But recently completed research by University of Otago theology PhD student Te Hira Paenga (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou and Ngāti Kahungunu) has changed that view with the university’s first theology thesis to be written in te reo Māori, and also the first thesis to analyse the links between Māori performance art (kapa haka) and theology.
The 41-year-old will graduate with a PhD in theology this afternoon, at the Dunedin Town Hall.
Mr Paenga said his upbringing in Māori culture and his more recent study of theology made him privy to both traditional waiata, chants and haka, as well as Christian hymns and scripture.
Through that, he had been able to trace what he believed was the first Māori theological response to Christianity, back to 1814.
"They took on elements of Christianity in kapa haka.
"That was performed on December 25, 1814, post Samuel Marsden’s first sermon, and was performed by the tribes of the north.
"Essentially, kapa haka is just a vehicle in which people can transmit knowledge, share values, share beliefs, and the Māori people doctored various chants, hymns and haka to promote messages and key values from the gospel.
"There was a new approach to kapa haka which gave an alternative to the war dance ... which my people really took a liking to."
Mr Paenga started his ministry training at St John’s Theological College in Auckland, and is an ordained Anglican priest.
However, he has been a secondary school teacher for much of his working life, and his study of theology has been "a full-time hobby".
In his spare time, he completed a bachelor of theology at the University of Auckland and a postgraduate diploma in theology at the University of Otago in 2017.
"I finished my two degrees and my minister in charge at St John said he had a research topic for me to study.
"He recommended — actually, he just told me — I had to go back and do a PhD.
"You listen to your elders, you do as you’re told."
He started his PhD in November 2018, interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
"I just carried on by doing study online. That’s the great thing about PhD research — you don’t have to go to lectures. All the research is self-guided.
"I was deputy principal of Opotiki College, in the Bay of Plenty, at the time. So the research became my full-time hobby. It got me excited."
Something inside had "stirred" during his research because he was recording a part of New Zealand’s history not recorded before.
"I feel very blessed to have done this.
"It’s a Māori model of theology and it’s totally unique to Aotearoa New Zealand."
He said he had had "excellent" responses to his research from around the world. He now planned to translate his thesis into English and publish it on an international scale for mainstream readers.
