Between God and a Hard Place

- Blurb -

This is the story of 19th Century evangelical Anglicans who determined to convert the people of Aotearoa to Christianity. As campaigners for their Christian God, they travelled to a country 12,000 miles from Britain, a perilous journey, to convert inhabitants of whom they knew very little. This book traces contact between two cultures, cosmologies, spiritual beliefs and practices. After inter-cultural and spiritual understanding was lost in rendition, it was gradually discovered that strategies had to be modified. Through their 'hands on' approach Church Mission Society (CMS) missionaries, were gradually recognised by some Ngapuhi as part of the social fabric. After 15 years in Aotearoa, a small number of Bay of Islands' Maori seriously considered Christianity as a spiritual alternative. This book investigates the influence and reciprocal impact of powerful and committed personalities resolutely following or opposing key stratagems. It traces how and why Anglican Christianity gained a foothold in Aotearoa. It explains the religious developments that occurred up to 1840 when colonisation became more organised and intense. Those CMS envoys were the first institutional group to engage with Maori. To understand later historical Maori-pakeha relationships, the significance of those pre-Treaty encounters need to be unravelled. This account of that cross-cultural engagement is insightful and fascinating. Missionary history is often seen as boring. This detailed examination written by an unbiased secular historian proves otherwise.