title: Habitat of grace : biology, religion and the global environmental crisis

authors: King, Carolyn M.

abstract: The Fifth Mission Statement urges the Anglican Church to be, or become, involved in the world-wide effort by all thinking people, of any faith or none, to find workable ways to alleviate the global environmental crisis. As it stands, however, the Statement is an incompatible mixture of contemporary scientific and religious environmental concern set against a Biblical background that had no such concern. Therefore, public exhortations based on the Fifth Mission Statement taken at face value are unlikely to succeed, especially if addressed to secular audiences.

The environmental crisis is a moral issue, because it concerns the process of reaching communal decisions about the allocation between competing groups of common resources in short supply, such as finance for conservation, access to forests, fisheries, clean water, clean air, etc. The relevant context for understanding the moral dimensions of environmental protection must include contemporary biological and philosophical knowledge, because we need to understand what decisions are required, and the origin and nature of the ethical context of those decisions, as well as the reasons why so many people ignore the interests of the environment on which we all depend.

In this thesis I have explored some ways in which the insights of secular science can be incorporated into the Fifth Mission Statement, which will help Christians make a constructive contribution to the secular debate. From economics we can learn why the current free-market model is so subversive and why management of environmental common goods is so difficult; from game theory, why the personal restraint for which green activists plead is often not rational, except within the context of stable community life; from primatology, what are the evolutionary and social bases of morality and intelligence; from anthropology, how the combination of intelligence and socially-mediated morality as a conditional strategy has coaxed our primate and tribal human ancestors over time from rampant xenophobia through cautious trading of goods and ideas through to the philosophical analysis of true human ethics. The biological account of the origin and general operation of morality is very different from the theological and philosophical one, but is backed by a large and growing body of empirical evidence. It must be considered by any moral exhortation intended, like the Fifth Mission Statement, to be credible to non-Christians. The Christian understanding of true altruism (charity) remains a matter that goes beyond biology and into the realms of grace.

An updated Christian theology of creation, and further development of the Fifth Mission Statement along these lines, will arm the Church to play a leading role in the environmental debate. Christian theologians should be among the very first to respond to E.O.Wilson's call for consilience between all branches of learning (Wilson 1998), since the unity of all knowledge is an ancient belief of the Church. Rational, passionate and updated Christianity could make a real contribution to developing some solution to the environmental crisis, to the extent that any solution is possible: otherwise, it will remain, as in the past, part of the problem.

text: Habitat of grace : biology, religion and the global environmental crisis The Fifth Mission Statement urges the Anglican Church to be, or become, involved in the world-wide effort by all thinking people, of any faith or none, to find workable ways to alleviate the global environmental crisis. As it stands, however, the Statement is an incompatible mixture of contemporary scientific and religious environmental concern set against a Biblical background that had no such concern. Therefore, public exhortations based on the Fifth Mission Statement taken at face value are unlikely to succeed, especially if addressed to secular audiences.

The environmental crisis is a moral issue, because it concerns the process of reaching communal decisions about the allocation between competing groups of common resources in short supply, such as finance for conservation, access to forests, fisheries, clean water, clean air, etc. The relevant context for understanding the moral dimensions of environmental protection must include contemporary biological and philosophical knowledge, because we need to understand what decisions are required, and the origin and nature of the ethical context of those decisions, as well as the reasons why so many people ignore the interests of the environment on which we all depend.

In this thesis I have explored some ways in which the insights of secular science can be incorporated into the Fifth Mission Statement, which will help Christians make a constructive contribution to the secular debate. From economics we can learn why the current free-market model is so subversive and why management of environmental common goods is so difficult; from game theory, why the personal restraint for which green activists plead is often not rational, except within the context of stable community life; from primatology, what are the evolutionary and social bases of morality and intelligence; from anthropology, how the combination of intelligence and socially-mediated morality as a conditional strategy has coaxed our primate and tribal human ancestors over time from rampant xenophobia through cautious trading of goods and ideas through to the philosophical analysis of true human ethics. The biological account of the origin and general operation of morality is very different from the theological and philosophical one, but is backed by a large and growing body of empirical evidence. It must be considered by any moral exhortation intended, like the Fifth Mission Statement, to be credible to non-Christians. The Christian understanding of true altruism (charity) remains a matter that goes beyond biology and into the realms of grace.

An updated Christian theology of creation, and further development of the Fifth Mission Statement along these lines, will arm the Church to play a leading role in the environmental debate. Christian theologians should be among the very first to respond to E.O.Wilson's call for consilience between all branches of learning (Wilson 1998), since the unity of all knowledge is an ancient belief of the Church. Rational, passionate and updated Christianity could make a real contribution to developing some solution to the environmental crisis, to the extent that any solution is possible: otherwise, it will remain, as in the past, part of the problem.

year: 1999

title: Love on the line: The social dynamics involved with people meeting other people using New Zealand online dating sites

authors: Marsh, Maureen Margaret

subjects: online dating; online infidelity; sexual experimentation; 'difference'

abstract: The intention of this thesis is to explore whether New Zealand trends in online dating parallel those identified by overseas studies, or whether patterns are emerging that are unique to New Zealand society.  The Internet Windows Messenger instant messenger service (MSN) was used to interview 32 subjects about their experiences with online dating, covering areas such as motivation for using online dating; types of relationships sought; barriers to online dating; online rapport and offline chemistry; online infidelity; and managing 'difference'.  Drawing on these responses, this thesis presents findings pertaining to a diverse group of New Zealanders' attitudes towards and uses of online dating.  Some of the key findings show that online rapport does not guarantee offline chemistry; that there are gender differences in attitudes towards appearance, age, and receiving sexually explicit material online; and that sexual experimentation and infidelity are being facilitated through online dating.  

The issue of 'difference' as it relates to online dating has been largely neglected by overseas researchers, and for this reason was extensively included in this research.  Key findings relating to 'difference' show that there is a clear split between those interviewees whose 'difference' impacted positively on their online dating experience (those with sexual 'difference' falling into this category), and those whose 'difference' impacted negatively (those with physical or mental 'difference'). In addition, those interviewees with a sexual 'difference' have been able to connect with other like-minded people through online dating, contributing to the 'normalization' of previously considered deviant behaviours. 

Based on the research presented in this thesis, it appears that New Zealand online dating activities are consistent with overseas trends, although there are indications that some behaviour may be more specific to New Zealand society, such as gender differences in relation to bisexuality, and covert same-sex encounters involving men who are either married or who state in their profiles that they are 'straight' or heterosexual.

text: Love on the line: The social dynamics involved with people meeting other people using New Zealand online dating sites The intention of this thesis is to explore whether New Zealand trends in online dating parallel those identified by overseas studies, or whether patterns are emerging that are unique to New Zealand society.  The Internet Windows Messenger instant messenger service (MSN) was used to interview 32 subjects about their experiences with online dating, covering areas such as motivation for using online dating; types of relationships sought; barriers to online dating; online rapport and offline chemistry; online infidelity; and managing 'difference'.  Drawing on these responses, this thesis presents findings pertaining to a diverse group of New Zealanders' attitudes towards and uses of online dating.  Some of the key findings show that online rapport does not guarantee offline chemistry; that there are gender differences in attitudes towards appearance, age, and receiving sexually explicit material online; and that sexual experimentation and infidelity are being facilitated through online dating.  

The issue of 'difference' as it relates to online dating has been largely neglected by overseas researchers, and for this reason was extensively included in this research.  Key findings relating to 'difference' show that there is a clear split between those interviewees whose 'difference' impacted positively on their online dating experience (those with sexual 'difference' falling into this category), and those whose 'difference' impacted negatively (those with physical or mental 'difference'). In addition, those interviewees with a sexual 'difference' have been able to connect with other like-minded people through online dating, contributing to the 'normalization' of previously considered deviant behaviours. 

Based on the research presented in this thesis, it appears that New Zealand online dating activities are consistent with overseas trends, although there are indications that some behaviour may be more specific to New Zealand society, such as gender differences in relation to bisexuality, and covert same-sex encounters involving men who are either married or who state in their profiles that they are 'straight' or heterosexual.

year: 2007

title: Teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of the Whānau Rūmaki teacher education programme, 1990-1992

authors: Kana, Fred

subjects: Maori Language

abstract: In 1990 the School of Education, the University of Waikato, initiated a special option within its regular pre-service teacher training programmes, an option designed to prepare teachers to deliver the New Zealand curriculum in bilingual and total immersion schools through the medium of te reo Māori. This alternative programmed, designated Whānau Rūmaki, was experimental and evolutionary. Inevitably particular elements of it had to be varied with each year's operation as its architects attempted 'to get the mix right'. It is difficult, however, when engaged in the day to day running of a programme, to stand back and review with any degree of objectivity its strengths and weaknesses. This study, therefore, in retrospect attempts to do three things: one, to follow the initial Whānau Rūmaki student cohort through its three or four year training cycle noting especially the difficulties confronting individual students some of whom dropped out of the programme; two, to gather information from as many as possible of the graduates who graduated about how well they felt they had been prepared for the rigours of classroom teaching; three, to be able, after analysing the data gathered, to recommend ways of improving the on-going Whānau Rūmaki programme.

text: Teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of the Whānau Rūmaki teacher education programme, 1990-1992 In 1990 the School of Education, the University of Waikato, initiated a special option within its regular pre-service teacher training programmes, an option designed to prepare teachers to deliver the New Zealand curriculum in bilingual and total immersion schools through the medium of te reo Māori. This alternative programmed, designated Whānau Rūmaki, was experimental and evolutionary. Inevitably particular elements of it had to be varied with each year's operation as its architects attempted 'to get the mix right'. It is difficult, however, when engaged in the day to day running of a programme, to stand back and review with any degree of objectivity its strengths and weaknesses. This study, therefore, in retrospect attempts to do three things: one, to follow the initial Whānau Rūmaki student cohort through its three or four year training cycle noting especially the difficulties confronting individual students some of whom dropped out of the programme; two, to gather information from as many as possible of the graduates who graduated about how well they felt they had been prepared for the rigours of classroom teaching; three, to be able, after analysing the data gathered, to recommend ways of improving the on-going Whānau Rūmaki programme.

year: 1997