ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the matter of the response-with respect to both Maori and Pakeha-in terms of the mutual encounter of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, in rough parallel to the programme of The Fixed and the Fickle. As James Irwin observes, myth and religion were inseparable elements of the one overall reality of classical Maori society. The Christianity that arrived first was that of the modern Protestant missionary era of England, soon followed by a form of Catholic missionary endeavour out of France. Two English Protestant missionary societies were the first to set up in New Zealand in the early nineteenth century: the Anglican Church Missionary Society (CMS) and the Methodist Wesleyan Missionary Society (WMS). The Revd Samuel Leigh, the first Wesleyan minister to Australia, began a mission to Aotearoa, also in the north of the North Island, in 1822. The future of New Zealand is one of increasing diversity across the board-racially, ethnically, linguistically, and religiously.
