A Kaupapa Māori study of the positive impacts of syncretism on the development of Christian faith among Māori from my faith-world perspective

Abstract

I am a syncretist: I blend religious ideas that shape my faith. As a syncretist studying syncretism, I am the architect, builder, negotiator and navigator of this research. My original contribution to knowledge is a Kaupapa Māori study of the positive impacts of syncretism on the development of Christian faith among Māori from the perspective of my faith-world based on my whakapapa (genealogy) as Patuheuheu, Ngāti Manawa, Ngāti Whare and Ngāti Porou, and my whakapono (faith), which is a syncretistic amalgam of Māori, Ringatū, Catholic and Anglican theologies, with sprinklings of Taoism and Hinduism.

Two Māori methodological approaches shape this research: Kaupapa Māori—a body of Māori philosophies that stretch back to the beginnings of Māori understanding and which are endorsed by an ever-increasing body of academic work—and the Atuatanga Model. Based on the Atua, Tangata, Whenua (God, people, land) conceptual model developed by the late Māori Catholic priest Pā Henare Tate, I designed the Atuatanga Model as a methodology for researching whakapono. In a dynamic triangulation that conveys an interconnected and interdependent Māori spiritual reality, Atuatanga is based on Atua, the Divine; Whenua, the environmental and physical; and Tangata, the human. Kaupapa Māori is the methodological base of this research, while Atuatanga provides a specific frame of reference through which to focus explicitly on whakapono.

My grandmother, Rēpora Marion Brown (1940–2017), was the exemplar in my life concerning matters of Māori spirituality and faith. As a practising member of the Ringatū Church, a syncretistic religion of 19th-century Māori origin, her belief in God was unwavering. Kaupapa Māori—which includes writing in the first person from my perspective—is used in this research as a means of giving expression to faith and to breathe life into the theories and theologies explored here. The storying weaved throughout this work is as much about my grandmother’s faith as it is about mine. In this way, my grandmother and I dance together to a rhythm of faith. This thesis, in its preliminary pages, begins with her tangihanga—Māori funereal practices, which encompass days of mourning and ritual, culminating, most commonly, in Christian burial—and moves back and forth through time to investigate and analyse the various themes that are revealed in the text. These themes emerge from the voices of the research participants, including Māori Christian clergy and theologians, and one particular participant who is both an ordained minister and a proponent of karakia tahito, the Māori incantations and rituals that summon the powers of ngā Atua—the Māori gods.

Chapter 1 outlines the methodology and methods that underpin the perspective from which this thesis proceeds. The second chapter introduces and sets the parameters of my faith-world based on whakapapa and whakapono. Chapter 3 canvasses Māori interactions with Christianity to provide a historical backdrop for the research. The fourth chapter explores the notion of syncretism and asks: what is syncretism; how is it variously evaluated; and what are the impacts of it? Chapter 5 examines whakapono based on a thematic analysis of the interview data. Themes include: ngā Atua (ancestor-deities with continuing influence), Te Atua (God), Atuatanga/Māori theology, Te Karaiti (Christ), mātauranga (knowledge), whakapapa (genealogy), te taiao (the environment) and te hāhi (church). The sixth chapter discusses the positive impacts of syncretism on the development of Christian faith among Māori, also based on a thematic analysis of the interview data. Themes include: positive syncretism, self-determining faith, gospel acceptance, tikanga (Māori customs), enhancement, liberation and aroha (love). The concluding chapter reinforces the significance of my original contribution to knowledge and provides recommendations for future research.