NP van Wyk Louw

In sy boek Jesus van Nasaret: Wat Glo ek? haal Jan du Rand vir NP van
Wyk Louw as volg aan: “…my enigste stryd , my
lewe lank, was die vraag: ‘Wat is waar? Wat kan ek weet, wat kan ek
glo? Waaraan kan ek vashou?”

In AP Grove se artikel oor NP van Wyk Louw wat in die SA Biografiese
Woordeboek verskyn sê hy o.a.: “In die jare vyftig was daar ‘n moment
toe Louw sterk daaraan gedink het om oor te gaan na die
Rooms-Katolisisme. Dit was ‘n krisis en W.E.G. Louw (nota: sy broer)
was blykens “Naggesprek” hieroor met hom in strawwe argument gewikkel.
Louw het van sy plan afgesien. Hy het uitgesproke Christen geword maar
sonder om tot die Rooms-Katolisisme oor te gaan en waarskynlik sonder
om die Calvinisme te aanvaar.”

Dan ook: “En die laaste wat hy geskryf het, ‘n stuk wat voor sy bed
gevind is die oggend na sy dood, ‘n gebed vol skuldbesef, bevat teen
die einde hierdie woorde: ‘My Heer en my God, ek lê my in U genade
neer. As ek sou sterf terwyl ek slaap, lê ek net in die hande van u
genade’ ”

Karel Schoeman – deur sommige as die grootste lewende Afrikaanse
skrywer en deur ander die grootste Afrikaanse romanskrywer ooit beskou
– skryf in sy outobiografie Die Laaste Afrikaanse Boek o.a. die
volgende oor sy herinnering aan NP van Wyk Louw: ” ‘n Heel eenvoudige
ouerige man in die boesem van sy gesin in ‘n voorstedelike
Johannesburgse huis, en tog glo ek nie, dertig jaar na sy dood, dat ek
my belaglik maak as ek dit waag om sy naam in dieselfde asem te noem
as byvoorbeeld die van Goethe nie, of as ek sê dat hy nader aan Goethe
staan, na die een kant, as na die die ander aan sy naaste portuur in
Afrikaans, wat seker Opperman is.”

By http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe staan o.a.
die volgende oor Goethe: “Goethe’s works span the fields of poetry,
drama, literature, theology, philosophy, humanism and science.

Goethe’s magnum opus, lauded as one of the peaks of world literature,
is the two-part drama Faust…His influence on German philosophy is
virtually immeasurable, having major effect especially on the
generation of Hegel and Schelling, although Goethe himself expressly
and decidedly refrained from practicing philosophy in the specialized
sense. Goethe’s influence spread across Europe, and for the next
century his works were a major source of inspiration in music, drama,
poetry and philosophy. Goethe is considered by many to be the most
important writer in the German language and one of the most important
thinkers in Western culture as well.”

Net ter wille van volledigheid – Goethe word as volg aangehaal oor sy
geloofsoortuiging: “.I have found no confession of faith to which I
could ally myself without reservation. Now in my old age, however, I
have learned of a sect, the Hypsistarians, who, hemmed in between
heathens, Jews and Christians, declared that they would treasure,
admire, and honour the best, the most perfect that might come to their
knowledge, and in as much as it must have a close connection to the
Godhead, pay it reverence. A joyous light thus beamed at me suddenly
out of a dark age, for I had the feeling that all my life I had been
aspiring to qualify as a Hypsistarian. That, however, is no small
task, for how does one, in the limitations of one’s individuality,
come to know what is most excellent?

– from a letter to Sulpiz Boisserée dated 22 March 1831”

Goethe sterf op 22 Maart 1832.