Die Rooms-Katolieke Wortels van die Mistiek in die Sewentiende en Agttiende-Eeuse Kaapse Piëtisme

Abstract

The research on Cape spirituality of the eighteenth and nineteenth century by Christina Landman, Celestina Pretorius and Karel Schoeman shifted the focus from a constructivist to a transconfessional religious profile. The research of Landman and Schoeman heralded a new era in Pietism research in South African religious and historiographical publications: both authors point out the manifold religious origins of Pietism at the Cape, the mystical nature of Cape Pietism and suggest Medieval origins of the mysticism at the heart of Cape pietistic spirituality. This essay traces the mystical roots of Cape Pietism to prominent Roman Catholic authors: Bernard of Clairvaux, Thomas à Kempis and Johann Tauler. It is concluded that the mystical roots of Cape Protestant spirituality are not the exclusive inheritance of Roman Catholic spirituality but also of Protestant spirituality in Dutch and German Pietism