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Christiaan Frederick Beyers Naudé (10 May 1915 – 7 September 2004) was a South African Afrikaner Calvinist
Dominee In Christianity, a minister is a person authorised by a church or other religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual gui ...
,
theologian Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...
and the leading
Afrikaner Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: Brain to Cas ...
anti-
apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
activist. He was known simply as Beyers Naudé, or more colloquially, ''Oom Bey'' (
Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans g ...
for "Uncle Bey").


Early life and education

One of eight children, Beyers Naudé was born to Jozua François Naudé and Adriana Johanna Naudé (née) van Huyssteen in
Roodepoort Roodepoort is a town in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Formerly an independent municipality, Roodepoort became part of the Johannesburg municipality in the late 1990s, along with Randburg and Sandton. Johannesburg's most famous botanica ...
,
Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...
(now
Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...
). The progenitor of the Naudé name was a French
Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Bez ...
refugee named Jacques Naudé who arrived in the Cape in 1718.. The Naudé surname is one of numerous French surnames that retained their original spelling in South Africa. Beyers Naudé was named after General Christiaan Frederick Beyers, under whom his father had served as a soldier and unofficial
military chaplain A military chaplain ministers to military personnel and, in most cases, their families and civilians working for the military. In some cases they will also work with local civilians within a military area of operations. Although the term '' ...
during the second
Anglo-Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...
."Beyers Naudé." African National Congress. Jozua Naudé, an Afrikaner Calvinist minister,or "
Dominee In Christianity, a minister is a person authorised by a church or other religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual gui ...
", "was convinced that the British would never leave." He helped to found the ''
Broederbond The Afrikaner Broederbond (AB) or simply the Broederbond was an exclusively Afrikaner Calvinist and male secret society in South Africa dedicated to the advancement of the Afrikaner people. It was founded by H. J. Klopper, H. W. van der Merw ...
'' (Afrikaans, "Brotherhood" or "League of Brothers"), the powerful Afrikaner Calvinist men's
secret society A secret society is a club or an organization whose activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence ...
that played a dominant role in
South Africa under apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid wa ...
. The ''Broederbond'' became especially synonymous with the Afrikaner-dominated National Party that won power in 1948 and implemented the racial segregation policy of apartheid. The elder Naudé also helped produce the earliest translations of the Bible into the newly standardized language of
Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans g ...
. In 1921, the Naudé family moved to the
Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope ( af, Provinsie Kaap die Goeie Hoop), commonly referred to as the Cape Province ( af, Kaapprovinsie) and colloquially as The Cape ( af, Die Kaap), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequen ...
town of Graaff-Reinet, in the Karoo region. Beyers Naudé attended Afrikaans Hoërskool frikaans High School matriculating in 1931. Naudé studied theology at the
University of Stellenbosch Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...
and lived at Wilgenhof men's residence. He graduated in 1939 with an MA in languages and a theology degree. His sociology lecturer was the future prime minister and chief-architect of apartheid, H. F. Verwoerd. But Naudé credited Stellenbosch theologian Ben Keet with laying the groundwork for his own theological dissent. Naudé was ordained in 1939 as a minister in the South African
Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family a ...
and joined the ''Broederbond'' as its youngest member. For 20 years he served various congregations,"Beyers Naudé." ''Encarta''. starting at
Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by m ...
in Western Cape Province (1940–1942), Loxton (1942–1945),
Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...
- South-Olifantsfontein (1945–1949), Pretoria East (1945–1954),
Potchefstroom Potchefstroom (, colloquially known as Potch) is an academic city in the North West Province of South Africa. It hosts the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University. Potchefstroom is on the Mooi Rivier (Afrikaans for "pretty riv ...
(1954–1959) and Aasvoëlkop (
Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...
) (1959–1963) preaching a religious justification for apartheid. On 3 August 1940 Naudé married Ilse Weder, whose father had been a Moravian missionary. The couple had three sons and a daughter.


Anti-apartheid activities

The
Sharpeville massacre The Sharpeville massacre occurred on 21 March 1960 at the police station in the township of Sharpeville in the then Transvaal Province of the then Union of South Africa (today part of Gauteng). After demonstrating against pass laws, a crowd o ...
in 1960 (during which the South African police killed 69 black demonstrators protesting against restrictions on their freedom of movement) ended his support for his church's political teachings. He began to question the biblical justification of apartheid by the Dutch Reformed Church: "I made an intensive study of the Bible to prove that those justifications were not valid. I concluded that the passages that were being used by the white DRC to justify apartheid were unfounded. In some cases, there was a deliberate distortion in order to prove the unprovable!" In the three decades after his resignation from the denomination, Naudé's vocal support for racial reconciliation and equal rights led to upheavals in the Dutch Reformed Church.


Cottesloe and the Christian Institute of Southern Africa

In response to Sharpeville, the
World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most ju ...
(WCC) sent a delegation to Johannesburg to meet with clerics. Naudé, by then the moderator of his church district (the Southern Transvaal Synod), helped to organize a consultation (the
Cottesloe Consultation The Cottesloe Consultation was a conference held from December 7–14, 1960 in Cottesloe, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. The immediate impetus for the consultation was the international public outcry against the Sharpeville massacre that ...
) between the WCC and eighty South African church delegates in Cottesloe, a Johannesburg suburb. The
Cottesloe Consultation The Cottesloe Consultation was a conference held from December 7–14, 1960 in Cottesloe, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. The immediate impetus for the consultation was the international public outcry against the Sharpeville massacre that ...
's resolutions rejected race as the basis of exclusion from churches, and affirmed the right of all people to own land and have a say in how they are governed. Naudé alone among his church's delegates steadfastly continued to reject any theological basis for apartheid after Prime Minister Verwoerd forced the DRC delegation to repudiate the consultation. The Dutch Reformed Church later left the World Council of Churches. In 1963 Naudé founded the
Christian Institute of Southern Africa The Christian Institute of Southern Africa was an ecumenical progressive organisation founded by English and Afrikaans clergy in December 1963 to unite South African Christians against apartheid. The CI became deeply involved with black activists ...
(CI), an ecumenical organization with the aim of fostering reconciliation through interracial dialogue, research, and publications. The DRC forced Naudé to choose between his status as minister and directorship of the CI. He then resigned his church post, left his Aasvoëlkop congregation in Northcliff, Johannesburg, and resigned from the ''Broederbond'' in 1963. As a result, he lost his status as minister in the Dutch Reformed Church. His last sermon to his congregation noted that "We must show greater loyalty to God than to man". Stoically anticipating the enormous pressure by the Afrikaner political and church establishment that was to come, he told his wife: "We must prepare for ten years in the wilderness." Former Archbishop Desmond Tutu later said "Beyers became a leper in the Afrikaner community." During the same year Naudé was blamed for leaking secret, confidential and unauthorized documents about the Broederbond to the press. The University of the Witwatersrand New Testament scholar Professor Albert S. Geyser later admitted that he had leaked the documents. Naudé had given the documents to Geyser to evaluate the extent of the influence of the Broederbond on the church. Geyser then provided the information to a journalist at ''The Sunday Times''. The book " The Super-Afrikaners. Inside the Afrikaner Broederbond " written by Ivor Wilkins and Hans Strydom published in 1978 exposed a name list of possible members of the Broederbond. The source of these documents, that was taken without authorization, was blamed on Naudé. In 1967 Naudé and Geyser won a libel case against conservative Pretoria Professor Adriaan Pont, who had called them communists. In 1970 Naudé was among few white South African Christian leaders "who openly called for understanding of the WCC decision" to provide financial support for liberation movements in southern Africa."Letter to Rev. Dr Molefe Tsele, General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches, 7 September 2004." Georges Lemopoulos. World Council of Churches "If blood runs in the streets of South Africa it will not be because the World Council of Churches has done something but because the churches of South Africa have done nothing," Naudé said. In response, the state formed the