Remembering and Honoring Maori Latter-day Saints

Review of Robert Joseph, "Intercultural Exchange, Matakite Maori and the Mormon Church," in Mana Maori and Christianity, ed. by Hugh Morrison, Lachy Paterson, Brett Knowles and Murray Rae (Wellington, New Zealand: Huia Publishers, 2012), pp. 43–72; and of Selwyn Katene, ed, Turning the Hearts of the Children: Early Maori Leaders in the Mormon Church (Wellington, New Zealand: Steele Roberts Publishers, 2014). 231 pp. Glossary (pp. 220–22), Index (pp. 223–31). N.Z.

Abstract: Dr. Robert (Rob) Joseph's essay on Maori matakite (seers) is described and assessed, along with the contents of a book, edited by Dr. Selwyn Katene, consisting of essays on twelve nineteenth-century Maori Latter-day Saint "leaders." All these essays are indications that Maori scholars are setting out and defending the Maori Latter-day Saint narrative. These essays also make available to future generations the stories of some of the Maori who subsequently helped set in place a Maori community of Latter-day Saints in Aotearoa (now the official Maori name for all of New Zealand rather than merely the name for the North Island). One crucial fact is that there were divine special revelations to Maori seers that opened the way for the message brought to them by Latter-day Saint missionaries. These essays will help Maori Saints (and others) remember and honor earlier encounters with the divine that yielded what was for at least a hundred years primarily a Maori community of Saints in New Zealand.