Johannes Lukas de Vries

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Johannes Lukas de Vries (born April 9, 1939 in Rehoboth , South West Africa ; † November 27, 2001 ibid) was the first non-white President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in South West Africa (ELK / SWA) from 1972 . He is considered the founder of Black Theology in Namibia .

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Born on April 9, 1939 in Rehoboth in South West Africa, Johannes Lukas de Vries graduated from high school in 1957 and went to the Paulinum Theological Seminary in Karibib for training . After completing various studies at the Moravian Theological Seminary in Port Elizabeth in South Africa in the meantime , he trained as a pastor at the Paulinum from 1961 to 1962. After his ordination he got a position as a lecturer. In 1963 de Vries went to Europe to study theology for five years and studied in Germany , the Netherlands and Belgium . After his return to South West Africa he took on a pastor's position in Rehoboth. In 1969 he went back to the Paulinum, which had meanwhile moved to Otjimbingwe , where he worked as a teacher for two years. He received his doctorate in theology at the theological faculty of the University of Brussels in March 1971. It was not until 1980 that his doctoral thesis was published under the title “Namibia. Mission and Politics 1880–1918 ”published by Neukirchener Verlag .

In 1972 Johannes Lukas de Vries was elected President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in South West Africa (ELK / SWA). He was the first non-German and non-white person to take over the leadership of the church. The organization has been called Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia (ELCRN) since 1990 . Johannes Lukas de Vries later also took over the chairmanship of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church in South West Africa (UELCSWA), which was founded in 1972 . He was also a member of the Council of the Federation of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in South Africa (FELCSA) . After the end of his term as President in 1979, Johannes Lukas de Vries was not re-elected. De Vries then left the church and went into politics as a civil servant. In 1987 he ended this career as well and returned to the Paulinum as a lecturer.

Johannes Lukas de Vries died on November 27, 2001 in his hometown Rehoboth, where his grave is located.

Works

  • Namibia. Mission and Politics 1880–1918 , Neukirchner Verlag, 1980, ISBN 3-7887-0594-9

literature

  • GL Buys, SV Nambala: History of the Church in Namibia 1805–1990 , Gamsberg Macmillan, Windhoek 2003.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Vries, Johannes Lukas de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in South West Africa (ELK / SWA)
DATE OF BIRTH April 9, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Rehoboth , South West Africa
DATE OF DEATH November 27, 2001
Place of death Rehoboth , South West Africa