Greta Bond

Evangelistic Performance in New Zealand: the Word and What is Not Said Greta Bond

In 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 direct understanding of the Word. This may be seen as inherently contradictory: the Word is always a translation, especially when used by Protestant evangelists, whose congregations may not even share a common language. Meanings are produced in the performance of evangelism - action, music, and the use of space - and influenced by the pre-existing horizon of expectations of the congregation. In New Zealand, Protestant evangelism has gone hand-in-hand with colonisation, with significant social impact. This book undertakes performance analyses of Samuel Marsden¿s first service in New Zealand in 1814 (in which he preached in English to a congregation who primarily spoke only Maori), contemporary televangelist Benny Hinn, who performs miracles to television cameras, and the religious and political performances of Brian Tamaki, Bishop of Destiny Church, New Zealand.