The Ratana Church : Where Christianity, Politics and Maori Culture come together

Abstract

The Rātana Church; where Christianity, Politics and Māori Culture come together The Rātana Church is a Māori-Christian church, consisting of approximately 40,000 members, most of them Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. They are te Iwi Mōrehu, the surviving non-tribal tribe of T. W. Rātana. According to the Church, T. W. Rātana was visited by the Holy Spirit in 1918, and chosen to be His mouthpiece of earth. He healed many people, and attracted a large following, based on non-tribal Christianity. The world view of the Church is dualistic; divided into the spiritual and the physical. The Church combines Christian spirituality with the emphasis on the material welfare of the Māori people. I have examined in what way the Rātana Church is both a Christian church, and a Māori movement. This is an empirical case study, describing the Rātana Church in light of the historical as well as anthropological context that it was born from. I have analysed the Rātana Church in contrast with ‘traditional Māori spirituality and culture’. The extent of identification with traditional Māori elements among the Mōrehu, the adherents of the Church, varies not only from person to person, but also according to the context. The members of the Rātana Church may appear to be stuck ‘betwixt and between’; not fully Māori, but certainly not Pākeha (white), both a creolised Māori culture and a syncretistic form of Christianity. They told me “It’s not a Māori Church; it’s a Christian Church, with Māori people, open for everyone.” I have tried to show that it is a Māori-Christian Church, in the ethnicity of its members, the Māori cultural practices, and most importantly in the Māori identity of the Mōrehu. It is my understanding that the Rātana Church is a form of collectivism based on Christianity, with political roots, ethnic membership and cultural practice; religion, politics and culture coming together.