare lewe’ eintlik? Op welke wyse indien enige kan die kerk ‘n bydrae tot die openbare lewe en die openbare mening lewer?

Op welke wyse verkondig en leef die kerk die evangelie as boodskap van ‘Heil vir die Wereld’ Die opstelle in hierdie bundel dink na oor hierdie soort vrae vanuit ‘n wye verskeidenheid van gesigshoeke. Talle van hierdie vrae is van brandende belang in ‘n tyd waarin baie gepraat word oor die sogenaamde ‘sekularisasie? en waarin baie mense wonder oor die relevansie van die kerk in ‘n tydgees soos vandag.

In hierdie bundel gee vriende, kollegas en studente erkenning aan prof. Dolf Britz by die geleentheid van sy 70ste verjaardag vir sy jare lange arbeid op die terrein van kerkgeskiedenis en kerkreg. Prof. Britz se arbeid is nie slegs akademies van aard nie, maar kan beskryf word as vriendediens aan die terrein van hor onderwys en aan die Kerk in Afrika. Die bundel weerspiel iets van die bre belangstelling wat prof. Britz se arbeid kenmerk van die geskiedenis van die Reformasie tot die geskiedenis van die VOC, van die kerkreg tot die kerkgeskiedskrywing, van die Nadere Reformasie tot die rassevraagstuk in Suid-Afrika. Die outeurs reis daarin saam met prof. Britz op die grondpaaie van die geskiedenis onontdekte paaie, met soveel beloning.E

In this volume friends, colleagues and students give acknowledgement to Prof. Dolf Britz on the occasion of his 70th birthday for his many years of labour in the fi eld of church history and church polity. Prof. BritzOs labour is not just academic in nature, but can best be described as the service of a friend service to the fi eld of higher education and to the Church in Africa. The volume refl ects something of the broad interest that characterises Prof. BritzOs labour from the history of the Reformation to the history of the VOC, from church polity to church historiography, from the Dutch Further Reformation to the question of race in South Africa. Therein the authors travel with Prof. Britz on the gravel roads of history undiscovered roads which yield so much reward.