Title: Weteriana Methodism: Bicentennial Reflections from Aotearoa New ZealandSeries: Wesley Historical Society Publication #113
Published by: Philip Garside Books
Release Date: 11/11/2024
Author: Peter Lineham (ed), Roshan Allpress, Glen O'Brien, Gary Clover, Susan Thompson, Geoffrey Troughton, Rowan Tautari. Preface: Ian Faulkner
Categories: Anglican, Christian History, Denominational History, Methodist, Wesleyan Methodist
ISBN13: 9781991027856
Add on GoodreadsDelve into the rich and often overlooked history of Methodism in Aotearoa New Zealand with this compelling collection of essays marking 200 years since Methodist missionaries first arrived. Edited by renowned historian Peter Lineham, this book reframes the narrative of the Wesleyan mission to the Māori people, highlighting their agency, culture, and the complex interactions between Māori society and Christian faith.
Contributors including Roshan Allpress, Glen O’Brien, and Susan Thompson explore the diverse voices within this history, from early Māori supporters to the pivotal roles of missionary women. The essays challenge dominant narratives, addressing the intricacies of Māori engagement with the mission and shedding light on indigenous perspectives that have often been sidelined.
Essential reading for scholars, students, and anyone interested in the intersections of faith, culture, and history, Weteriana Methodism invites readers to reconsider the legacy of Christian missions in Aotearoa and the ongoing journey of Māori Methodism in the 21st century.
200 years ago Methodists arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand as Christian missionaries to the Māori people. They have often been overlooked in comparison with the Anglican missionaries who preceded them, but their mission stations stretched down the West Coast of New Zealand from Hokianga to south Taranaki, and also in three locations in the South Island. They were the second largest of the missionary organisations.
Traditionally the story of the missionaries has been the dominating narrative. This book sets out to reframe the analysis, tracking and analysing the stories of the many participants in the Wesleyan mission.
The book challenges traditional narratives, and shows the complexity of Māori society and its engagement with the mission. It shows the broad context of the Wesleyan mission’s English supporters and its Māori defenders and proponents.
A key theme has been the need to extract Weteriana Methodism from a colonial cloak, and to hear indigenous voices. This book suggests new ways in which the 19th century missionary movement needs to be read. It is essential reading for those interested in indigenous studies and in the ways in which Christianity adapted to new cultures, with both positive and negative results.
- Roshan Allpress explores the community that gave its support to the formation of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, and guided its move to New Zealand and the South Seas.
- Glen O’Brien casts a close eye on Samuel Leigh who first visited New Zealand in 1819, and was the pioneer Wesleyan missionary in 1822-23.
- Gary Clover looks closely at the second location of Wesleyan missionaries, in the Hokianga, after their flight from Whangaroa, and identifies the key roles played by Māori supporters and catechists.
- Susan Thompson looks at the early missionary women, and what we can know of their role in the mission.
- Geoffrey Troughton examines the Mission’s response to the changing circumstances of New Zealand after 1840, and the pressure on the missionaries to accommodate the settler demand for land.
- Rowan Tautari examines the site of the first missionary base in Kaeo and shows how its identity remains deeply contested in the Māori world.
- Peter Lineham explores what happened to Weteriana Methodism in the 20th century, and how traditional mission sites retained their identity largely through the work of Māori preachers and ministers.