John Stenhouse

G. A. Wood

For much of the twentieth century, New Zealand historians, like most Western scholars, largely took it for granted that as modernity waxed religion would wane. Secularization--the fading into insignificance of religion--would distinguish the modern era from previous ages. Until the 1980s, only a handful of scholars around the world raised serious empirical and theoretical questions about a Grand Theory that had become central to the self-understanding of the social sciences and of the modern world. Heated debates since then, and the unmistakable resurgence of world religions, have raised fundamental questions about the empirical and theoretical adequacy of secularization theory, and especially about how far it applies outside Europe. This volume revisits New Zealand history when secularization is no longer taken for granted as the Only Big Story that illuminates the country's social and cultural history. Contributors explore how New Zealanders' diverse religious and spiritual traditions have shaped practical, everyday concerns in politics, racial and ethnic relations, science, the environment, family life, gender relations, and other domains.

New Perspectives on New Zealand History

Christianity, Modernity and Culture

Chris Rudd

Aimed at general readers, students, and public sector professionals, this text provides an overview of the structure of New Zealand's government and places it within its historical and social context. The authors (both political studies, U. of Otago) begin with a discussion of British colonialism an

Robust, Innovative and Challenged

The Politics and Government of New Zealand

Louis S. Leland

"What does sovereignty mean? What is a sovereign state? How much is a state's freedom of action limited by the global financial system, by multinational corporations within a state, by treaty commitments and a commitment to the international legal system that underpins them, or by internal threats to sovereignty? And what will be the impact on individual states of new communications technology?" "These questions are addressed by the contributors to this book. They include experts in international relations, lawyers, economists, an ambassador and a politician."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

G. A. Wood

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