Just published in Stimulus: The New Zealand Journal of Christian Thought and Practice, vol. 30, no. 1, 2023:

Te Whānau Wiremu ki Aotearoa: How the Williams’ story…

This article is a slightly abbreviated version of my talk at the Williams family 200-year reunion, which took place at Waitangi in April this year (2023). (The reunion was attended by over 700 descendants of Henry and Marianne Williams, and William and Jane Williams; it was hosted by local hapū, Ngāti Rāhiri, and by Bishop Kītohi Pikaahu of Tai Tokerau.)

The article seeks to reckon with and appraise some of the long-term influence of the Williams family, their Church Missionary Society colleagues, and the early Māori church itself on the survival of Māori language, culture, and people. It therefore represents a critique of conventional notions of the impact of (Western) Christian missions on indigenous peoples – arguing in effect that they were reconstructive rather than destructive of indigenous culture and people. Of course, this is but one example – from Aotearoa New Zealand – so extrapolating to other (global) contexts requires care.