Sub-titled "The Maori and the Old Testament" this book aims to identify the impact the early missionaries had on the Maori who accepted their Christian teachings. In her preface the author says that: "From any study of the history of the beliefs and practices of Maori religious movements in New Zealand, it is immediately obvious that great emphasis is placed on the Old Testament scriptures." Later she writers that from the mid-19th century the Maori saw themselves as captives in their own land --- subject to the Pakeha as the Israelites had been to a number of other peoples throughout their history. As the earlier overlords had plundered Israel, so had the substance of Aotearoa been taken over by a foreign race. The Maori saw similarities in many passages of Old Testament scripture , and so his religious response was built upon that foundation." This study contains much information on the impact on the NZ native race of Christian teaching and how this influenced events in the colony, an aspect that usually attracts only superficial mention in general histories. Elsmore's work is contained in three parts: The Early Picture, dealing with the missionaries. problems and policies, disease and the Maori population decline; The Maori Response, looks at attitudes to spiritual matters, indigenous or introduced, and why the Maori "often" chose to identify with the Isrealites of ancient times, with responses based on Hebraic scriptures;The New Religions, examines Maori movements formed in response to religious teachings. This lists a dozen different groups, ranging from a few people in a short-lived association to others much larger and influential over much of the country, with one still in existance more than a century later. Often the leaders were regarded as prophets. A valuable study on an understated factor of Maori-Pakeha relationships in the early Colonial era and the varied influences, adaptations and interpretations placed on these teachings by the native race. In her concluding summary the author notes that "While to the missionaries it must have seemed at tiimes that their efforts had been in vain, from the point of view of hindsight the reaction of the Maori was perhap inevitable." And in her final words she states: "It is rather, to be wondered that the Maori made the transition (to Christianity) in such a relatively short period of time." First edition of 1985 from Tauranga Moana Press, 189 pages, 11 pages of illustrations, mainly b/w photo portraits with some art, one map. NF blue card covers carry a colour reproduction of the 1891 painting Champagne Falls, Wairaki Geyser Valley, by Thomal Ryan, text block is NF, with author's ink signature dated February 1985 on the title page. First editions of this pivotal work have become scarce. Size: 21cm By15cm. N° de ref. de la librería 005078
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