Missionaries and Maori
The Church Missionary Society
• Founded in 1799
• Evangelical
Anglicans
• Anti-slavery
• Missions in Asia,
Canada, Africa,
South America,
Australia
• Anti-Catholic
Michael King on Maori Religion
Maori religious beliefs about atua, tupua,
mana, tapu, noa and mauri – harmonised
the workings of mind and body and
spiritual realities with physical ones. The
whole existence was bound up in a unified
vision in which each aspect of life was
related to every other… Maori believed
already in atua; it did not require a large
movement of faith to believe in a single
God.
Samuel Marsden
• The “flogging parson”
• Meeting with Ruatara
in Sydney in 1809
• Ruatara and Hongi
Hika’s guarantee of
protection
• Marsden’s letter to
the Church
Missionary Society
Marsden’s First Sermon
James Belich on Maori Control of
Missionaries
When Ruatara died in 1815, the
missionaries were bereft of their protector
and naturally considered leaving NZ. But
they were soon comforted by the other
chiefs, notably Hongi Hika. Until his death
in 1828, the Christian mission was
essentially his vassal. If Marsden was the
St Augustine of New Zealand then Hongi
Hika was the Emperor Constantine…
Why did Maori chiefs want to have
missionaries?
But then there were…
Three strands…
• Utu
• The defeat of Napoleon
• The correction of the
Grammar Book by
Kendall, Hongi Hika and
Waikato, 1820
• Meeting Baron de Theirry
and King George and
taking their gifts
• Spending spree in
Sydney
• More later…
Musket Wars
Conversion?
Between 1814 and 1828 virtually no Maori
“converted” to Christianity but by 1840
30000 Maori had been baptised. Why?
Fatal Impact – Harrison Wright
• In 1959 Harrison
Wright argued that
war weariness and
disease caused Maori
to convert.
• Due to the Musket
Wars and diseases
they lost faith in their
own beliefs and
switched to a “more
powerful” God.
Growing Independence of the
Mission – JMR Owens
• In 1968, JMR Owens
argued that the key to
missionary success was
the death of Hongi Hika.
• This enabled the
missionaries to extend
their influence which
Hongi Hika and Ruatara
had previously restricted
• The importance of Henry
Williams
Maori Initiative – Judith Binney
• Her 1969 article was
a response to Owens
• Maori chose to
convert to Christianity
for their own reasons
• The role of the
missionary as a
peace-maker was
important
They Converted Themselves and
Christianity – James Belich
• 1996 Making Peoples
• Maori society was open
to new beliefs.
• The end of the musket
wars meant that slaves
returned from Nga Puhi to
their own tribes with
knowledge of Christianity
and literacy
• The new ideas were
changed so that they
suited Maori.
Evidence of Maori Agency #1
The Papahurihia Belief
Henry Williams’ Letter about
Papahurihia
In some districts the word of God is
received with gladness. In others it is
rejected and opposed. Some new
doctrine has recently appeared among
the people, at least new in name, for they
borrow no less a one than ‘Nakahi’, the
native name for the serpent…Also
Papahurihia, who relates wonders. They
observe the sabbath, but not with us, as it
is on the Saturday…
…They have services & baptism and
profess to know the scriptures. I have not
yet been able to meet with any of these
leading men, tho I have frequently been
challenged, but Papahurihia has invariably
been out of the way. The new doctrine
has been brought forward by some, who
after residing awhile with us and having a
superficial knowledge, have gone two-fold
more the child of the devil than before.
Evidence of Maori Agency #2
Tarore
• Epitaph video
• Tarore was a student at the CMS school in
Matamata. Her father, Ngakuku was an
important chief of Ngati Haua. She was
murdered in the musket wars by Arawa Maori
who also pinched her Luke’s Gospel (Te
Rongopai o Ruka). When Ripahau, a released
slave of Nga Puhi reached Rotorua, he read the
book to Arawa and as a result of his teaching
many of them converted to Christianity. (This is
great evidence of Maori Agency, because it
proves that some Maori were converted by other
Maori). In the end there was a remarkable
reconciliation between Ngakuku and his
daughter’s murderer as they had both converted
to Christianity.
Evidence of Maori Agency #3
Wiremu Tamihana
• Set up a Christian
community at Peria,
near Matamata
• When asked if he had
given up his belief in
all his old gods he
said… “Oh no but
Christ is the most
powerful atua”
• Polytheism
Evidence of Maori Agency #4
The Maori Madonna
• Missionaries were
horrified when Mary
and Jesus were given
moko in some Maori
carvings but it actually
showed that Maori
were honouring Jesus
and Mary.
Belich on “Conversion”
• Making Peoples pages 166-168, 177