Recorded in September 2021

In September 2021, I was interviewed on Zoom by Brad Haami, historian and published author and Pou Amorangi/Māori Director and lecturer at Laidlaw College, Henderson.

The interview covered the following subjects or themes:

• the influence of the Biblical texts on Māori language and thought, and social and political structures.
• the influence in particular of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer in te reo Maori (‘Te Rawiri’), especially new language and prayers for those in authority, and the way the practice of morning and evening prayer reshaped daily and weekly rhythms and social patterns.
• the notions of pan-tribal identity in scripture and prayer book and the way the Christian church itself was a new model for pan-tribal unity; and ideas of Christian peace and forgiveness that encouraged an end to warfare: quotations from Tamihana te Rauparaha and Renata Kawepō.
• the language of scripture and prayer book as a language of resistance in our history – that is, by Maori against the colonial state: examples given of Hone Heke and Renata Kawepō.
• a brief discussion on the language of te Tiriti o Waitangi and what it meant in context of scripture and contemporary period.
• a brief discussion on the relationship between Christianity and colonialism, or missions and imperial authority and the question – did Christianity cause the loss of culture? I suggested that Christianity was indigenized in various important ways and that Māori had agency in this process.

All of this in an hour-long interview! See the link here:

Samuel Carpenter IV (vimeo.com)