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Ben Marais
Born	Barend Jacobus Marais (1909-04-26)26 April 1909 near Steynsburg, Cape Province, Union of South Africa
Died	27 January 1999(1999-01-27) (aged 89) Pretoria, South Africa
Education	Stellenbosch University Princeton Theological Seminary
Occupations	Minister, theologian, church historian and academic
Employer(s)	University of Pretoria University of South Africa
Known for	Early criticism of the theological justification of apartheid
Spouse	Sebastina Catharina Maria Botha ​ ​ (m. 1939)​
Parent(s)	Willem Frederik Marais Elizabeth Magdalena Botha

Barend Jacobus "Ben" Marais (26 April 1909 – 27 January 1999) was a South African Dutch Reformed minister, theologian, church historian and ecumenist. He was among the earliest prominent Afrikaner theologians within the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) to reject attempts to justify racial segregation and apartheid from the Bible.

Marais served as a professor of church history and church polity at the University of Pretoria from 1954 until his retirement in 1974 and subsequently taught at the University of South Africa until 1986. He participated in international ecumenical organisations, contributed to the anti-apartheid theological collection Vertraagde Aksie (Delayed Action), and was a founding member of the Christian Institute of Southern Africa. Although his early criticism did not amount to an immediate rejection of every form of racial separation, his challenge to the biblical foundations of apartheid helped establish a tradition of dissent within the DRC later associated with theologians such as B. B. Keet, Beyers Naudé and David Bosch.

Early life and education

Barend Jacobus Marais was born on 26 April 1909 on the farm Frisgewaagd in the Klein Suurberg area of the Steynsburg district in the northeastern Cape Province. He was the son of Willem Frederik Marais and Elizabeth Magdalena Botha and was one of twelve children. On 29 April 1939 Marais married Sebastina Catharina Maria Botha in Kuruman, Cape Province.

He entered Stellenbosch University in 1928 to prepare for the ministry of the Dutch Reformed Church. After completing his theological training at Stellenbosch, Marais continued his studies at Princeton Theological Seminary in the United States. He obtained a Master of Theology degree there in 1936. His experience abroad exposed him to American discussions of race, mission and ecumenism and contributed to his growing awareness that the racial policies of South African churches were increasingly isolated from international Christianity.

Marais later completed a doctorate at Stellenbosch University. His two-volume dissertation, supervised by Barend Bartholomeus Keet, was titled Die Christelike Broederskapsleer: Sy Agtergrond en Toepassing in die Vroeë Kerk (The doctrine of Christian brotherhood: its background and application in the early church) and was accepted in 1946. Its emphasis on Christian brotherhood, equality before God and the universal nature of the church provided an important theological foundation for his later criticism of racial theology.

Ministry and ecumenical formation

After returning from Princeton, Marais was ordained as a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church. He served as a student minister in Pretoria from 1938 to 1941 and later ministered in the DRC congregation of Pretoria East.

In 1938 Marais attended the International Missionary Council conference at Tambaram, near Madras, India. His encounter with Christians from different countries and racial backgrounds convinced him that world Christianity would neither understand nor accept the DRC's racial policies. This experience strengthened his commitment to the ecumenical movement and to evaluating South African church policies in relation to the wider Christian church.

Marais subsequently participated in several international church gatherings. He became associated with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and served during 1953 and 1954 on its international study commission on "The Church and Race". He was one of the principal speakers on race relations at the WCC's 1954 assembly in Evanston, Illinois. His participation drew complaints from conservative church circles and prompted an inquiry by the DRC body responsible for theological education, although no formal action was taken against him.

Marais also undertook an international study tour of the Americas and the Caribbean to investigate race relations and the churches' responses to racial conflict. These experiences reinforced his view that the South African churches' racial policies could not be considered in isolation from international Christianity.

Academic career

In 1953 Marais was appointed as the second professor in the Department of Church History and Church Polity in the DRC section of the University of Pretoria's Faculty of Theology. He began teaching in 1954 and was responsible for church history, church polity, ecumenism and the history of Christian missions.

Marais was known as an engaging lecturer and introduced students to international developments in theology, mission and ecumenism. His work brought him into increasing tension with conservative elements in the DRC and at the university, particularly after his public statements at the 1954 Evanston assembly and his criticism of the church's racial policies.

He served as dean of the Faculty of Theology during the final years of his appointment and retired from the University of Pretoria in 1974. Although widely respected as a scholar and lecturer, he remained unpopular among many church leaders because of his sustained criticism of apartheid theology.

Marais joined the University of South Africa in 1975, where he continued teaching and research in church history until his final retirement in 1986. The university awarded him an honorary doctorate in theology in 1979 in recognition of his academic and ecclesiastical contribution.

Criticism of apartheid theology

Early opposition

Marais's criticism of the biblical justification of racial segregation began well before the National Party formally introduced apartheid after its victory in the 1948 general election. On 10 April 1940 he wrote to the DRC newspaper Die Kerkbode, arguing that there was no scriptural foundation for apartheid. At the Transvaal Synod in 1944 he questioned claims that racial separation and white guardianship over black South Africans were principles derived from the Word of God.

In a 1947 article in Op die Horison, Marais criticised the direct transfer of Old Testament commands concerning the separation of Israel to modern racial relations in South Africa. He argued that the historically specific regulations applied to ancient Israel could not simply be imposed on Afrikaners, English-speaking South Africans or black South Africans.

Marais based his position on what he called the doctrine of Christian brotherhood. God was the father of all people, all human beings were equal before God, and the Christian gospel was fundamentally universal. He warned that temporary social institutions such as nation, race and state should not be treated as absolute or divinely ordained categories.

His position prompted an extensive public dispute in Die Kerkbode during 1948. Marais continued developing his arguments in the 1950 article "Die Skrif en Rasse-apartheid" ("Scripture and racial apartheid"), published in Die Gereformeerde Vaandel. He criticised wishful interpretations of Scripture in which biblical passages were selected because they appeared to confirm existing racial assumptions. Scripture, he argued, had to be interpreted as a whole and in conversation with the wider Christian church.

Limits of his early position

Marais's early theology did not amount to an unqualified rejection of all racial separation. He allowed that separation might under some circumstances be defended for substantial practical reasons, provided that it was not motivated by racial self-interest, fear or assumptions of white superiority. He also retained the contemporary language of Christian "guardianship", although he rejected the idea that white guardianship over black people could be permanent.

Later scholarship has consequently characterised Marais as an important but transitional critic of apartheid theology. His writings challenged its asserted biblical authority and its elevation of race and nation into permanent theological categories, but some of his assumptions remained paternalistic when judged against later anti-apartheid and liberation theology.

The colour crisis

In 1952 Marais published the Afrikaans study Die kleur-krisis en die Weste. An English version, Colour: Unsolved Problem of the West, appeared in 1953. The book examined racial conflict in South Africa in relation to colonialism, international Christianity and the wider political transformation of Africa and Asia.

Marais argued that Scripture did not emphasise racial separation but rather the separation caused by human sin. He criticised attempts to protect white privilege by presenting racial policies as commands of God and warned that the DRC's position was isolating it from the international Christian community.

The book attracted considerable attention and opposition in both church and political circles. It established Marais as one of the best-known internal critics of the DRC's developing theological defence of apartheid.

Public opposition and church conflict

In 1955 Marais joined a group of Afrikaans academics who opposed the National Party government's attempt to remove coloured voters from the common electoral roll and restructure the Senate to secure the necessary parliamentary majority. His public involvement led to criticism from church members and Afrikaner nationalist organisations.

Marais was also critical of secret political organisations operating within the church. At the Northern Transvaal Synod in 1957 he introduced a proposal opposing membership in secret societies, including the Broederbond. The proposal was rejected and contributed to his growing isolation within the DRC.

Following the Sharpeville massacre in March 1960, Marais joined Afrikaans theologians who sought a more explicit Christian response to apartheid. He contributed to Vertraagde Aksie: 'n Ekumeniese Getuienis uit die Afrikaanssprekende Kerk (Delayed Action: An Ecumenical Witness from the Afrikaans-speaking Church), edited by Albert Geyser and B. B. Keet. The collection, published in 1960, was the first coordinated theological protest against apartheid by a group of Afrikaans clergy and academics.

Marais's contribution, "Die Kerk in die Huidige Wêreld" ("The Church in the contemporary world"), addressed the church's public responsibility in a racially divided society. He argued that Christians could not refuse fellowship or prayer with other believers solely because of their race.

Although Marais was not a delegate to the December 1960 Cottesloe Consultation, his international correspondence and ecumenical activity formed part of the background to the meeting. He supported its attempt to bring South African churches together following Sharpeville and opposed the DRC's subsequent rejection of its resolutions.

The Transvaal Synod reprimanded the DRC contributors to Vertraagde Aksie in 1961. Marais nevertheless remained within the denomination and continued advocating reform from within its structures.

Christian Institute and ecumenical work

Marais was a founding member of the Christian Institute of Southern Africa, established in 1963 by Christians seeking to continue the ecumenical witness associated with Cottesloe. Other founders included Albert Geyser, Beyers Naudé, D. C. S. Oosthuizen and John de Gruchy.

Unlike Geyser and Naudé, whose conflicts with their denominations eventually resulted in their departure or exclusion, Marais remained a minister and member of the DRC. He sought to maintain contact between the denomination and the international ecumenical movement and continued to argue that the church should reform its racial policies from within.

Marais's relationship with the World Council of Churches became more critical during the late 1960s and early 1970s. While he continued to oppose apartheid, he objected to WCC financial support for southern African liberation movements through its Programme to Combat Racism. He feared that church funds might contribute to violence and communist influence and wrote publicly to WCC leaders expressing his objections.

This position distinguished Marais from more radical anti-apartheid church leaders. It reflected his continuing commitment to reconciliation, persuasion and non-violent reform, but also demonstrated the limits of his alignment with the increasingly liberation-oriented ecumenical movement.

Later life and recognition

After his retirement from the University of South Africa, Marais remained involved in church and theological discussions. In 1984 the University of South Africa published the festschrift New Faces of Africa: Essays in Honour of Ben (Barend Jacobus) Marais, edited by J. W. Hofmeyr and Willem S. Vorster.

The University of Pretoria held the first Ben Marais Memorial Lecture in August 1993. Marais attended and participated in the event, which reflected a growing reassessment of his treatment by the university and the DRC.

A more public reconciliation occurred at the DRC's General Synod in Pretoria in October 1994. President Nelson Mandela called upon the church to recognise figures such as Marais who had warned it against apartheid. The synod subsequently acknowledged its unbrotherly treatment of members who had opposed racial theology. Marais, by then elderly and in poor health, attended the meeting and received a standing ovation from the delegates.

Marais suffered a stroke in 1998 and did not fully recover. He died in Pretoria on 27 January 1999, aged 89.

Legacy

Marais is remembered as one of the earliest sustained critics of apartheid theology from within the Dutch Reformed Church. His significance lay particularly in challenging the claim that racial separation was an unambiguous biblical doctrine. His appeals to Christian brotherhood, the universal church, responsible biblical interpretation and international ecumenical opinion provided resources later developed more radically by figures such as Beyers Naudé, Albert Geyser and other anti-apartheid theologians.

His career also illustrates the gradual development of white Afrikaans theological opposition to apartheid. Marais moved beyond the dominant racial theology of his church but remained committed to reform through established church institutions. His opposition to the WCC's support for liberation movements and the paternalistic elements in his earlier work distinguish his position from later Black and liberation theologians.

The DRC's recognition of Marais in 1994 symbolised its broader repudiation of the theological justification of apartheid and its acknowledgement that internal dissenters had been marginalised or ignored.

Selected publications

• (1946). Die Christelike Broederskapsleer: Sy Agtergrond en Toepassing in die Vroeë Kerk. Doctoral dissertation, Stellenbosch University.
• (1950). "Die Skrif en Rasse-apartheid." Die Gereformeerde Vaandel. 18 (1): 14–25.
• (1952). Die kleur-krisis en die Weste. Johannesburg: Goeie Hoop Uitgewers.
• (1953). Colour: Unsolved Problem of the West. Cape Town: Howard B. Timmins.
• (1960). "Die Kerk in die Huidige Wêreld." In A. S. Geyser and B. B. Keet, eds., Vertraagde Aksie: 'n Ekumeniese Getuienis uit die Afrikaanssprekende Kerk.
• (1960). Die Kerk deur die Eeue. Pretoria: N. G. Kerkboekhandel.
• (1964). The Two Faces of Africa. Pietermaritzburg: Shuter & Shooter.
• (1974). Die Verre Horison: Gebede vir Soggens en Saans. Pretoria: N. G. Kerkboekhandel.

See also

• Albert Geyser
• B. B. Keet
• Beyers Naudé
• Christian Institute of Southern Africa
• Cottesloe Consultation
• Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK)

Further reading

• Coetzee, Murray H. (2010). Die "kritiese stem" teen apartheidsteologie in die Ned Geref Kerk (1905–1974): 'n Analise van die bydraes van Ben Marais en Beyers Naudé. Wellington: Bybel-Media.
• Engdahl, Horst S. A. (2008). "Searching for the hidden story in Ben Marais' theology." Journal of Theology for Southern Africa. 132: 67–78.
• Hofmeyr, J. W. and W. S. Vorster, eds. (1984). New Faces of Africa: Essays in Honour of Ben (Barend Jacobus) Marais. Pretoria: University of South Africa.
• Maritz, Petrus Jacobus (2003). Ben Marais (1909–1999): The influences on and heritage of a South African prophet during two periods of transformation. DD thesis, University of Pretoria.