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    The reshaping of political communities in New Zealand : a study of intellectual and imperial texts in context, c. 1814-1863 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2020) Carpenter, Samuel
    This thesis explores transformations in British and Māori political thought and mentalities through the period c. 1814 to 1863 – from the arrival in New Zealand of Samuel Marsden and the Anglican Church Mission through to the outset of the Waikato wars. It analyses evolving and contested political languages in British metropole and empire, particularly concerning the nature and bounds of British national and imperial community and government. It considers the attempts by Britons, from Marsden, through Busby, then the Church Mission presses to encourage the formation of a native (Christian) political community, and then to maintain it against the threats posed by British colonization ventures. Political thought about nations or supra-tribal political communities contained in the Māori translations of scripture, prayer book and texts of history, law and geography are the focus of several chapters, as are the uses of these new political languages made by Māori protagonists Hone Heke, Tāmihana Te Rauparaha and Wiremu Tāmehana. Drawing on literatures of nationalism, the thesis finds that the emergence of Māori national thought or consciousness – an imagined political community of ‘native New Zealand’ – resembled the early-modern emergence of English and other European nationalisms. This study reveals an historical process in which Christian scripture and liturgies in vernacular languages helped to form a wider collective consciousness in England/Europe, and then argues that a similar process occurred throughout indigenous Niu Tireni (New Zealand). Critically, it was the daily and weekly practice of the Anglican Prayer Book – Te Rāwiri – rather than simply its texts or the Bible translations per se, that engendered a new language of politics and a new global knowledge concerning pan-tribal nations, their kingly polities, and their God-ordained relationship with whenua (land). The thesis therefore re-frames the early political history of New Zealand as a history – or histories – formed by texts variously translated and interpreted, printed and discursively reproduced, read and recited, prayed and sung, and institutionally embodied in native assemblies, legal systems and kingships. It argues that this new textual and discursive world was enabled by the immense diffusion of printed texts, constituted a new indigenous or ‘maori’ public sphere, and generated the imagining of new forms of native or supra-tribal political community. Texts also provoked prominent indigenous actors to ‘write back’ against both colony and empire. The thesis suggests a much larger project to recover and map the diverse political languages and deeper mentalité that shaped the contested terrain of colonialism in New Zealand.
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    Challenges to religious authority : criticism of the Church of England as expressed in three Victorian novels : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English at Massey University
    (Massey University, 2000) Lang, Keith
    The opening chapter of this thesis describes the Church of England as it existed in the first half of the nineteenth-century. The close liason between the Established Church and the State is emphasised as is the involvement of the Church in many areas of Victorian life. Because, to a large extent, the Church is the Clergy the lives of many clerical representatives of the Church are discussed - and are found, on the whole, to be lacking in dedication. The three novels continue the method of examining the Church through depiction of its clergymen. Each novel presents a different challenge to the Established Church. Shirley by Charlotte Brontë, is critical of the Church because it misuses its Authority in its subjugation of women and finds false justification for this in scripture. Elizabeth Gaskell, in a covert way critices the Church by comparing it unfavourably with Unitarianism. George Eliot, in Middlemarch is deeply sceptical of the supernatural grounds for the Authority of the Church. She finds Authority in religious humanism. At the time the Church considered that its many problems were found either within itself due to its polarisation into Low and High Church, or else from without as the Dissenters and Roman Catholics increased in numbers. These three novels, however, consider problems which, although hardly of concern at the time, have since become major issues for the Church and its Authority.
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    The Anglican reaction to the secular clause of the 1877 Education Act : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of M.A. in History at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1984) Sangster, Andrew
    Part I of the thesis gives the general background to the issue of secular education in New Zealand through the various situations in each Province. Although the Provincial Councils were independent from one another they each experienced considerable difficulties with the problems of religious instruction. The Roman Catholics and Anglicans desired their own schools and grants-in-aid, while the non-conformists wanted a state system which was secular. Part I concludes with a brief view of the sectarian divisions and the 1877 Education Bill. Part II deals with Anglican reaction prior to 1877. It became clear in the Anglican Synodical proceedings, and in local debate reported in newspapers, that the Church of England was ambivalent in its attitudes. episcopal leaders, such as Octavius Hadfield, sought similar position to the Roman Catholics in demanding a Church school system supported by grants-in-aid. Other Anglicans did not feel so strongly and subsequently secular education became a national measure. Part III considers the situation after 1877 through the synodical proceedings; the 1883 Petitions Committee (which considered the complaints about the secular clause); and the 1895 Committee which discussed the proposed Irish text book scheme. The Anglican response remained ambivalent, and even those who bitterly opposed the secular clause could not persuade Church members to respond in a decisive way.