On 9 February 2015, an academic volume of essays in honour of the Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Pretoria, Prof Johan Buitendag, will be presented to him by the editorial board of HTS Teologiese/Theological Studies. Thirty one international academics, together with their South African counterparts, were responsible for this collective volume, consisting of 117 accredited research articles.

Prof Andries van Aarde, honorary professor in the Department of New Testament Studies and senior research fellow in UP’s Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship, served as the publication’s editor-in-chief. Except for those from South Africa, contributions were also made from Botswana, New Zealand, Australia, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Canada.

South African contributions represent universities like UP, the University Stellenbosch, the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Unisa, the University of the Free State, North-West University and the University of Johannesburg. Thirty two academics from all over the world served as peer reviewers to ensure that this volume of essays of HTS Teologiese/Theological Studies complies with the highest international scientific standards.

HTS Teologiese/Theological Studies is South Africa’s oldest theological journal. It was the first theological journal to appear online in entirety. More than 1,5 million people in more than 163 countries read it online. The journal is highly esteemed by international indexes such as Thompson Reuters ISI, Elsevier Scopus and the Academy of Science for South Africa’s (ASSAf’s) SciELO SA.

The 70^th birthday volume appeared in 2014 and this jubilee volume was dedicated to Prof Buitendag in celebration of his 60^th birthday on 20 November 2013.

Professors Eberhard Busch and Alasdair Heron from Germany, as well as professors Gijs Dingemans, Jan Muis, Gijsbert van den Brink and Toine van den Hoogen from the Netherlands made special contributions. Prof Cornel du Toit from Unisa and Prof Danie Veldman and Dr Tanya van Wyk are among the local colleagues who made specific contributions.

Prominent themes in Prof Buitendag’s academic oeuvre were reflected upon at a special symposium also held 9 February 2015. Colleagues such as Prof Du Toit, Prof Veldsman, Dr Van Wyk and Prof Luco van den Brom, emeritus professor of the Protestantse Theologische University in the Netherlands, Groningen, and a personal friend of Prof Buitendag, participated in the symposium.

Johan Buitendag studied for his doctoral degree under Prof Friedrich Mildenberger in Erlangen, Germany. He also obtained his master’s degree in business management at the University of Johannesburg. He was appointed as Head of Religious Affairs at the South African Broadcasting Corporation and served in this capacity from 1989 to 1994. In 2001 he became professor in Systematic Theology and Christian Ethics at the University of Pretoria, Head of Department and Deputy Dean in 2004 and elected as Dean of the Faculty of Theology in 2010.

Johan Buitendag’s theology is hermeneutic in its nature. However, it reflects a thought and interpretation process which cannot simply be described as a hermeneutic circle, in other words an interaction between a subject observing an object, where the subject is influenced by the object in the interaction process.

Buitendag’s comprehension of reality is eco-cultural in its nature and the central process for him is a circle circling 360°. He is a theologian trying to understand reality through constant dialogue with natural sciences. He is comfortable being known as a ‘scientific theologian’. In Dutch (as well as in Afrikaans) and German the term ‘science’ isn’t reserved only for the natural sciences, but is also applied to the social sciences and humanities, including theology.

Prof Buitendag’s conception of God in relation to the creation, Jesus Christ’s atonement, justice and ethics, the work of the Holy Spirit and the believer’s social responsibilities, the calling of the Church: the interfaith relationship between religions is considered and formulated in his theology from the perspective of ‘potentialities’ rather than realities.

In his most recent academic research Prof Buitendag focuses on the characteristics, task and future of the current university environment. His first academic publications about this subject have already been published.