Two of the six winning articles published in 2015 in scholarly journals, as evaluated by the SA Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns, were authored by professors in UP’s Faculty of Theology. Prof Andries van Aarde and Prof Ernest van Eck are both from the Department of New Testament Studies.

Prof Van Aarde was recognised for the article entitled ‘Vredemakers as kinders van God (Matt 5:9): ’n Pragmatieslinguïstiese lesing’, while Prof Van Eck’s article was entitled ‘Die gelykenisse van Jesus: Allegorieë of simbole van sosiale transformasie?’. Both articles were published in the journal HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies.

Prof Andries van Aarde (left) is a NRF-rated researcher and emeritus professor in the Department of New Testament Studies. Prof Ernest van Eck (right) is a NRF-rated researcher too. His main research focus is the interpretation of the parables of Jesus as symbols of social and religious transformation.

What is just as remarkable of these awards, is that two of the six winning articles were published by the one journal, HTS Theological Studies. HTS Theological Studies is South Africa’s oldest theological journal and was the first to go the golden route of open access to appear fully online. Total recorded downloads between January 2009 and December 2015 were 4 767 707. Scholars in more than 163 countries are iterative visitors to the journal.