Religion constitutes an inextricable part of African society. As such, political and socio-economic

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This article endeavours to evidence the extraordinary rise of religion and development as a subject field by presenting a chronological bibliography of the literature that has been published, especially since the early to mid-2000s. By way of introduction and orientation, the authors firstly touch upon existing explanations for the extraordinary new interest in religion and development as a subject field; secondly they comment briefly on the ongoing scholarly endeavour to develop the subject field; and thirdly provide a more pertinent statement about the meaning and purpose of compiling the bibliography and the selection criterion applied towards this endeavour. It is argued that the bibliography constitutes a comprehensive resource that could strengthen and inform ongoing research in the subject field across topical issues and themes, from a religious, social science and theological perspective.

This article is based on an exploration of the involvement of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) at congregational level in the struggle against poverty, unemployment and social injustice in present-day South Africa. The exploration arises from the thesis that South African citizens continue to regard poverty, unemployment and social injustice as the key challenges to be met in order to build a healthy nation. Historically, the DRC acted as a prominent partner of the government to address the basic needs of the poor and the sick, especially among the country’s white population. But the structural and social changes that followed the transformation to the new democratic South Africa impacted significantly on this partnership. This in turn required that the role of the DRC in addressing social issues in the country be revisited. The essential purpose of this article is, firstly, to provide better insight into the nature and extent of the current social services rendered by congregations of the DRC in addressing the challenges of poverty, unemployment and social injustice; and secondly, from this vantage point, to present some recommendations in conclusion on how the DRC could, in terms of its own striving towards even deeper and more effective social engagement, further enhance its contribution to address the identified challenges at congregational level.