ABSTRACT
Here I point out in passing that this analysis could be extended into the domain of transcendent power, where the Christian god may be represented as having both sexual and compassionate love for his human flock. The imagery is that of marriage, for as one preacher is reported to have said: 'God wants to put a wedding ring on your finger' - an action that would make wives of the congregation." This imagery is a transformation of that which, in the past, informed chiefship and sacrificial offerings to the ancestors and which today is at once constituted and expressed in kava drinking.
