Andries Raath

Hendrina Cecilia Kruger's religious mentality profile in her mystical devotional book (c. 1750−1810) from the Trekboer period

Hendrina Cecilia Kruger’s religious mentality profile in her mystical devotional book (c. 1750−1810) from the Trekboer period. The religious views of the Trekboers on the frontier were shaped by pietistic religious literature circulating in the Cape interior. The religious ego-text of Hendrina Cecilia Kruger reflects elements of two streams of pietism: Dutch Second Reformation devotional literature and the works of German pietists in the line of Spener and other German mystics. The cumulative impact of experiential faith in Reformed mysticism and the mystical views of German pietism produced a spirituality of exceptional intensity in the pioneering communities of Reformed believers on the frontier. It is concluded that the mystical religious mentality of the Trekboer pietists exhibited exceptional levels of faith amidst dire physical and emotional conditions on the frontier. In spite of high levels of mystical pietism in her devotional book Kruger remained committed to the basic tenets of Reformed spirituality.

From Heinrich Bullinger to puritanism: John Hooper's theology and the office of magistracy

The sixteenth-century English Reformer John Hoopers views on the biblical idea of magisterial office and the application of Gods law to the whole of the Christian community had a profound influence in England and Scotland. It is also clear that Hooper assimilated much of the German Reformer Heinrich Bullingers theologico-political federalism, and played an important role in the reception of Bullingers thought in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Britain. Bullinger, via Hooper, also influenced English and Scottish theories of political resistance in diverse ways.