Evangelistic Performance in New Zealand: The Word and What is Not Said

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dc.contributor.authorBond, Greta Jane
dc.date.accessioned2008-11-12T22:55:30Z
dc.date.available2008-11-12T22:55:30Z
dc.date.issued2008en
dc.description.abstractIn 1518, Martin Luther is reputed to have nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church at Wittenberg, an act that sparked the Protestant Reformation. Luther sought change in the Catholic Church: a return to an unmediated relationship with God based on a closer understanding of the Word. Since then, Protestant evangelism has been a force for social change: and this is particularly true in New Zealand, where evangelism has gone hand in hand with the colonisation of the country. This thesis proposes that it is not, in fact, the literal understanding of the Word that gives these services meaning, and that such an understanding is problematic and perhaps even impossible: the Word is always a translation. Instead, it is through what is not said - the performative aspects of evangelistic services, including the use of space, the actions of the evangelist, and pre-existing cultural “horizons of expectation” - that meanings are produced. Taking as material Samuel Marsden’s first service in New Zealand in 1814, in which the Word was preached in English to a congregation who primarily spoke only Maori, the more contemporary example of televangelist Benny Hinn, who performs miracles to television cameras, and the religious and political performances of Destiny Church’s Brian Tamaki, this thesis uses the tools of performance studies to undertake an ethnographic study of evangelistic services. This brings into focus the ways in which evangelists may create congregations and produce meanings in their services through different modes of performance and the ways in which these ulterior meanings impact, and have impacted, on New Zealand society.en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10092/1804
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.26021/4271
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherUniversity of Canterbury. Theatre and Film Studiesen
dc.relation.isreferencedbyNZCUen
dc.rightsCopyright Greta Jane Bonden
dc.rights.urihttps://canterbury.libguides.com/rights/thesesen
dc.subjectPerformance Studiesen
dc.subjectPerformanceen
dc.subjectTheatreen
dc.subjectNew Zealanden
dc.subjectMaorien
dc.subjectColonisationen
dc.subjectProtestantismen
dc.subjectCatholicismen
dc.subjectReformationen
dc.subjectGoden
dc.subjectperformanceen
dc.subjectNew Zealanden
dc.subjectRichard Schechneren
dc.subjectRemakeen
dc.subjectFalkenbergen
dc.subjectevangelismen
dc.subjectBrian Tamakien
dc.subjectBenny Hinnen
dc.subjectSamuel Marsdenen
dc.subjectRuataraen
dc.subjectFirst Serviceen
dc.subjectMartin Lutheren
dc.subjectWittgensteinen
dc.subjectJohn Calvinen
dc.subjectDramaen
dc.subjectReligious performanceen
dc.subjectReligionen
dc.subjectPolitical Performanceen
dc.subjectAestheticsen
dc.subjectLanguageen
dc.subjectTranslationen
dc.subjectThe Bibleen
dc.subjectThe Worden
dc.subjectSpaceen
dc.subjectHealingen
dc.subjectMiracle Crusadeen
dc.subjectRangihouaen
dc.subjectChristchurchen
dc.subjectWellingtonen
dc.titleEvangelistic Performance in New Zealand: The Word and What is Not Saiden
dc.typeTheses / Dissertations
thesis.degree.disciplineDrama
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Canterburyen
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen
uc.bibnumber1120345
uc.collegeFaculty of Artsen
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