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Johan Adam Heyns
Prof.Heyns in his study
Born	May 27, 1928(1928-05-27) Tweeling
Died	November 5, 1994 Pretoria
Cause of death	Assassinated
Nationality	South African
Occupation	Theologian
Title	Prof. Dr.
Religious beliefs	Dutch Reformed Church

Johan Adam Heyns (May 27, 1928 – November 5, 1994), was an influential Afrikaner Calvinist theologian and moderator of the general synod of the Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK). He was assassinated at his home in Waterkloof Ridge, Pretoria. Although his murder was never officially resolved it is widely believed^[1] that it was directly related to his criticism of Apartheid and his liberal theological views that led to the acceptance of the pro-gay thesis of Dr. Hendrik Pretorius that shocked clergymen and congregations alike.^[2] Nelson Mandela paid homage to him as a martyr for his country^[3] and a soldier of peace.^[4]

Early life

Johan Adam Heyns was born on the farm Bloemkraal at Tweeling in the Orange Free State, South Africa.

His father, Flip Heyns, wanted to become a missionary, but could not afford to do so and became a farmer instead. His mother, Maria Beukes, was exiled to Saint Helena during the Second Boer War. Her marriage to Flip Heyns was her second. Since her first marriage did not produce any children, Maria promised God that if he would bless her with a son, she would raise him for His service. Although she did not tell Heyns about this promise until years after he had already been ordained as minister, Heyns would later admit that his mother had played a significant role in his eventual decision to become a cleric.^[5]

Being an Afrikaner was important to Heyns since his schooldays. His interests in politics started early, and he became a leader of a youth group in the Ossewabrandwag while still in primary school. (During breaks he would hold meetings and make speeches - an activity which was stopped by the school principal). Despite his father being the leader of the local branch of the National Party and Heyns’ early affinity for politics, he would never formally join the ruling party. Although he maintained a strong pro-national stance, his views were tempered through his ability to maintain a unique critical perspective – an asset which would later become a hallmark of his work.^[6]

During his high school years the family moved to Potchefstroom and operated a boarding house. His love for the Bible and his faith in God was noted by several theology students who were lodging at the Heyns’ residence. At school Heyns was an average student, and showed little interest in the subjects at hand. He did however display a flair for debate and independent thinking on complex topics - after one such discussion (regarding Darwin's evolutionary theory) one theology student voiced his concern to Heyns’ parents that the young man might be losing his mind.^[7]

Higher Education

Johan Heyns completed his undergraduate studies at the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education where he formed a lifelong friendship with Hendrik G. Stoker, the South African Calvinistic thinker and a central advocate of the Philosophy of the Cosmonomic Idea.^[8] Stoker’s reasoning had a marked influence on the rest of his academic career.^[9]

Heyns completed his training as a minister at the University of Pretoria, and decided to continue his theological studies at the Free University. In 1953 he obtained a Ph.D. under the supervision of G. C. Berkouwer with a thesis titled Die Grondstruktuur van die Modalistiese Triniteitsbeskouing (The Basis of the Modalistic Trinity View).

In 1961 he obtained a second Ph.D. (in philosophy) under the supervision of Stoker. His thesis was titled Die Teologiese Antropologie van Karl Barth vanuit Wysgerig-Antropologiese Oriëntering (The Theological Anthropology of Karl Barth from a Philosophical-Anthropological Orientation).^[10]

Career

In 1954, after completion of his theological studies in Amsterdam, Heyns became an ordained minister and served at the Ysterplaat congregation of the NGK. Towards the end of 1960 he transferred to Rondebosch where he counted several Afrikaner politicians amongst his flock (including Hendrik Verwoerd, John Vorster, and PW Botha).

Heyns' academic career started in 1966 when he was appointed as lecturer in dogmatic subjects at the University of Stellenbosch. In 1971 he succeeded A.B. Du Preez as professor at the University of Pretoria where he stayed until his retirement at the end of 1993.

During the more than 20 years that Heyns served the NGK as a professor, he exerted an enormous influence on the church. He was distinguished by a large number of publications^[11] and he filled many public positions in the church, causing him to be regarded as one of the best known theologians in the NGK.^[12]

World View and Theology

Views on Apartheid and Sexual ethics

In the 1980s and the early 1990s Heyns became a central figure in the struggle to change the NGK’s stance on Apartheid, leading to the church’s eventual rejection of that policy.^[13] In 1982 Heyns publicly rejected the notion that Apartheid was the will of God, and caused a furor at that year’s synod by openly supporting multiracial marriages. For a year he stayed out of favor with the church hierarchy, but reemerged in 1986 to become moderator - the highest position in the church. He immediately tried to persuade the church that there was no biblical foundation for Apartheid.

Following the NGK Synod of 1986 (at which Heyns presided), tens of thousands of church members and congregations broke away to form the Afrikaans Protestant Church.^{[14 ]} In September 1989, at a time when the government indiscriminately crushed all protest marches, mediation by NGK leadership under Heyns convinced the government to allow peaceful protests.^[15] This heralded the first swing away from the armed struggle to a strategy of non-violent confrontation.

Characteristic of the winds of change that swept through the NGK during the time of Heyns’ prominent influence on the church, was his acceptance in 1998 of the pro-gay thesis of Hendrik Pretorius titled Homosexuality in Context approved for his Baccalaureus Divinitatis degree conferred on him in 1998. Pretorius was awarded the degree after he established that the content of the thesis had been found biblically acceptable, says the moderator of the NG Church, prof. Johan Heyns. ^[16] This was in accordance with the theological views of the Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland who recognised homosexuals – in the pulpit as well as in the pews, including same sex marriages.^[17] Most theses gather dust on the shelves in libraries of universities, but this thesis would come back years later to haunt Heyns when it was published as a book titled Being gay: punishment or blessing?^[18][19] This ethical question, along with the burning issue of Apartheid, stirred up agitation among the populace who demanded an explanation from Heyns on the circumstances under which he approved the thesis that clearly went against the grain of the church’s official rejection of homosexuality as a sin.^[20]

In 1990, speaking for the NGK, Heyns declared Apartheid a sin. His theological contributions had a large impact on changing the thinking of the Afrikaner government.^{[14 ]}

Assassination

On Saturday evening, November 5, 1994, Heyns was playing cards with his wife and three grandchildren (then aged 2, 8 and 11) at his home in Pretoria. He died instantly when an unidentified attacker using a .303 caliber rifle delivered a single gunshot through an open window. The bullet entered at the back of his neck and left near his eye, leaving a wound as big as a man's fist.^{[21 ]}

Although the police would not speculate on a motive, many were convinced that Heyns was killed by extremists.^[4] Shortly after his assassination a secretary of Die Burger, an Afrikaans newspaper, received threats that three Afrikaans-speaking cabinet members would be next. The caller told the secretary that he had already lost everything as a result of affirmative action: "We belong… I belong to no organization. And this will not be the last one." Subsequent threats followed, indicating that Mandela was also a target.^{[21 ]}

Motives

Three theories are generally regarded to have contributed to the assassination of Heyns:

• His political standpoint regarding Apartheid that led to the schism with and founding of the Afrikaanse Protestantse Kerk and the declaration of Apartheid as a sin;
• His ethical standpoint regarding homosexuality that led to the public controversy with Dr. Hendrik Pretorius between 1990 and 1993, a conflict that directly resulted in Pretorius declaring of the anti-gay doctrine of the church as a sin. The controversy was driven to breaking point when Pretorius, in analogy to Martin Luther, nailed his Twenty Theses to the door of the chapel of the University of Pretoria on Friday, June 7, 1991. The chapel was known as the Church of Saint Alfons Maria de Liguori, after Saint Alfons, the founder of the order of Ligournians, or Redemptoriste, who was declared a saint in 1839. His demands for political and theological reform was addressed to both state and church alike.^[20] This event is widely regarded as the primary catalyst for the Gay Liberation Theology Movement, a Christian reform movement in South Africa that started on that day.
• A combination of the two factors that was experienced by some as an act of treason against the political and ethical values and aspirations of the Afrikaner.

Heyns' assassin left very few clues, and no arrests have been made. In the book "The Tall Assasin: the darkest political murders of the old South Africa" it is claimed that he was killed because he was a double agent.

References

See also

• List of people assassinated in Africa

External links

Parts of this Article were translated from additional information available in the Afrikaans Wikipedia-article"Johan Heyns"

• "Theological Development in the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa" from Theological Forum, Vol. XXIII, No. 4, December 1995, with a description of Heyns's contributions
• J A Heyns en die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk en Apartheid - D.Th. thesis by Henry Hofmeyr Williams at the University of the Free State. It contains an extensive analysis of Heyns' Theological viewpoints and accomplishments, and includes significant information on his background as Afrikaner and the role he had played in the eventual declaration of the Dutch Reformed Church that Apartheid was sin. In Afrikaans.