In 1990 the CRC synod endorsed the IRC’s evaluation “that the Belhar Confession is in harmony with ‘the Reformed faith as a body of truth’ articulated in the historic Reformed confessions and is in basic agreement with REC and CRC decisions on race made over the past decades; and, therefore, that synod declare that it has no objection to its inclusion in the list of Reformed confessions in Article II of the REC constitution.”
The fact that the synod of the Christian Reformed Church said what it did in 1990 does not deny that a few Reformed Christians have drawn attention to a phrase in the Belhar Confession’s Article 4 that states, “We believe . . . that God, in a world full of injustice and enmity, is in a special way the God of the destitute, the poor and the wronged. . . .” What does “in a special way” mean? Does this language suggest an implied endorsement of what is known as “liberation theology”?
Liberation theology can be described in a variety of ways, but at its core it is “an interpretation of religious faith from the perspective of the poor, oppressed and victimized” (B.A. Robinson). It is true that the Belhar Confession emerged out of the crucible of suffering, and it is also true that the language of the Belhar Confession clearly calls the church to recognize “that God brings justice to the oppressed and gives bread to the hungry” (Art. 4). But such language is not the exclusive domain of liberation theology, and the phrase “that God, in a world full of injustice and enmity, is in a special way the God of the destitute, the poor and the wronged” does not mean that the Belhar Confession is flawed in its biblical understanding of God’s concern.
The IRC believes that the phrase “in a special way the God of the destitute, the poor and the wronged” should be read in the context of the rest of the article and notes that the language of this article is remarkably close to the language of Scripture. It is possible to read into almost any phraseology some unintended meaning and it is more likely, as John de Gruchy argues, that the Belhar actually provides “a creative Reformed response to the challenge of liberation theology.”
