Wim Dreyer

Faculty of Theology | University of Pretoria

Wim Dreyer is a senior lecturer in Historical Theology at the Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria.

Before starting his academic career in 2010, Wim Dreyer served for 22 years in ministry. During 2005 he was appointed as general secretary of Mission and Ecumenical Relations of the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika (NHKA). He served four terms (2001 – 2013) on the Moderature of the NHKA, also as moderator. He also served as editor of Die Hervormer, official newspaper of the NHKA from 1995 to 2001.

During 1995, Wim Dreyer completed a doctoral thesis in Church History on the relation between church and state in South Africa. In 2011 he completed a PhD in Practical Theology in which he explored new approaches to ecclesiology in a dissertation on ‘Practical Ecclesiology’.

With assistance from the University of Pretoria, in association with the Johannes à Lasco Library (Emden) and the Hardenberg Fellowship Programme, Wim Dreyer started a research project ‘Church and Justice’. The main focus is on the contribution reformed theology made to social, economic and political justice in different contexts. It also explores the contribution reformed theology and churches could make in promoting fundamental values such as justice and human dignity on the African Continent and specifically South Africa. This research also links to the Accra Declaration of the World Communion of Reformed Churches. His teaching responsibilities include courses on reformed theology.

Wim Dreyer is the author of two monographs, 7 chapters in books, 35 articles in theological journals as well as more than a hundred popular articles in various newspapers and magazines.