Jesus in the Land of Spirits and Utu

Abstract

Both a Maori spiritual and cultural renaissance, and a growth of neopaganism increasingly influence the New Zealand spiritual landscape. Both are relatively unconcerned with “salvation” and with promises of heaven, but are nevertheless committed to a world in which the natural and supernatural are interpenetrating. Thus Christian theology frequently does not speak to the vital concerns of the pagan world. This article examines whether there are contemporary understandings of the work and person of Christ that do make sense within these allied contexts, and which encounter the deep longings of that world. Two approaches to Christ and the gospels now emerging may be effective in this context, and may help to critique the contemporary meshing of Christianity and violence. First is the Christ of Colossians - the one in whom all things hang together - and second is to be found in intrinsic atonement theories.