AletheiaAletheia

Aletheia

Aletheia is an Afrikaans Reformed theological education site — a course series (kursusreeks) that weaves faith, philosophy and science together for thinking believers. It is built as a Jekyll site served at https://aletheia.attieretief.com via GitHub Pages. Its purpose is to be a very practical guide, with philosophical, metaphysical and theological depth, that equips congregations (GKSA/GKB/APK context) to face the most topical challenges to Christian faith. It functions as apologetics but deliberately never brands or presents itself as such — see “Positioning” below.

Stack & build

  • Jekyll (via the github-pages gem; bundle exec jekyll serve for local dev). Markdown is kramdown.
  • Site config lives in _config.yml. Site language is Afrikaans (lang: af); content is bilingual AF/EN.
  • Standard Jekyll layout: _layouts/, _includes/, _sass/, _data/, _posts/, assets/. _site/ is the build output (do not edit).
  • Plugins are limited to what GitHub Pages allows (see _config.yml): jekyll-seo-tag, jekyll-sitemap, jekyll-feed, etc.
  • One collection is defined: courses (output: true, sort_by: lesson).

Content structure

  • Courses/series (reekse) are the heart of the site. Each series lives in its own directory of session (sessie1.md … sessieN.md) files plus a draaiboek.md (screenplay/production script), with a top-level landing page .md (e.g. reeks01-grondslag.md, reeks02-wetenskap.md).
    • Reeks 1 — Grondslag (reeks01-grondslag/): 8 sessions on the reality of God — classical theism, metaphysics, consciousness, morality, desire. Complete.
    • Reeks 2 — Wetenskap & Werklikheid (reeks02-wetenskap/): 8 sessions on science and faith. Complete.
    • Series 3–8 are planned; see ROADMAP.md.
  • Confessional texts: belydenisse/, kategismus/ (Heidelberg Catechism), leerreels/ (Canons of Dort), woordelys/ (glossary), gkbo/.
  • Session pages use layout: lesson with front matter: course, lesson (ordering), title/title_en, description/description_en, youtubeurl, youtube_start/youtube_end, author. Video is delivered via YouTube embeds with an end-overlay and a hard-stop enforced at youtube_end.
  • Bilingual pattern: content is written in parallel <div class="lang-af"> / <div class="lang-en"> blocks with a site-wide AF/EN toggle; UI strings are in _data/i18n.yml keyed <key>.af / <key>.en.

The ROADMAP

ROADMAP.md (repo root, excluded from the Jekyll build) is the master plan. Always consult it before planning new series content. Key structural principle: series are organised by live pressure points (the actual challenges believers meet — at work, university, on social media), NOT by the traditional systematic-theology syllabus. Each series answers the question the previous one leaves open. Progression: Metaphysics → Physical world → Problem of evil → What is man → What can we know → Scripture → Christ → The future.

Podcast & production (“the Crew”)

  • Podcast: “Aletheia: Gesprekke oor Geloof, Waarheid en die Werklikheid van God” — a two-person Afrikaans podcast (host Attie + guest, first episode with Douw Kruger). Scripts derive from the Reeks sessions. Episode drafts live in podcast/.
  • crew/ is an internal, unpublished (excluded in _config.yml) file-based production system for the podcast: role playbooks (rol-*.md), a shared production-board.md tracking each episode through its stages, weekly reports (crew/reports/), and automation scripts (crew/scripts/produce.py for ElevenLabs audio, stats.py for GoatCounter + MailerLite). It is not autonomous bots — it is Claude “showing up to work” in each role on a weekly cadence, with two human approval gates (script approved, audio approved). Nothing goes live without Attie’s approval at both gates. Keys go in crew/scripts/config.env (gitignored; copy from config.example.env).
  • scripts/generate_video.py: turns ElevenLabs audio + SRT into a faceless video with AI-generated (Replicate Wan) contextual visuals. See scripts/README.md. Audio TTS is ElevenLabs (the only tool that handles Afrikaans well).

Positioning & voice (important)

  • Implicit apologetics. The apologetic function shapes the substance (rigorous engagement with real objections) but never the branding or tone. The tone is a congregation studying together, not a fortress under siege. Never advertise the site as “apologetics”.
  • Dual authorship is intentional: Attie Retief (philosophical/systematic) and Douw Kruger (pastoral/practical). Maintain both voices.
  • Ground everything in the classical tradition (Augustine, Aquinas, the Cappadocians, Bavinck, Kuyper, Warfield), not single modern sources.
  • Never use Intelligent Design or creationist framing. Classical theism and Reformed providence do not lean ID/YEC. God works through natural processes (HC Q27, NGB Art 13), not by filling gaps. Do NOT use the necessity/chance/design trilemma. Frame fine-tuning as deepening the contingency argument, not as evidence for a “Designer”. Engage evolution honestly — the enemy is philosophical naturalism, not the science. Treat YEC briefly and respectfully but not as a mainstream Reformed position. ontwerp is fine in ordinary use but dangerous where it echoes ID “design detection”.
  • Writing craft: aim for the refined humanisation discipline of Attie’s parallel book project (warm, unhurried, precise, honest about uncertainty). Avoid AI tells — no em-dash overuse, no hollow intensifiers, no reflexive tricolons. Read-aloud tested.

Conventions

  • Content language is Afrikaans; keep AF as primary, EN for the wider audience. This CLAUDE.md and memory/ are in English by convention.
  • These are working files in git — nothing is hidden. Do not git add/commit unless asked.

© Attie Retief, 2025