(Faculty of Theology, University of the Free State, 2016) Strauss, P. J.
An investigation into the name of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) reveals that
it is a reformed church in the Dutch tradition with the cultural side of it’s origin in
the Netherlands. The acceptance of this name indicates that the DRC should never
stop an internal, ongoing process of reformation. The fact that the DRC officially
took the name is owned to it’s General Synod to which decisions over this kind of
thing, is given. The name “Dutch Reformed” was thus accepted in 1962. Both the
terms “reformed” and “Dutch” in connection with the DRC, has a history to which
the present DRC still adds meaning.