Blog Archives

Believing not belonging, Mike Grimshaw

Posted on March 17, 2019 by NZ Books

New World, New God: Rethinking Christianity for a Secular Age
Ian Harris
Mākaro Press, $30.00,
ISBN 9780994137869

In 1967, Lloyd Geering, Principal of Knox Theological Hall and Old Testament lecturer, was tried for heresy by the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand – and liberal, mainstream Christianity was never the same. Geering’s heresy was, in the language of the church, actually two different charges of doctrinal error, from two opponents (who did not agree on much). Geering was at this time, as he has told me, actually just “an old-fashioned liberal”, but one with a broad interest across many issues of science, religion, humanism and biblical studies.

Tagged with: Autumn 2019, Ian Harris, Issue 125, Mākaro Press, Mike Grimshaw
Posted in Non-fiction, Religion, Review

Prior tense, Paul Morris

Posted on March 17, 2019 by NZ Books

Arthur Prior: A “Young Progressive”: Letters to Ursula Bethell and to Hugh Teague 1936-1941
Mike Grimshaw (ed)
Canterbury University Press, $60.00,
ISBN 9781927145593

A N Prior graduated from Otago University in philosophy and taught there and at the universities of Canterbury (1946-58), Manchester (1959-66) and Oxford (1966-69). At Canterbury, he developed a new form of logic, “tense logic” (1949-1954). Standard logic was atemporal, having no place for timed inferences.

Tagged with: Autumn 2019, Canterbury University Press, Hugh Teague, Issue 125, Paul Morris, Ursula Bethell
Posted in Non-fiction, Religion, Review

Lead kindly light, Paul Morris

Posted on September 11, 2018 by NZ Books

Sunday Best: How the Church Shaped New Zealand and New Zealand Shaped the Church
Peter Lineham
Massey University Press, $55.00,
ISBN 9780994140777

Saints and Stirrers: Christianity, Conflict and Peacemaking in New Zealand, 1814-1945
Geoffrey Troughton (ed)
Victoria University Press, $40.00,
ISBN 9781776561643

A leading scholar recently referring to the burgeoning interest in Yiddish language and literature waggishly commented that there is nothing like terminal decline to spark renewed interest at the universities. As we await the results of the 2018 New Zealand census, it looks likely that the total of all those who identify with the different Christian churches will be re-confirmed as a certain and diminishing minority, and that the numbers of those who report “no religion” will have risen yet again, especially among the young. How different from a few decades ago, when more than eight out of 10 declared themselves Christian, and only a tiny percentage did not identify with religion at all. How did this transition occur? What happened? What has been lost? The story of the radical decline of “Christianity” in this country and the contemporary meanings of these Christian legacies have yet to be fully told or understood.

Tagged with: Issue 123, Spring 2018
Posted in Non-fiction, Religion, Review

Demythologising, Mike Grimshaw

Posted on May 28, 2017 by NZ Books

Sacred Histories in Secular New Zealand
Geoffrey Troughton and Stuart Lange (eds)
Victoria University Press, $40.00,
ISBN 9781776560950

My late grandmother was a Presbyterian, who had some Catholic friends. They lived in working-class Stanley Point (when it was working-class) in Devonport. During the week, they existed very happily as friends and neighbours. But, on a Sunday, according to family lore, my nana, despite her bad hips, would walk the long way to church so she didn’t have to go past – and therefore acknowledge the existence of – the Catholic church. Apparently, her friends did the same thing in reverse. They were lives in which religious identity and practice were important components, yet these did not create sectarian communities, as during the week they lived interrelated non-sectarian lives. These were the respectable working class, whose children became middle-class, but a middle class that was still religious in framing culture and ethos, if not so regular practice, into the 1980s. Up to the end of the 1980s – and longer in the provinces and rural areas – there was still a large swathe of broad-church Protestantism and Catholicism in New Zealand.

Tagged with: Geoffrey Troughton, Issue 118, Mike Grimshaw, Stuart Lange, Victoria University Press, Winter 2017
Posted in Non-fiction, Religion, Review, Sociology

Reiterating a theme, Peter Lineham

Posted on June 9, 2015 by NZ Books

Reimagining God: The Faith Journey of a Modern Heretic
Lloyd Geering
Polebridge Press, $37.00,
ISBN 9781598151565

Professor Lloyd Geering wrote his first book in 1968. Fifty-six years later, the grand old man is just shy of 100 years old and has published his 17th book, at least on my reckoning! Quite an achievement, and well worthy of celebration. Those who have heard Geering lecture will, on opening this book, recognise the scintillating clarity which has always been his mark as a lecturer.

Tagged with: Issue 110, Lloyd Geering, Peter Lineham, Polebridge Press, Winter 2015
Posted in Non-fiction, Religion, Review

The life of Brian, Paul Morris

Posted on February 27, 2014 by NZ Books

Destiny: The Life and Times of a Self-Made Apostle Peter Lineham Penguin Books, $38.00, ISBN 9780143568919 A Rising Tide: Evangelical Christianity in New Zealand 1930-65 Stuart Lange Otago University Press, $40.00, ISBN 9781877578557 Recently, the International Association of Religion…

Tagged with: Autumn 2014, Issue 105, Otago University Press, Paul Morris, Penguin Books, Peter Lineham, Stuart Lange
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Religion, Review, Sociology

Jesus with a human face, Hugo Petzsch

Posted on June 1, 2013 by NZ Books

New Zealand Jesus: Social and Religious Transformations of an Image, 1890–1940 Geoffrey Troughton Peter Lang, US$78.95, ISBN 9783034310475 The figure of Jesus and the powerful ideas that are often associated with him have attracted men, women and children for centuries.…

Tagged with: Geoffrey Troughton, Hugo Petzsch, Issue 102, Peter Lang, Winter 2013
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Religion, Review

Hot gospels and wowserism, Paul Morris

Posted on December 1, 2012 by NZ Books

The Spirit of the Past: Essays on Christianity in New Zealand History Geoffrey Troughton and Hugh Morrison (eds) Victoria University Press, $50.00, ISBN 9780864736543 Theology no longer forms part of a university education in the social sciences or humanities, where…

Tagged with: Geoffrey Troughton, Hugh Morrison, Issue 100, Paul Morris, Summer 2012, Victoria University Press
Posted in Essays, Non-fiction, Religion, Review

Tikkun olam, David Zwartz

Posted on September 1, 2012 by NZ Books

Jewish Lives in New Zealand: A History Leonard Bell and Diana Morrow (eds) Godwit, $55.00, ISBN 9781869621735 “Don’t skite!” said my loving family when I came home with the story of some success at school. Jewish Lives in New…

Tagged with: David Zwartz, Diana Morrow, Godwit, Issue 99, Leonard Bell, Spring 2012
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Religion, Review

Retro righteous indignation, Paul Morris

Posted on December 1, 2011 by NZ Books

Shaping Godzone: Public Issues and Church Voices in New Zealand 1840-2000 Laurie Guy Victoria University Press, $50.00, ISBN 9780864736413 This is a 600-page, somewhat pious, lament for the New Zealand churches. These individual and collective Christian voices once heard…

Tagged with: Issue 96, Laurie Guy, Paul Morris, Summer 2011, Victoria University Press
Posted in History, Non-fiction, Religion, Review