Mary-Anne Plaatjies van Huffel

Mary Anne Plaatjies van Huffel is a South African pastor and academic. She was the first female minister to be ordained by a Dutch Reformed Church in Southern Africa. Mary Anne Plaatjies van Huffel (born 15 December 1959) is a South African Reformed Church minister. She is the first woman to be elected as moderator of the General Synod of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa (URCSA). This honor was bestowed on her during the General Synod of URCSA in Namibia 2012. Plaatjies van Huffel was educated at the Bergriver High School in Wellington, and studied at University of the Western Cape, at the University of South Africa (UNISA), Pretoria University. She was called to Robertson-Robertson East combination congregation and she was ordained on 26 November 1992. She is the holder of two Doctorates in Theology , one from UNISA (2003 Thesis on: Women in the theological anthropology of the Afrikaans Reformed Churches) and one from University of Pretoria (2009 Thesis on: Doleantie Church Polity and the church polity development of the mission churches in South Africa. She is currently teaching Church Polity at the University Stellenbosch. She had been elected as one of eight presidents of the World Council of Churches General Assembly in Busan, Korea, 2013.

Publications

1. Reading the Belhar Confession - as historical text. in Reformed Churches in South Africa and the struggle for justice - Remembering 1960-1990 (Redaksie: RR Vosloo en MA Plaatjies van Huffel), Sun media, 2013
2. The Belhar Confession - as historical text
3. The remarkable career of Christina Landman, pioneer feminist theologian, rooted in the Reformed tradition
4. The search for a common understanding with regard to ecology and justice in the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa Studia Historicae Ecclesiasticae XXXIX(2), December 2013
5. The URCSA’S engagement on legal matters in South Africa (red P Coertzen) - 102 - NGTT Deell 54 Supplementum 4, 2013 p101-113.
6. The Belhar Confession: Born in the struggle against apartheid in Southern Africa, guiding light today (SHE) 2013. p. 1-11
7. Michel Foucault se historiografiese benadering as lens in historiese ondersoeke Acta Theologica Jaargang 32 No. 1 Junie 2012
8. Die stryd om die aard en omvang van die tugreg by die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Sendingkerk (1881−1994)’, HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 68(1) 2012,
9. Die reis met kerkeenwording tussen die Verenigende Gereformeerde Kerk in Suider-Afrika en die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk in Afrika
10. Patriarchy as empire: a theological reflection Studia Historicae Ecclesiasticae, December/Desember 2011 ● Volume XXXVII ● Supplement.
11. Control, secede, vested rights and ecclesiastical property. Studia Historicae Ecclesiasticae Vol 37 ( 2), September 2011
12. The Institutionalization of Christian women’s organisations: from docile recipients to agents of change in Studia Historicae Ecclesiasticae Vol 37 (1) May 2011.
13. Die kerkreg en kerkregering van die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Sendingkerk (1881–1915) in NGTT 2011. (p194-204).
14. Vroue in die teologiese antropologie in die Afrikaanse Gereformeerde tradisie in Studia Historicae Ecclesiasticae Vol 31 (1). 2005 (p203-222).