Whatua te Kakahu

Since the early nineteenth century Māori and Christian worldviews in Aotearoa have both co-existed and clashed. Against the backdrop of colonisation, some Māori began to knit together Christianity and tikanga in powerful new ways.

In this significant collection of essays, scholars and experts ask: How did Christian missionaries understand Māori culture? How did Māori make sense of the Bible, and how did they weave it into their world? What precisely were the relationships between Christianity and colonialism? And how do these processes continue to shape our religion, politics and culture today?

Whatua te Kākahu reveals anew the story of te ao Māori and Christianity. Weaving together history and cultural analysis, these essays trace the evolving relationship between spirituality and identity in Aotearoa.