Willem H Oliver
Biographic Data
| ID | 6794722 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Willem H Oliver |
| GIVEN NAMES | Willem H |
| FAMILY NAME | Oliver |
| SIGNATURE | OLIVER W H |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of South Africa |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5607-8833 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 10 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 23 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
The crown of the Regina Scientiarum in South Africa
The early notion of European Universities that developed on a Christian foundation where Theology occupied a special place got lost in the chaos of change brought about by the fourth revolutions world. In addition to these pressures, Theology in South Africa is further constrained by internal demands for transformation at various levels. This research focuses on determining if the education of Theology is still relevant within the current context…
Only’ or ‘also’ or ‘never mind’ Jesus
This article explores two Christian perspectives on how to inherit eternity: The inclusive Christianity view and the exclusive Christianity view. The central research question is: What role does Jesus play in human salvation? Using a semi-systematic or narrative review approach, representative documents were analysed. According to these sources, many scholars believe that salvation can only be attained through Jesus by being a devoted follower. O…
Serious games in service of Theology
Serious games (SGs) are part and parcel of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Education 4.0 that we are living in right now. A SG is an alternative educational approach where a part of the curriculum, in this case, the practical side of Practical Theology – being one of the subjects presented to prospective theologians and pastors – is presented in the form of a game, familiarising the students with practical issues in a congregation. This arti…
An alternative look at John 14
This article takes an alternative look at John 14:6 in its pericope John 14:1–14 as part of Jesus’ Farewell Discourse to his disciples (Jn 13–17). This verse forms part of the seven ‘I am’ sayings in the Gospel of John. Traditionally the two καί terms in John 14:6 are translated with ‘and’ I am the way and the truth and the life. However, this article opts for the epexegetical or explicative (also called explanatory) way to translate καί. The rea…
Θεός, Father and the ‘Holy Trinity’ in the New Testament
The term ‘Holy Trinity’, not known to the writers of the Bible, is still an elusive term to use nowadays, especially when one first reads the New Testament in light of the Old Testament and not immediately in light of the Creeds and Statements of Faith. This article discusses the roles of Θεός (God) and ‘Father’ in the New Testament with reference to the Holy Trinity. The conclusion is that the New Testament does not depict a Holy Trinity, but ra…
A theology rhizome
This article contains suggestions to the Faculties of Theology in South Africa about an alternative way and direction to educate their students in this metamodern era. Because any learning in a specific profession implies lifelong and lifewide learning, the suggestion also includes the alumni of the faculties. This is all about rhizomatic learning, which involves both the educators and their students in an interactive and student-centred relation…
The anti-eternal functional subordination versus the eternal functional subordination
This article is a follow-up of an article that describes the proponents of the eternal functional subordination (EFS). This evangelical movement was introduced by George Knight in 1977. The EFS refers to the relationship between God the Father and God the Son as an eternal authoritative position held by the Father, while the Son occupies an eternal subordinated position. This is not the position held by the mainline Protestant churches. The propo…
God as one, with reference to Barth and the perichoresis doctrine
This article cursorily discussed the views of Karl Barth and the perichoresis doctrine on the Holy Trinity. The aim of the article was to discuss how both Barth and perichoresis almost touch the fact that God is one, although they do not admit it. They rather maintain the classic conviction (‘default idea’) that God consists of three hypostases (Persons) in one ousia (Being). Barth’s view is that God has different Seinsweisen, indicating that God…
From in-person to online worship
For too long, the world of theology was separated from the digital world. At present, the church of God is facing a unique moment, in which they have to decide how to act as a community of joyful and engaging followers of Jesus in a world where coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) protocols like wearing masks and maintaining physical distancing are followed and where digital connectivity has become indispensable. Many people refer to this period a…
The water in John 3
ohn 3:5 refers to water. This term, within the Nicodemus discourse, is interpreted in many ways. From as far back as the early church and the Church Fathers, most of them have indicated that when Jesus talked about water, he was referring to baptism. This point of view elevated baptism to the level of a conversion, being a precondition for entering the kingdom of God, causing the early church to make baptism a sacrament. After cursorily discussin…
Roundtable Discussion from the Annual Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice Public Lecture on Economies of Violence
In South Africa, the month of August is marked by two significant events in the country’s history: The anti-apartheid women’s march which hap-pened on 9 August 1956 and the Marikana massacre on 16 August 2012, in which 34 miners were killed by the police at the Lonmin mine. These events bring up for scrutiny the “Economies of Violence” that continue to sustain the indignity and the poverty which women, queer people, and marginalised black people …
Authority of the Father
This article aims to provide the reader with a short introduction on, and overview of the movement called Eternal Functional Subordination (EFS) that wasintroduced in 1977 by a Presbyterian preacher, George Knight. This is mostly an evangelical movement and is generally concerned with the relationship between God the Father and God the Son, which is regarded as an eternal authoritative position of the Father, and an eternal subordination of the S…
Stephan Joubert festschrift
HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies is an acclaimed journal with broad coverage that promotes multidisciplinary, religious, and biblical aspects of studies in the international theological arena. The journal’s publication criteria are based on high ethical standards and the rigor of the methodology and conclusions reported
The radical, righteous and relevant Jesus in a coronavirus disease-defined world
Stephan Joubert has already made his mark in South Africa (and abroad) with his solid way of doing Theology. In this Festschrift , we wanted to accord recognition to him for what he has already made and for what he is currently doing with e-kerk. His book, Jesus Radical, Righteous, Relevant , having initially been written in Afrikaans, was translated in 2012 into English and depicts his heart for the followers of Jesus and the familia Dei, specif…
The praxis of Adversus Praxeam
Tertullian was an African, living in Carthage during the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE. He grew up a pagan, then became a Catholic Christian, after which he moved on to the sect of Montanus, referred to as the New Prophecy in this article, where he became the leader in Carthage. While he was still a pagan, he studied and became an advocate and when he was converted to Christianity, he became a prolific writer of Christian treatises, mostly apologies i…
Trinity disruption
This article does not have in mind to persuade its readers in a specific direction. What it has in mind is to make the reader think, and in this way, to rethink the ontology of the Trinity, as a Christian in a post-Christian, fourth revolution era. To significantly reason about the Trinity is a challenge, having the potential to easily be labelled as a heretic or part of a sect. However, to just accept all the ‘facts’ about the Trinity in the Bib…
The Bible in the Fourth Industrial Revolution
The society in which we currently live and operate is globally the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and locally our (unique) environment or community. Although we are still in a lag period between the 3IR and 4IR, the 4IR already has a global disruptive effect, with artificial intelligence being gradually implemented, with fluid contexts, and where nobody agrees on anything. Deep learning, unlearning and relearning must take place on a daily ba…
Teaching theology in the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Post-school education (PSE) in South Africa mostly takes place within an industrial-age factory environment as has been done for the past 50 years or longer. This is the case despite the fact that the world is on the brink of, or already part of, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), called by some an ‘emerging new world order’. Educating students today like we did it half a century ago has now become education to a ‘quickly vanishing world’. A…
Documents written by the heads of the Catechetical School in Alexandria
The first article of this series of two discusses and notes the documents written by the heads of the Catechetical School in Alexandria – from Mark the Evangelist to Clement of Alexandria – covering the period between approximately 40 CE and the end of the 2nd century. This article covers the period from the beginning of the 3rd century, starting with Origen and ending with Rhodon and the demise of the Catechetical School in Alexandria at the end…
Documents written by the heads of the Catechetical School in Alexandria
The Catechetical School in Alexandria has delivered a number of prolific scholars and writers during the first centuries of the Common Era, up to its demise by the end of the 4th century. These scholars have produced an extensive collection of documents of which not many are extant. Fortunately, there are many references to these documents supplying us with an idea of the content thereof. As the author could not find one single source containing …
The heads of the Catechetical School in Alexandria
This is the second of two articles, the first article being concerned with general questions regarding the Didaskaleion in Alexandria. The account of the founding of the Didaskaleion in Alexandria is based on information provided by Eusebius of Caesarea (263 339), a Roman historian, exegete and Christian polemicist, in his well-known Historia Ecclesiastica, which he wrote during the first half of the 4th century. The heads of the Didaskaleion are…
The Catechetical School in Alexandria
During her Golden Era, Alexandria, the Delta City of Egypt, was the pride of Africa in that she was larger than the two other world cities of the Roman Empire Rome and Antioch and also the unrivalled intellectual centre of the (Greco-)Roman world. Her schools, including the Didaskaleion the Catechetical School outshone the schools of her rivals by far. During the first half of the 1st century CE and specifically after the destruction of the templ…
The formation of Christian theology in Alexandria
Jesus was born in Palestine. He was the main determinant for the foundation of a religious movement or sect later called Christianity. This movement, founded in Palestine after the ascension of Jesus, with Jerusalem as its main centre of worship, was merely a Judaeo-Christian sect. In Jerusalem, the adherents to this movement were not really distinctive from the Jewish religion, as they worshipped the same God, Yahweh, went to the same Temple and…
From in-person to online worship
For too long, the world of theology was separated from the digital world. At present, the church of God is facing a unique moment, in which they have to decide how to act as a community of joyful and engaging followers of Jesus in a world where coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) protocols like wearing masks and maintaining physical distancing are followed and where digital connectivity has become indispensable. Many people refer to this period a…
Trinity disruption
This article does not have in mind to persuade its readers in a specific direction. What it has in mind is to make the reader think, and in this way, to rethink the ontology of the Trinity, as a Christian in a post-Christian, fourth revolution era. To significantly reason about the Trinity is a challenge, having the potential to easily be labelled as a heretic or part of a sect. However, to just accept all the ‘facts’ about the Trinity in the Bib…
The formation of Christian theology in Alexandria
Jesus was born in Palestine. He was the main determinant for the foundation of a religious movement or sect later called Christianity. This movement, founded in Palestine after the ascension of Jesus, with Jerusalem as its main centre of worship, was merely a Judaeo-Christian sect. In Jerusalem, the adherents to this movement were not really distinctive from the Jewish religion, as they worshipped the same God, Yahweh, went to the same Temple and…
A theology rhizome
This article contains suggestions to the Faculties of Theology in South Africa about an alternative way and direction to educate their students in this metamodern era. Because any learning in a specific profession implies lifelong and lifewide learning, the suggestion also includes the alumni of the faculties. This is all about rhizomatic learning, which involves both the educators and their students in an interactive and student-centred relation…
God as one, with reference to Barth and the perichoresis doctrine
This article cursorily discussed the views of Karl Barth and the perichoresis doctrine on the Holy Trinity. The aim of the article was to discuss how both Barth and perichoresis almost touch the fact that God is one, although they do not admit it. They rather maintain the classic conviction (‘default idea’) that God consists of three hypostases (Persons) in one ousia (Being). Barth’s view is that God has different Seinsweisen, indicating that God…
The water in John 3
ohn 3:5 refers to water. This term, within the Nicodemus discourse, is interpreted in many ways. From as far back as the early church and the Church Fathers, most of them have indicated that when Jesus talked about water, he was referring to baptism. This point of view elevated baptism to the level of a conversion, being a precondition for entering the kingdom of God, causing the early church to make baptism a sacrament. After cursorily discussin…
Documents written by the heads of the Catechetical School in Alexandria
The Catechetical School in Alexandria has delivered a number of prolific scholars and writers during the first centuries of the Common Era, up to its demise by the end of the 4th century. These scholars have produced an extensive collection of documents of which not many are extant. Fortunately, there are many references to these documents supplying us with an idea of the content thereof. As the author could not find one single source containing …
The formation of Christian theology in Alexandria
Jesus was born in Palestine. He was the main determinant for the foundation of a religious movement or sect later called Christianity. This movement, founded in Palestine after the ascension of Jesus, with Jerusalem as its main centre of worship, was merely a Judaeo-Christian sect. In Jerusalem, the adherents to this movement were not really distinctive from the Jewish religion, as they worshipped the same God, Yahweh, went to the same Temple and…
The heads of the Catechetical School in Alexandria
This is the second of two articles, the first article being concerned with general questions regarding the Didaskaleion in Alexandria. The account of the founding of the Didaskaleion in Alexandria is based on information provided by Eusebius of Caesarea (263 339), a Roman historian, exegete and Christian polemicist, in his well-known Historia Ecclesiastica, which he wrote during the first half of the 4th century. The heads of the Didaskaleion are…
The Catechetical School in Alexandria
During her Golden Era, Alexandria, the Delta City of Egypt, was the pride of Africa in that she was larger than the two other world cities of the Roman Empire Rome and Antioch and also the unrivalled intellectual centre of the (Greco-)Roman world. Her schools, including the Didaskaleion the Catechetical School outshone the schools of her rivals by far. During the first half of the 1st century CE and specifically after the destruction of the templ…
Documents written by the heads of the Catechetical School in Alexandria
The first article of this series of two discusses and notes the documents written by the heads of the Catechetical School in Alexandria – from Mark the Evangelist to Clement of Alexandria – covering the period between approximately 40 CE and the end of the 2nd century. This article covers the period from the beginning of the 3rd century, starting with Origen and ending with Rhodon and the demise of the Catechetical School in Alexandria at the end…
Documents written by the heads of the Catechetical School in Alexandria
The Catechetical School in Alexandria has delivered a number of prolific scholars and writers during the first centuries of the Common Era, up to its demise by the end of the 4th century. These scholars have produced an extensive collection of documents of which not many are extant. Fortunately, there are many references to these documents supplying us with an idea of the content thereof. As the author could not find one single source containing …
The Bible in the Fourth Industrial Revolution
The society in which we currently live and operate is globally the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and locally our (unique) environment or community. Although we are still in a lag period between the 3IR and 4IR, the 4IR already has a global disruptive effect, with artificial intelligence being gradually implemented, with fluid contexts, and where nobody agrees on anything. Deep learning, unlearning and relearning must take place on a daily ba…
Teaching theology in the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Post-school education (PSE) in South Africa mostly takes place within an industrial-age factory environment as has been done for the past 50 years or longer. This is the case despite the fact that the world is on the brink of, or already part of, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), called by some an ‘emerging new world order’. Educating students today like we did it half a century ago has now become education to a ‘quickly vanishing world’. A…
Roundtable Discussion from the Annual Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice Public Lecture on Economies of Violence
In South Africa, the month of August is marked by two significant events in the country’s history: The anti-apartheid women’s march which hap-pened on 9 August 1956 and the Marikana massacre on 16 August 2012, in which 34 miners were killed by the police at the Lonmin mine. These events bring up for scrutiny the “Economies of Violence” that continue to sustain the indignity and the poverty which women, queer people, and marginalised black people …
Authority of the Father
This article aims to provide the reader with a short introduction on, and overview of the movement called Eternal Functional Subordination (EFS) that wasintroduced in 1977 by a Presbyterian preacher, George Knight. This is mostly an evangelical movement and is generally concerned with the relationship between God the Father and God the Son, which is regarded as an eternal authoritative position of the Father, and an eternal subordination of the S…
Stephan Joubert festschrift
HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies is an acclaimed journal with broad coverage that promotes multidisciplinary, religious, and biblical aspects of studies in the international theological arena. The journal’s publication criteria are based on high ethical standards and the rigor of the methodology and conclusions reported
The radical, righteous and relevant Jesus in a coronavirus disease-defined world
Stephan Joubert has already made his mark in South Africa (and abroad) with his solid way of doing Theology. In this Festschrift , we wanted to accord recognition to him for what he has already made and for what he is currently doing with e-kerk. His book, Jesus Radical, Righteous, Relevant , having initially been written in Afrikaans, was translated in 2012 into English and depicts his heart for the followers of Jesus and the familia Dei, specif…
The praxis of Adversus Praxeam
Tertullian was an African, living in Carthage during the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE. He grew up a pagan, then became a Catholic Christian, after which he moved on to the sect of Montanus, referred to as the New Prophecy in this article, where he became the leader in Carthage. While he was still a pagan, he studied and became an advocate and when he was converted to Christianity, he became a prolific writer of Christian treatises, mostly apologies i…
Trinity disruption
This article does not have in mind to persuade its readers in a specific direction. What it has in mind is to make the reader think, and in this way, to rethink the ontology of the Trinity, as a Christian in a post-Christian, fourth revolution era. To significantly reason about the Trinity is a challenge, having the potential to easily be labelled as a heretic or part of a sect. However, to just accept all the ‘facts’ about the Trinity in the Bib…
From in-person to online worship
For too long, the world of theology was separated from the digital world. At present, the church of God is facing a unique moment, in which they have to decide how to act as a community of joyful and engaging followers of Jesus in a world where coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) protocols like wearing masks and maintaining physical distancing are followed and where digital connectivity has become indispensable. Many people refer to this period a…
The water in John 3
ohn 3:5 refers to water. This term, within the Nicodemus discourse, is interpreted in many ways. From as far back as the early church and the Church Fathers, most of them have indicated that when Jesus talked about water, he was referring to baptism. This point of view elevated baptism to the level of a conversion, being a precondition for entering the kingdom of God, causing the early church to make baptism a sacrament. After cursorily discussin…
The anti-eternal functional subordination versus the eternal functional subordination
This article is a follow-up of an article that describes the proponents of the eternal functional subordination (EFS). This evangelical movement was introduced by George Knight in 1977. The EFS refers to the relationship between God the Father and God the Son as an eternal authoritative position held by the Father, while the Son occupies an eternal subordinated position. This is not the position held by the mainline Protestant churches. The propo…
God as one, with reference to Barth and the perichoresis doctrine
This article cursorily discussed the views of Karl Barth and the perichoresis doctrine on the Holy Trinity. The aim of the article was to discuss how both Barth and perichoresis almost touch the fact that God is one, although they do not admit it. They rather maintain the classic conviction (‘default idea’) that God consists of three hypostases (Persons) in one ousia (Being). Barth’s view is that God has different Seinsweisen, indicating that God…
Serious games in service of Theology
Serious games (SGs) are part and parcel of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Education 4.0 that we are living in right now. A SG is an alternative educational approach where a part of the curriculum, in this case, the practical side of Practical Theology – being one of the subjects presented to prospective theologians and pastors – is presented in the form of a game, familiarising the students with practical issues in a congregation. This arti…
An alternative look at John 14
This article takes an alternative look at John 14:6 in its pericope John 14:1–14 as part of Jesus’ Farewell Discourse to his disciples (Jn 13–17). This verse forms part of the seven ‘I am’ sayings in the Gospel of John. Traditionally the two καί terms in John 14:6 are translated with ‘and’ I am the way and the truth and the life. However, this article opts for the epexegetical or explicative (also called explanatory) way to translate καί. The rea…
Θεός, Father and the ‘Holy Trinity’ in the New Testament
The term ‘Holy Trinity’, not known to the writers of the Bible, is still an elusive term to use nowadays, especially when one first reads the New Testament in light of the Old Testament and not immediately in light of the Creeds and Statements of Faith. This article discusses the roles of Θεός (God) and ‘Father’ in the New Testament with reference to the Holy Trinity. The conclusion is that the New Testament does not depict a Holy Trinity, but ra…
A theology rhizome
This article contains suggestions to the Faculties of Theology in South Africa about an alternative way and direction to educate their students in this metamodern era. Because any learning in a specific profession implies lifelong and lifewide learning, the suggestion also includes the alumni of the faculties. This is all about rhizomatic learning, which involves both the educators and their students in an interactive and student-centred relation…
The crown of the Regina Scientiarum in South Africa
The early notion of European Universities that developed on a Christian foundation where Theology occupied a special place got lost in the chaos of change brought about by the fourth revolutions world. In addition to these pressures, Theology in South Africa is further constrained by internal demands for transformation at various levels. This research focuses on determining if the education of Theology is still relevant within the current context…
Only’ or ‘also’ or ‘never mind’ Jesus
This article explores two Christian perspectives on how to inherit eternity: The inclusive Christianity view and the exclusive Christianity view. The central research question is: What role does Jesus play in human salvation? Using a semi-systematic or narrative review approach, representative documents were analysed. According to these sources, many scholars believe that salvation can only be attained through Jesus by being a devoted follower. O…
Philosophy (19 works) · Philosophy (15 works) · Theology (15 works) · Law (11 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Biblical Studies and Interpretation (10 works) · Political science (10 works) · Christian Theology and Mission (7 works) · Classics (7 works) · History (7 works)