Sacred histories in secular New Zealand
By: edited by Geoffrey Troughton and Stuart Lange
Publisher: Victoria University Press
Published: 2016
Place of publication: Wellington
Language: eng
Number of pages: 232
ISBN-13: 9781776560950
Copyright date: 2016
Subjects: Christianity; Church history; Secularism; Social aspects
Description: "The secular character of New Zealand has become an accepted fact of our time, but Christian organizations and discourses have played a crucial role in framing our religious and secular life and identity. Sacred Histories in Secular New Zealand sheds light on previously unexamined pockets of New Zealand's history, from missionaries and Māori martyrs to charismatic preachers and puritan novelists, from sectarian conflict and competition to increased cooperation and ecumenism. Christianity has been interwoven with New Zealand culture since it first arrived. The persistence of religious tolerance, spiritual belief and celebration of Christian festivals and ideals, despite the modern decline in church attendance, show that Christianity plays a more enduring role in New Zealanders' lives than the country's secular reputation would indicate"--Publisher information.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: Acknowledgements; title: Notes on contributors; title: Introduction: Sacred Histories in Secular New Zealand / Geoffrey Troughton; title: Admiring, Disdainful, or Somewhere in the Middle: Interpretations of Missionaries and Christian Beginnings among Māori / Stuart Lange; title: The Tārore Story: Sorting Fact from Fiction / Malcolm Falloon; title: God, Nation and History: William Pember Reeves and the Writing of New Zealand History / John Stenhouse; title: The Escaped Nun: Taking the Sectarian Temperature of Nineteenth Century New Zealand / Nicholas Thompson; title: Giving as Good as they Got: Sectarianism in New Zealand during World War One / John Milnes; title: The New Zealand Churches at War: Conflict and Co-operation over Military Chaplains and Combined Worship, 1914-1919 / Allan K. Davidson; title: 'The manliest and noblest of all pursuits and professions': Two Preacher Novelists / Kirstine Moffat; title: The Ancient Word in the Modern World: The Preaching of J. J. North / John Tucker; title: The New Zealand Christmas and the Interweaving of Culture and Religion / Peter Lineham; title: Christianity and Churches in New Zealand since 1960: Sociological Perspectives / Kevin Ward; title: Notes.