Dr. Willem Akkerhuys Dreyer

Pretoria, South Africa

Wim Dreyer started a research project ‘Church and Justice’. The main line of enquiry will focus 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.

Dr. Willem Akkerhuys Dreyer is Senior Lecturer in Church History at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He teaches 16th Century Reformation Studies as well as 20th Century Church History. His areas of specialization are John Calvin, Karl Barth and the Ecumenical Movement.

Before starting his academic career in 2010, Wim Dreyer served for 22 years as pastor in several areas in Southern Africa and the last five years as secretary to the Mission and Ecumenical Board of the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika (NHKA). He is serving a fourth term on the Moderature of the NHKA, currently as moderator.

Wim Dreyer started his research in 1986 when he enrolled for postgraduate studies in Systematic Theology with the focus on reformed ecclesiology. In 1995 he completed a doctoral thesis in Church History with a dissertation on the relation between church and state in the South African context. 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 line of enquiry will focus 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.