Johan Adam Heyns (1928–1994) was an Afrikaner Calvinist theologian and moderator of the general synod of the Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK) in South Africa.

He did however display a flair for debate and independent thinking on complex topics – after one such discussion (regarding Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory) one theology student voiced his concern to Heyns' parents that the young man might be losing his mind.

[3] Heyns completed his undergraduate studies at the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education where he formed a lifelong friendship with Hendrik G. Stoker, the South African Calvinistic thinker and a central advocate of the Philosophy of the Cosmonomic Idea.

Towards the end of 1960 he transferred to Rondebosch where he counted several Afrikaner politicians amongst his flock (including Hendrik Verwoerd, John Vorster, and P. W. Botha).

[8] Upon Heyns's retirement, a special edition of Skrif en Kerk, the NGK's journal at the University of Pretoria, was dedicated to his influential theology.

The latter's contribution initiated a controversial discourse, the effects of which became increasingly evident in the subsequent "liberal" viewpoints which gained traction in the NGK since Heyns's death.

Le Roux argued that if Heyns had done so, he would likely have agreed that it was a) impossible to speak of the unity of Scripture's message; b) imperative to completely discard settled patterns of reasoning (Afrikaans: gevestigde denkpatrone) in Christianity; c) to be accepted that the church can no longer relay its message authoritatively; 4) to be acknowledged that the cosmos in its entirety did not require elucidation by the "light" of Revelation.

Heyns's words were prophetic, in light of Le Roux's notably supportive review of Fatherless in Galilee (2003), the pioneering historical book by the Jesus Seminar scholar, Andries Van Aarde.

[14] In the 1980s and the early 1990s, Heyns became a central figure in the struggle to change the NGK's stance on apartheid, leading to the church's eventual rejection of that policy.

[15] In 1982 Heyns publicly rejected the notion that apartheid was the will of God, and caused a furore at that year's synod by openly supporting multiracial marriages.

[16] On Saturday evening, 5 November 1994, Heyns was playing cards with his wife and three grandchildren (then aged 2, 8 and 11) at his home in Pretoria when he was shot by an unidentified attacker using a .303 caliber rifle delivered a single gunshot through a window.