The introduction of Christianity impacted greatly of Māori Society. Pre-European Māori religious beliefs and practices did not orientate with the western values and so missionaries such as Samuel Marsden sought to use the introduction of Christianity as a tool to align Māori with the rest of the expanding European world (Walker 1990:85). Retrospectively, we can understand how the core beliefs of Māori differed from those of Christianity, however it was in the initial failings of Europeans to see this that led to significant impacts on Māori society. The imposition of evangelical teaching altered, or even replaced, many religious views and social conventions (Kingi 2005). This essay seeks to discuss the positive and negative impacts of European
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Following confirmation from the Church Missionary Society (CMS), Samuel Marsden sailed from New South Wales to New Zealand in 1814 along with William Hall, John King and Thomas Kendall (Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage (2005b)). Their primary intention was to establish Christianity among Māori people. However for a long period of time the missionaries failed to convert a significant number of Māori people (Stenhouse & Paterson 2004:172). This stems from the fact that missionaries were proclaiming ideas that challenged several, firmly established, elements of the Māori way of life. The suggestion that …show more content…
Māori already possessed notions of religious structure in the form of tikanga (correct procedure). Tikanga is not an abstract part of Māori culture as Christianity was to Europeans but rather a fluid and living part of their society. It incorporates tapu (sacred, set apart) and noa (ordinary, mundane) as spiritual concepts that extend into the Māori way of life and govern all interactions and relationships (Te Rire 2009:22). Tapu has its role in sanitation, on a marae (complex of buildings surrounding the carved house), the wharepaku (lavatory, toilet) possesses a negative tapu and are therefore located a fair distance away from other buildings that possess a positive tapu (Higgins & Moorfield 2004:73). While in a religious light this maintains the delicate sate of balance it also demonstrates basic principles of
Following confirmation from the Church Missionary Society (CMS), Samuel Marsden sailed from New South Wales to New Zealand in 1814 along with William Hall, John King and Thomas Kendall (Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage (2005b)). Their primary intention was to establish Christianity among Māori people. However for a long period of time the missionaries failed to convert a significant number of Māori people (Stenhouse & Paterson 2004:172). This stems from the fact that missionaries were proclaiming ideas that challenged several, firmly established, elements of the Māori way of life. The suggestion that …show more content…
Māori already possessed notions of religious structure in the form of tikanga (correct procedure). Tikanga is not an abstract part of Māori culture as Christianity was to Europeans but rather a fluid and living part of their society. It incorporates tapu (sacred, set apart) and noa (ordinary, mundane) as spiritual concepts that extend into the Māori way of life and govern all interactions and relationships (Te Rire 2009:22). Tapu has its role in sanitation, on a marae (complex of buildings surrounding the carved house), the wharepaku (lavatory, toilet) possesses a negative tapu and are therefore located a fair distance away from other buildings that possess a positive tapu (Higgins & Moorfield 2004:73). While in a religious light this maintains the delicate sate of balance it also demonstrates basic principles of