STYLES OF AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL

AND MELANESIAN THEOLOGY

ANNE PATTELL-GRAY AND GARRY W. TROMPF*

INTRODUCTION

Indigenous theological activity among the Australian Aboriginals and the

Melanesian Islanders should not go unnoticed by the international community.
Black peoples of Australia and the Southwest Pacific have produced the most
variegated cultural situation on earth, there being over two thousand distinct
languages and autochthonous traditions and thus over a quarter of the world's
known religions between coastal western Australia and Fiji. Christian mis-
sionaries came late to these regions (in Australia from 1820 and Melanesia from
1830), and Christianity was experienced in conjunction with European colo-
nialism. The Australian Aboriginals suffered under a massive invasion and the
decimation of populations, the modern "first-world" and western nation of
Australia emerging on their bloodied backs. ! The Melanesiane never experi-
enced the same devastations, yet in New Caledonia land alienation was massive
and an oppressive reservation system applied (especially from 1887), and in
west New Guinea (now Irian Jaya) the replacement of Dutch by Indonesian
neo-colonial rule presented the threat of transmigration — the peopling of vast
tracts of land by immigrants from Java and other parts of Indonesia. As for
other Melanesian quarters, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and
Vanuatu won their independence successively (1970, 1975, 1978, 1980),
although each inherited colonial "hangovers": Fiji its Indian population, for
instance, and Papua New Guinea its Bougainville crisis.2
Christianity, one can fairly assert, has had a "success story" in Melanesia,
around ninety percent of its indigenous inhabitants claiming affiliation with
some Christian mission by the 1980s, and with indigenization of the clergy and
the administrative independence of the mainline Protestant denominations3
well underway. In Australia, Christian missions have presented a "mixed-bag"
for the Aboriginal people, and missionary failure more noticeable than suc-

* ANNE PATTEL-GRAY is executive secretary of the Aboriginal & Islander Commission of the
Australian Council of Churches, and a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Studies in Religion at the
University of Sydney. She is author of Through Aboriginal Eyes (Geneva 1991) and editor of the
forthcoming Aboriginal Spirituality: Past, Present, Future.
* GARRY W. TROMPF, has taught at various universities (including those of Oxford and Papua
New Guinea), and is currently associate professor of Religion at the School of Studies in Religion
at the University of Sydney. He is author of Melanesian Religion (Cambridge 1991) and editor of
The Gospel Is Not Western (Maryknoll 1987).
1
For background, see Anne Pattel-Gray, Through Aboriginal Eyes: A Cry from the Wilderness.
Geneva: WCC, 1991.
2
For background, see Garry Trompf, Payback. Cambridge: CUP, 1993, chs. 4-9.
3
Especially the Lutheran, United, Presbyterian and Methodist churches.

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cess.4 The background of the awesome white intrusion and its effects, coupled
with an unnerving degree of missionary paternalism and a common failure to
understand the Aboriginal life-ways, has made for Aboriginal distrust in what
was offered by the newcomers.
This is to generalize about developments in these regions, however, from one
point of view: that of anyone interested in the figures of church growth or the
international impact of Christianity formally conceived. But the large Christian
affiliation in Melanesia belies the fact that most people — who are villagers in
the rural areas — received the gospel very much on their own cultural terms.
The famous "cargo cults," for example, reveal that many islanders heeded the
new teaching in the hope that it would bring them the new style of goods — the
cargo and all its symbolic, status-enhancing characteristics — associated with
the white mastas (masters).5 One has to be aware of the very varied motives
and comprehensions of avowed Melanesian Christians. As for the the Austra-
lian Aboriginals, whereas they generally rejected the white-packaged Chris-
tianity foisted upon them, they absorbed "Aboriginalized" versions of it into
their bones, as new means of spiritual strength, despite the fact that the white
packagers were worried about what they "heard back." Over the last two
decades, too, the new international awareness of the plight of indigenous
peoples, which has affected the Australian churches, allowing for more self-
confident expressions of what Aboriginal Christianity and spirituality are all
about. Today — almost by surprise — Australians can find that a higher
proportion of Aboriginal people are now actively engaged in publishable
theological reflection than whites.6
At the present time various types and/or styles of Aboriginal and Melanesian
theology are manifest enough for an introductory survey — which is here
presented on the understanding that black theologies from this part of the globe
are very much emergent and only just beginning to crystallize. In what follows
we place the kinds of theology in evidence under the most basic categories,
simply for introductory purposes. Because of the differing experiences of
Australian Aboriginals and Melanesians, it is probably also useful to have a few
helpful preliminary guidelines for a better understanding of the material. In
nuce, striking differences between most Aboriginal and most Melanesian
theologies relate to social psychological factors at work in each region and to
the nature of the opportunities to express oneself along theological lines.
Melanesian theologies concede more to the historical understanding that
missionaries came to bring the truth of the gospel to a sea of cultural
"darkness." It tends to matter less to Melanesians that there were serious
weaknesses in their (largely warrior) cultures, and that outsiders — who were

4
See Tony Swain and Deborah Bird Rose, eds, Aboriginal Australians and Christian Missions.
Adelaide: Australian Association for the Study of Religion, 1988.
5
For background, Trompf, ed., Cargo Cults and Millenarium Movements (Religion and Society
29). Berlin: De Gruyter, 1990.
6
Cf. Pattel-Gray, ed., Aboriginal Spirituality [forthcoming].

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actually often Polynesians or other Melanesians — brought serious discon-

tinuity and a "new time." Among Aboriginals, by contrast, the trauma of the
"Great White Flood" has made this kind of concession much less easy —
though we admit it has been made by some — because psychologically it means
admitting defeat to a cultural genocide (including the white Australia policy of
assimilation 1939-67) that the Melanesians have experienced to a much more
limited degree.7 Aboriginal theological mentalités, then, tend to make more of
the reality of Christ before the whites, or in "their Dreaming" for now and all
time — a psychologically understandable tendency and a sign of greater
cultural resilience in their work. Interestingly, this datum relates to another
difference that Melanesian theologians have already noted in their Aboriginal
"counterparts," that Aboriginal theology is relatively more sensitive spiritually
— it is perhaps more spirituality than theology — while Melanesian theologies
in the main tend to be more "studied," and often more secular and politically-
oriented. 8
In the two following sections, the first on Aboriginal, the second on Melanesian
developments, the categorizations have been made in differing but nonetheless
complementary ways, the two approaches reflecting the distinct contexts and
the backgrounds of the respective authors, Anne Pattel-Gray being Aboriginal
and Garry Trompf white Australian.

STYLES OF AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL THEOLOGY

Australian Aboriginal theology offers a vast spectrum of styles, ranging from

the traditional (or non-western) to the "Aboriginal" (or post-western). The
World Council of Churches' Seventh Assembly, held in Canberra in 1991,
gave the international community an opportunity to encounter much of this
variety, with some participants coining from traditional Aboriginal com-
munities (for example, northeast Arnhem Land), others from former mission
stations and reserves (for example, Yarrabah), and still others from totally
urban settings (for example, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth).9 Each of these reflect
a differing measure of "encounter" with European missions and theologies, and
each has its own characteristics, limitations and contributions. These are
outlined below.

7
Pattel-Gray, "The Great White Flood." Doctoral dissert., University of Sydney, Sydney, 1993,
cf. Bernard Narokobi, The Melanesian Way. Port Moresby: IPNGS, 1983, p. 8.
8
See Trompf, "Introduction: geographical, historical and intellectual perspective," in Trompf,
ed., The Gospel Is Not Western. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1987, pp. 6-8. Note also Aboriginal
thinker Christine Morris, "The Western Construction of Aboriginal Religion." Honours dissert.,
University of Queensland, Brisbane, 1992, on voicing the danger of imposing the category
theology on Aboriginal thought where it is not warranted.
9
For an international, historical perspective on Aboriginal theology, see Alex Dawia, "The
Emergence of Black Theology in Aboriginal Australia," Bach, thesis, University of Papua New
Guinea, 1986. For more recent developments, see Cry for Justice. Sydney: Aboriginal & Islander
Commission of the Australian Council of Churches, 1991, 60 min. videocassette, VHS-PAL/
NTSC; executive directed/produced by Pattel-Gray.

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Traditional Aboriginal religion

Traditional Aboriginal religion begins with the "Dreaming" (myths and cos-
mologies), when the Creator made everything that is today and imbued it with
peace and harmony.10 It continues with Aboriginal people having a profound
understanding of the importance of spirituality, culture and ceremony. Tradi-
tional religion emphasizes wholeness (for example, Creator and creation,
spiritual and physical), community (for example, caring and sharing), relation-
ships (for example, to land, people, totems, nature) and continuity (for
example, time). It is expressed through specific practices (for example,
ceremonies, corroborées), and maintained through oral history passed down
from generation to generation. It is secret/sacred — it has never been, and will
never be, revealed to non-Aboriginal people.

"Missionized Christianity"

It is important to look into the history of the encounter between traditional

Aboriginal religion and western Christian mission theology, as this will provide
a framework for understanding how the various forms of Aboriginal theology
are expressed today.
The history of contact between Aboriginal and western cultures is full of
racism, classism, sexism and other forms of colonial, expansionist oppression
— with the Aboriginal people bearing the brunt of the violence. n The church
was very much a part of this assault, drawing its personnel from the same
society, and its theology from the same lines of thought and analysis, as the
European invaders who stole the continent by force of arms and legal hocus-
pocus. The church preached the language of love, yet enforced mission
"policies" based upon hate, fear, violence, division and denominationalism.
Church and state worked together, and the results of this two-pronged ons-
laught have been nothing short of genocidal.12
Aboriginal peoples' experiences of the transcendent were expected to be
limited to western understandings. Indeed, their expressions of God, church,
faith and life were forced into being limited to western ones. Most European
10
Oral Testimonies (hereafter OTs), Pattel-Gray interviews with M. Yunupingu, Galarrwuy
Yunupingu and Dhalanganda Garrawurra, Gunyangara, Northern Territory, and Sydney, New
South Wales, Australia, 1991-92; cf. George Rosendale, "Aboriginal Myths and Customs: Matrix
for Gospel Preaching," Lutheran Theological Journal, December 1988, pp. 117-122.
11
Cf. Pattel-Gray, Through Aboriginal Eyes, op. cit.; Kevin Gilbert, Living Black: Blacks Talk to
Kevin Gilbert. Melbourne: Penguin, 1977; and C D . Rowley, The Destruction of Aboriginal
Society: Aboriginal Policy and Practice. Canberra: ANU, 1970/Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972.
See also various books by Henry Reynolds, including: Frontier: Aborigines, Settlers, and Land.
Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1987; The Law of the Land. Melbourne: Penguin, 1987; The Other Side
of the Frontier: Aboriginal Resistance to the European Invasion of Australia. Melbourne:
Penguin, 1981, 1982; and Reynolds, comp., Dispossession: Black Australia and White Invaders.
Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1989.
12
Cf. Statement of the World Council of Churches' Team Visits to Aboriginal Communities,
Canberra, A.C.T., Australia, 4 February 1991.

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"Christians" actually came to take the land, thus Aboriginal people were taught
falsehoods and heresies in order to rationalize this "takeover." One of the most
notorious examples of this western theological deceit across Australia was the
teaching of the Hamitic curse, which supposedly condemned all "black-
skinned peoples" to eternal inferiority. Sadly, some missionaries were quite
efficient and a few older Aboriginals still believe they are condemned by God
to be "less than whites."13
In this vein, it is important to know that Aboriginal people have never been
given the critical tools to understand the Christian Bible fully. From the very
first missions to the later, more organized denominations, the Australian church
"read out" the meaning of the actual text of the Bible in a way that distorted
much more than just the words. The Australian church had the benefit of
literally thousands of years of analytical study of the biblical text, com-
plemented by many different and quite sophisticated critical tools (i.e., textual,
historical, grammatical, literary, form, tradition and — more recently —
redaction criticism).14 Yet, the Australian church consistently and continuously
omitted from its exegesis the numerous instances of black people — and people
15
of colour — in the biblical text.
The church established by Jesus taught and practised love and inclusiveness in
the community of all people (John 3:16). The Australian church, however,
taught — either directly, or by implication — that the people in the Bible were
white, and that to be white was a good thing because it was to be "like God."
Thus, Aboriginal people were given very limited knowledge of the black
identity of many biblical figures, such as Hagar, in Genesis 16 and 21; Moses'
wife, in Numbers 12; Tirhaka, King of the Ethiopians and Pharaoh of all Egypt,
in Isaiah 37:9 and – Kings 19:9; the Queen of Sheba, in I Kings 10; Symeon, in
Acts 13:1; and various others.16 Quite the contrary, black people in the Bible
were portrayed by the Australian church to be either white or "colourless," or
were avoided.17 This kind of selective exegesis of the Bible kept Aboriginal
people from having possible and positive role models.18 It deprived them of the
full and complete biblical text, which showed blacks not only as full members

13
David Trigger, "Christianity, Domination and Resistance in Colonial Social Relations," in
Swain and Rose, p. 228, cited in John Harris, One Blood — 200 Years of Aboriginal Encounter
with Christianity: A story of hope. Sutherland, N.S.W.: Albatros Books, 1990, p. 658, n. 169.
14
John H. Hayes and Carl R. Holladay, Biblical Exegesis. London: SCM Press, 1983, pp. 14-23.
15
Cain Hope Felder, Troubling Biblical Waters: race, class and family (Bishop Henry McNeal
Turner Studies in North American Black Religion 3). Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1989; and, Cain
Hope Felder, ed., Stony the Road We Trod: African American Biblical Interpretation. Min-
neapolis: Fortress, 1991.
16
John W. Waters, "Who Was Hagar?" in Felder, ed., Stony, op. cit., pp. 187-205; Felder,
Troubling, op. cit., pp. 32-36, 42-43, 47; Frank M. Snowden, Jr., Blacks in Antiquity: Ethiopians
in the Greco- Roman Experience. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard, 1970.
17
OTs: D. Garrawurra 1991-92; G. Paulson 1992; I. Paulson 1992-93; C. Grant 1992; C. Harris
1992; D. Broome 1992.
18
Cf. for example, Pattel-Gray, "Dreamtime: An Aboriginal Interpretation of the Bible," Biblical
Interpretation 1/1 (1993): [forthcoming, E.J. Brill, The Netherlands], and Trompf, Gospel, op.
cit., pp. 7-9.

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of the community of believers, but also as wealthy people, leaders and rulers. It
betrayed the church doctrine of "love your neighbour" because "some of the
neighbours" were black. In short, the Australian church's exegesis was racist
— and heretical — and it passed this on to the indigenous people as "gospel
truth."
On the whole, western Christian missions have left a legacy of a "missionized
theology" which, to this day, continues to have an impact — a negative one —
upon Aboriginal thinking. This style of thought, which is a way of doing
theology, remains self-righteous, judgemental, oppressive, and full of
institutionalized racism. There are various expressions of missionized theology
being practised in Australia today. Below is a brief outline of these.

The forgotten ones

As in Aboriginal culture itself, Aboriginal theology today is in direct relation-

ship with the past. Indigenous people who are long gone, or who have never
been known by most Australians, have made significant contributions to
contemporary Aboriginal theology. These "forgotten theologians" include early
Aboriginal "converts" to Christianity, distinguished Aboriginal students and
scholars of the Christian traditions, and outstanding Aboriginal biblical trans-
lators. They are, arguably, the most unrecognized Aboriginal Christians. Their
unparalleled contributions to the work of Christ, and to the church, remain
virtually unknown.
Early "converts" and leaders: Aboriginal people were quick to grasp the
message of Christ — in spite of the bearers. The first Aboriginal person to be
baptized and "converted" to Christianity was the son of Bennelong (called
"Thomas Walker Coke" Bennelong).19 He was the first of many who, hearing
the gospel of Christ, took up the call of discipleship. Some even became leaders
and, though there were a few "licensed" Aboriginal lay readers, only one was
ever actually ordained. The first Aboriginal man to become an ordained
minister of religion in Australia was the Rev. James Noble, of Yarrabah, in
1925.20 In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Noble ministered with the Anglican
Church as a preacher, evangelist and missionary in various parts of Queens-
land. Admittedly he was a pioneer, but his mentor was a conservative white
man whose influence permeated — and perhaps stunted — Noble's ministry.21
In short, Aboriginal people quickly demonstrated to early colonizers that they
not only understood the Christian ethic, but also could "live" it more effica-
ciously and "spread" it more authentically.

19
J. Harris, op. cit., pp. 50-51.
20
OT: the Rt Rev. Arthur Malcolm; Adelaide, Cairns, Sydney, Australia, 1990.-93.
21
Noble's mentor was the Rev. Ernest Gribble, a person who was described by the Rev. Dr. A. P.
Elkin — the renowned priest-anthropologist — as "an angry despot," "sheer bloody minded," and
"terrorising" in his interaction with Aboriginal people; A. P. Elian, cited in J. Harris, op. cit., pp.
516-517.

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Students and scholars: In the 1840s and 1850s, three Aboriginal men from
western Australia distinguished themselves as students and scholars in the
European tradition of general and theological education and learning. Around
1848, Benedict Upumara, Francis Xavier Conaci and John Baptist Mary
Dirimerà were selected for a European education by Fr Rosendo Salvado, head
of the Roman Catholic mission at New Norcia. They accompanied Salvado to
the Benedictine monastery at La Cava, Italy. Sadly, Upumara did not live long
enough to see his friends become outstanding students. Conaci and Dirimerà
already knew various indigenous languages and in a short time were able to add
fluency in European languages, such as Italian and Latin. Conaci even took
distinctions in his general examinations, winning a silver medal (one of only
two students to attain this).22 Both became fully qualified monks and were
personally "robed" by Pope Pius IX as the " . . . first Benedictines of Australia,
indeed, of a whole fifth of the world."23 Three additional Aboriginal men were
taken to study at La Cava, but — astonishingly — all four died within a few
years of being in Europe. They died perhaps of the "white man's diseases" or
perhaps, as some Aboriginal people believe, because they were away from
"their land." In any case, these remarkable students and scholars are examples
of some very early Australian indigenous contributions to Aboriginal theology.
Translators: A great number of Aboriginal people worked as translators of the
Bible, or portions of the Bible, or of Christian literature, for the European
(mostly English-speaking) missionaries. Many, many Aboriginals worked on
translations, while very few — if any — received compensation for their work.
Indeed, most did not even get recognition, though white missionaries often
received national and international accolades. Among the unsung Aboriginal
translators are: Biraban, the Aboriginal man who worked in the Awabakal
language in northern New South Wales in the 1830s and after;24 Mjimandum,
Barungga and Woondoonmoi, three Aboriginal men who worked in the Worora
language in the northwest of western Australia, around 1914; and many more
on to M. Yunupingu, the Aboriginal woman who translated the New Testament
into Gumatj, in northeast Arnhem Land in the 1970s and 1980s.25 The list goes
on and on and, though they are still unrecognized by Australia, this myriad of
gifted and selfless indigenous linguists and translators have left behind a
priceless cultural and theological legacy.

Nominal

Australia has a long and sad history of the Aboriginal people being forced into
mission stations and reserves by "Christians of good will." Literally thousands
22
Cf. Rosendo Salvado, The Salvado Memoirs, trans, by E. J. Stormon. Perth, W.A.: UWA,
1977; rev. ed., 1991, pp. 123-124, (n. 18), pp.287-288.
23
Ibid., p. 98.
24
Papers of Lancelot Edward Threlkeld, Mitchell Library, Sydney, N.S.W.
25
OT: M. Yunupingu, Yirrkala, Northern Territory, Australia, 1991-92. The work is: Godku
Dhäruk Nininygukunhara Nherranara: Yutana Gal'ngu ngunhi dhawu [The New Testament in
Gumatj]. Canberra: Bible Society in Australia, 1985.

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of indigenous people were "preached at," "baptized," and "converted" to the

Christian religion — often by force, sometimes by violence, and almost always
under duress. Aboriginals were made to go to church worship services, sing
hymns, go to Sunday School, and so on. If they did not, their food rations
would be cut, they would be isolated from other members of their family and
community, or they would be "punished" in some other way for their "heathen-
ism."26 Thus, many Aboriginal people became nominal Christians, as they
really had no other choice.

Conservative

In time, this forced contact led to theological osmosis. Aboriginal people were
survivors, and therefore they "absorbed" white, European, conservative theol-
ogy. This legacy continues today in Aboriginal fundamentalist, pentecostal and
evangelical expressions.
Most — if not all — adherents reject their own Aboriginal identity, culture and
languages. Most are concerned with personal sin and salvation and individual
conversion and piety, as opposed to institutionalized or corporate sins (for
example, white racism, greed). They maintain a very narrow and apocalyptic
world-view, believing that land rights and justice are all in heaven, and that
fighting for these here and now on earth is wrong, indeed sinful. Some
"acknowledge" the existence of traditional spirituality, ceremonies and other
cultural practices, but generally discourage them. In one way or another, all of
these conservative expressions deny various aspects of Aboriginal personhood,
sociocultural identity, and indigenous religious being. They betray a direct,
interventionist, white, European, "missionized" theology.
In the 1960s, the Rev. Lazarus Lamilami became the first ordained minister of
the Methodist Church; he was a product of western theology.27 In the 1970s
and 1980s, a few independent churches developed in Aboriginal communities,
especially in urban areas. Interestingly, though ecclesiologically "independent"
from the mainline denominations, these churches remained doctrinally very
"dependent" upon conservative, western theological constructs and expres-
sions. The 1990s saw a different kind of change: in 1991, Liyapidiny Marika
became the first Aboriginal woman to be ordained a minister in the Uniting
Church in Australia.28 She is currently involved in pastoral ministry at
Yirrkala, in northeast Arnhem Land. Both Lamilami and Marika stand as
classic examples of theological conservatism.

26
OT: esp. the Rev. Dhalanganda Garrawurra, Sydney, N.S.W., Australia, 1992; and,
Rosendale, op. cit., p. 117.
27
Cf. Lazarus Lamilami, Lamilami Speaks. Sydney: Ure Smith, 1974.
28
"First Aboriginal Woman as UCA Minister," Nungalinya News 65 (December 1991): 1,4-5.
On independencies, cf. Deborah Christian, "Aboriginal Independent Churches." Unpublished ms:
University of Sydney, 1983.

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Liberal

There is a liberal tradition in Aboriginal theology. This is characterized by

dependence — theological, ecclesiological, doctrinal, social, structural, econo-
mic — upon the western church structures and entities. The representatives of
this tradition are still denominational — often fiercely so — but at times are
open to working ecumenically. Motions and resolutions come easily, but direct
action is not always forthcoming.
As far back as the 1930s, Tom Foster, an Aboriginal evangelist from La
Perouse, was raising important issues of justice and equality, and criticizing
white missionaries as a destructive influence upon the indigenous people and
culture. In the 1970s, Graham Paulson became the first (and still the only!)
ordained Aboriginal Baptist minister in Australia. He has worked with the
traditional Gurindji and Warlpiri people, as well as the Lausanne movement,
the Aboriginal Evangelical Fellowship and the Aboriginal and Islander Com-
mission of the Australian Council of Churches. In 1975 Pastor Douglas
Nicholls (Church of Christ) became governor of South Australia, thus mixing a
deep faith as a pastor with a political commitment. In the latter part of that
decade, the Rev. Djiniyini Gondarra (Uniting) was part of the leadership of a
major spiritual revival at Galiwin'ku, in northeast Arnhem Land. His writings
have focused on this revival,29 and on "contextualizing" the Christian gospel
for Aboriginal people.30 In 1985, the Rev. Arthur Malcolm became the first
Aboriginal Bishop in Australia, as Assistant Bishop of North Queensland with
the Anglican Church. He is truly a gifted "pastor," counselling and nurturing
Aboriginal people in their pain, suffering, hopes and visions, and is deeply
committed to reconciliation.31 Pastor Cecil Grant (Church of Christ) is active in
contextualizing the gospel and is involved in lay theological education. For
many years, spanning this entire period, Pastor George Rosendale (Lutheran)
has worked on a holistic approach to Aboriginal theology, encompassing
traditional Dreaming stories, as well as modern theological method.32

"Story-telling" theology

"Story-telling" theology embraces the traditional and cultural teachings of our

people, and continues as the nexus between the Dreaming stories and the
biblical scriptures. Many Aboriginal theologians use this form of teaching to

29
Cf. Djiniyini Gondarra, "The Pentecost Experience in Arnhem Land Churches in 1979," in Let
My People Go — Series of Theological Reflections of Aboriginal Theology: four reflections based
on church renewal, Christian theology of the land, contextualization and unity. Darwin: Bethel
Presbytery, Northern Synod, Uniting Church in Australia, 1986, pp. 1-12.
30
Djiniyini Gondarra, Father, You Gave Us The Dreaming. Darwin: Bethel Presbytery, Northern
Synod, Uniting Church in Australia, 1988, [9 pp.].
31
OT: the Rt Rev. Arthur Malcolm, op. cit. Cf. Arthur Malcolm, Love Speaks Out. Sydney:
Anglican Information Office, 1989.
32
Cf. Rosendale in Pattel-Gray, ed., Aboriginal Theologies [forthcoming].

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both maintain the Aboriginal oral tradition, and to enable our people to have a
greater understanding of theology so they can make it relevant to their daily
lives. It is a non-western, non-intellectualized model of teaching transcendent
truths about creation and life. By using the Dreaming stories, Aboriginal
theologians are able to bring to life the teachings of the gospel, which may then
be sung and danced into life through traditional Aboriginal ceremonies.
Two outstanding Aboriginal people who are very gifted in this tradition are
Pastor George Rosendale and Maureen Watson.33 Through this practice they
are able to make the gospel more meaningful and relevant to our traditional way
of life.

"Aboriginal theology"

"Aboriginal theology" is a radical movement in theology, towards the creation

of an indigenous theology, leaning heavily towards biblical justice. It is
autonomous (post-western, post-denominational), and emphasizes liberation,
prophetic obedience, and action. It treasures traditional Aboriginal religion as
the divine grounding for contemporary faith and identity. It keeps traditional
practices (for example, ceremonies) as potent reminders of important cosmic
and temporal truths. And, it holds the Dreaming as a timeless guide for active
engagement.
In the 1960s, the Rev. Don Brady worked with the Methodist Church in
Brisbane. He was a gifted and passionate preacher, and, a tireless campaigner
for Aboriginal rights, he was always to be found leading marches for Aborigi-
nal land rights. His strong theological stance, combined with his persistent
efforts at direct action for justice, eventually led the church to "remove him"
from the ministry — which "broke" him. In the 1970s, the Rev. Charles Harris
replaced Brady at the ministry in Brisbane. His work continued the prophetic
stands for justice, eventually culminating in his vision of the Uniting Aborigi-
nal and Islander Christian Congress in 1985.34 His subsequent writings reveal a
true passion and "thirst" for justice.35 In 1975, Patrick Dodson became the first
ordained Aboriginal Roman Catholic priest. Like Brady and Harris, his stands
were far too threatening for the hierarchical, institutionalized church and he left
both the priesthood and the church.36

33
Cf. Rosendale, "Aboriginal Myths and Customs," loc. cit., pp. 117-122; and, Maureen
Watson,
34
"Stories," in Pattel-Gray, ed., Aboriginal Spirituality, op. cit.
35
OT: the Rev. Charles Harris, Ashfield, Lismore, Sydney, N.S.W., 1987-93.
Cf. Charles Harris, "Indigenisation Key to Our Survival-Rev Harris," Koori Mail, No. 16, 18
December 1991, p. 11; "Reconciliation or Whitewash," ibid., No. 15, 6 November 1991, p. 15;
"Thinking for Ourselves: Rev Harris," ibid., No. 17, 15 January 1992, pp. 18, 20; "Western
Christianity
36
a Curse to Indigenous Spirituality," ibid., No. 20, 26 February 1992, p. 19.
Since his departure, Dodson has served as director of the Northern Land Council, commis-
sioner of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, and now chairperson of the
(Federal) Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation — all positions that reflect his continuing
commitment to justice and equality for all peoples.

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These great leaders have been followed by others with a strong theology and a
passion for justice. Fr Dave Passi, a Torres Strait Islander priest of the Malo
cult, is also a fully qualified and ordained priest of the Anglican Church of
Australia.37 He was one of the three original plaintiffs in the landmark Mabo
land rights case, which shattered the white "legal fiction" that the Australian
continent was terra nullius (or, uninhabited land — ready to be "worked" and
colonized). Passi was led by his strong theological commitment to justice. The
Rev. Dhalanganda Garrawurra (Uniting) is currently assistant to the president
at Nungalinya Theological College in Darwin — this despite the fact that he
was denied food rations by Christian missionaries when he did not go to the
church on the Aboriginal Reserve as a youth.38 The Rev. Trevor Holmes
(Uniting) has been at the forefront of the defence of a small parcel of Aboriginal
land on the Swan River, in Perth, western Australia.39 His theological stand has
cost him: psychologically (he has been smeared in the media), physically (he
has received death threats and, on numerous occasions, he has been beaten or
arrested by police), socially (he is rather "unpopular" in Perth), and profession-
ally (he is shunned in some white church circles). Anne Pattel-Gray (Uniting),
executive secretary of the Aboriginal & Islander Commission of the Australian
Council of Churches and a doctoral student in theology, is currently the only
qualified Aboriginal theological figure in Australia. Apart from her important
book Through Aboriginal Eyes her agenda has included the analysis of racism,
the falsification of the gospel and the necessity for true justice in Australian
society as a whole.m
Though he probably would not consider himself to be an Aboriginal Christian
theologian, Kevin Gilbert nevertheless provides one of the most comprehensive
critiques of Christian theology and Christianity itself. His works demonstrate
vast knowledge of both the Bible and of Christianity, though he stands at the
fringe of Christian hermeneutics.41 His sharp insights offer a major contribu-
tion to Aboriginal theology.
Finally, as an organization, the Aboriginal and Islander Commission of the
Australian Council of Churches is currently taking unprecedented and dramatic
strides toward discerning and embodying an indigenous, autonomous theology.
In 1991, it organized the participation of Aboriginal and Islander people in the
World Council of Churches' Seventh Assembly (in Canberra), in which the
indigenous people of Australia opened the assembly with a traditional smoking

37
Dave Passi, "From Pagan to Christian Priesthood," in Trompf, ed., Gospel, op. cit., pp. 45-48.
38
OT: the Rev. Dhalanganda Garrawurra, Sydney, Australia, 1992.
39
Cf. Martha Ansara, Always Was, Always Will Be: The Sacred Grounds of the Waugal, Kings
Park, Perth, W.A. Baimain, N.S.W.: Jequerity Pty. Ltd., 1989; rev. ed., 1990.
40
Because of her prophetic style, an editorial of a recent church journal referred to her as a "John
the Baptist" figure! "1993 — A New Journey," Insights 3/1 (February 1993): 9. [Comments on
Pattel-Gray have been made by Trompf.]
41
Cf. for example, Kevin Gilbert, Living Black, op. cit.; and, "Spirituality," in Pattel-Gray, ed.,
Aboriginal Spirituality, op. cit.

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IMERNATIONAL REVIEW OF MISSION

ceremony and made significant contributions to the worship, business and

informal times of the gathering.42

Non-Christian

It may be surprising, but a few Aboriginal people follow non-Christian

religious traditions. For example, some Aboriginal people follow the Buddhist,
Hare Krishna, Islamic and Jewish teachings.43 Participation in other forms also
exists, but is "under-documented" because those particular religious,
philosophical or ideological structures do not record members or adherents
according to racial or ethnic categorizations (for example, Baha'i, Theosophi-
cal Society). Though they are very few in number — non-indigenous people
call them "statistically insignificant" — they do exist and are part of today's
theological scene.

Future

Australian Aboriginal theology encompasses everything from the timeless oral

tradition of Dreaming stories to the modern written tradition of critical
exegetical work. It preserves the ancient wisdom of indigenous culture and
tradition, as well as reinterpreting and reformulating more recent western
theological concepts. In short, it is very diverse and has much to offer — to
those willing to learn.
* * *

STYLES OF MELANESIAN THEOLOGY

Background

Indigenous theology pre-existed Christian missionary activity in Melanesia. It

was especially expressed through so-called cosmologies (conceptualizations of
the cosmos), myth (cosmogonies, narratives concerning culture heroes, etc.)
and in teaching about good and bad actions. u Upon the arrival of Polynesian
and European missionaries to the region from the 1830s, Melanesians who
abetted the missionary cause or were touched by church teachings usually
interpreted Christianity in terms of the local cultural "analogues." The world,
or cosmos, became much larger, though even the most mobile of the early

42
Cf. Pattel-Gray, ed., Cry for Justice: The Aboriginal and Islander Contribution to the World
Council of Churches' Seventh Assembly. Sydney: Aboriginal & Islander Commission of the
Australian Council of Churches, 1991.
43
Ongoing research conducted by the Aboriginal & Islander Commission.
44
Trompf, Melanesian Religion, op. cit., pp. 12-19.

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black evangelists or catechists never had the opportunity to see the fabled Holy
Land or the whites' homelands. Genesis 1 was emphasized as the true creation
story to replace the many local cosmogonie accounts, the latter all now said to
be conceived out of ignorance or naivety; the narrative pieces that came to
matter before all were those of great biblical actors — especially the Patriarchs
45
and Jesus — or those who later won souls for the gospel. Not surprisingly,
the first Melanesian Christian writings were diary materials about how preach-
ing the "true message" turned the hearts of newly contacted peoples although
we are not to forget a great deal of unrecognized hermeneutical work by Bible
translators.46 From what we can learn of "unmonitored" village responses to
mission talk, moreover, there were various experiments to combine or relate
Genesis to local "origin stories" — little being done by missionaries themselves
to reveal how the whites had their own indigenous myths that they had
(allegedly) left behind.47 Much in the early interchanges between bringers and
recipients of Christian instruction, moreover, had to do with working out which
ethical injunctions and tabus were equivalent in the old and new ways and
where the tensions lay over expected patterns of behaviour. In the justification
of one ethical stance or another, attempts of moral theology were made. 48
The phenomenon of conformist "missionized theology," as described above for
Australian Aboriginals, prevailed in Melanesia until after World War II and it
was very much constrained by denominational interests or inevitably ill-
informed because facilities for effective theological training were wanting. In
what follows we concentrate on the much more remarkable post-war develop-
ments.
When surveying the more recent styles of written theology in Melanesia, asking
at the same time how theology has been developing there over the last hundred
years of culturo-religious interactions, it is interesting to note that the "story"
and narrational expressions of the Christian outlook have preceded the emerg-
ence of any formalist statements about doctrinal issues, or about the nature of a
Christian society, ecclesiastical orientation or morality. As a greater theological
sophistication emerges this story element continues to make its presence felt,
and is one important signal of indigenous and introduced insights being in
creative interplay. Conservative Christian stances have held their ground,
however, and seeming at first sight to check attempts at the indigenization of
Christianity, this conservation has recently strengthened, acquiring some legiti-

45
Trompf, "Macrohistory and Acculturation," in Comparative Studies in Society and History 31A
4, 1989, pp. 628-33.
46
For example, [ C ] Marau, Story of a Melanesian Deacon: Clement Marau (trans. R. H.
Codrington). London: SPCK, 1874. Or the many translators, Swain and Trompf, Religions of
Oceania. London: Routledge, 1993, ch. 6.
47
Esp. Peter Lawrence, Road belong Cargo. Melbourne: MUP, 1964, pp. 70-71, 76-78, 93, 100-
02. For an unusual attempt to introduce the whites' pre-Christian (Germanic) myths alongside
Genesis to Melanesians, note Karl Panzer, Garagab Egerenon Anutu Imuam en Azob Egereneran
(Wompa). Gabmazung: Neuendettelsau Õ G. Luth. Miss., 1917, pp. 48-52.
48
Esp. Trompf, Payback, op. cit., ch. 9.

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INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF MISSION

macy from older-fashioned missionary preaching. Alongside the "radical" and

"reactive" trajectories, lies the complexity of Volks-Christentum, fascinating
variety of highly experimental, often syncretic theologies belonging to indepen-
dent churches, "cargo cults" and other new religious movements.49

Theology as Stori bilong Got™

With the improvement and greater impact of seminaries and teacher training
colleges in the post-war period, interesting theological reflection among the
trainee clergy and young élite became evident. Smaller literary creations and
expressions of concern about social problems — such as sorcery and the
corruptions of modernity — were printed by the churches,51 and then in the
early 1970s publishing opportunities arose for black creative writers. In pre-
Independence Papua New Guinea, where writing activity was most intense,
important themes were freedom {vis-à-vis colonialism), tensions between
indigenous tradition and Christianity, and the undermining of village society by
modernization. Ex-seminarian, and virtually ex-Catholic Leo Hannett gained
notoriety for his attacks in plays and autobiographical stories on the troika or
the "birds of a feather" called Administration, Business and Church. Against
the last of these he put the charge that "the very idea of evangelism" implied "a
condemnation" of his people.52 While others complemented his radicalism with
anti-missionary satire, however, more serious-minded souls had other agendas
to explore. Lutheran James Baital produced perhaps Melanesia's first existen-
tialist novel, on the disintegration of a villager who broke a sexual taboo and
who could not be mended pschologically by the new "employments" found in
towns; and Methodist Paulias Matane wrote a series of rather pedestrian,
sometimes moralistic novels around the character Aimbe, who, eventually
arising as an inspiring pastor, predicts that Melanesian societies will run into
trouble if young people are not encouraged into the churches and if the various
denominations do not "stop fighting . . . each other."53
It has been observed that, although we might expect from Melanesia something
akin to the sustained exegetical and analytical theology found in black Africa,

49
For background on Melanesian "Folk Christianity," see Theo Ahrens and Walter Hollenweger,
Volks-christentum und Volksreligion im Pazifik (Persp. der Weltmiss. 4). Frankfurt-am-Main:
Lambeck, 1977.
50
Pidgin: Story/ies (or narratives) concerning (matters to do with) God. This is a phrase taken
from
51
Paliau Maloat's independent church theology (see the last section below).
Emmanuel Baro, et al., The Problem of Sorcery and Other Essays and Poems by Melanesian
Christian Writers. Rabaul: CWAM, 1973 (Anglican): Dialogue 1-2, 1962-63 (Madang Catholic
Seminary).
52
Thus Hannett, "Disillusionment with the Priesthood," in Ulli Beier, ed., Niugini Guinea Lives
(Pac. Writ. Ser.). Brisbane: Jacaranda, 1974, p. 109.
53
Baitel, "Tali," in Michael Greicus, ed., Three Short Novels from Papua New Guinea (Pacif.
Paperb.). Auckland: Longman Paul, 1976, pp. 87ff.; Matane, esp. Aimbe the Challenger. Port
Moresby: Niugini Press, 1974; Aimbe the Pastor. Hicksville, N.Y.: Exposition, 1979, p. 327
(quotation).

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"story elements" manifest strongly in virtually all contemporary Melanesian

theological writing, reflecting both the continued impact of preaching illustra-
tions and the first publishing possibilities for budding theological minds in the
realm of imaginative literature.54 In some recent theologies, in fact, we find
that the story, whether fictive or (auto-)biographical, remains dominant.
Ecumenical Catholic Bernard Narokobi, for instance; he apparently takes
analytical discourse to be philosophical, while writing of religious meaning in
terms of indelible religious experiences, such as the death of his mother, or
visionary encounters with ancestors to make sense of "the broken pearl" of
tradition.55 Narokobi has seized on the power of story because it alone
expressed the honest wholeness that comes with bringing the Christian and the
indigenous together, imaged well by his father's own act of healing a swollen
foot — by applying traditional herbs, praying Hail Mary and chanting
"appeasement to the spirits."56 Melanesian Christian life cannot be complete
unless it incorporates the sense of cosmic wholeness — of closeness to
mountains, streams and environmental forces — so strong in traditional world-
views.

Visions of a just and responsible society

In the light and wake of colonialism, theology has been brought to bear on key
political, social and environmental issues affecting the Melanesian region.
Opportunities have arisen in the independent nations for churches to be at the
forefront of national leadership — and there have been some stentorian
defences of the cleric's right to be decisively involved in political action. Papua
New Guinea's Minister for Provinical Government, Catholic Fr John Momis,
has virtually rebuffed papal pressures in this connection; and in Vanuatu former
Prime Minister and Anglican Fr Walter Lini has consistently denied there is any
traditional or biblical validity in separating religion and politics (especially
considering four of his seven cabinet members were Christian ministers).57
54
Daniel Shaw, reviewing Trompf, ed., "The Gospel is Not Western," op. cit., in Evangelical
Missions Quarterly 24/3, July 1988, pp. 263-4. On black African theologies, esp. John Parratt,
ed., A Reader in African Christian Theology. London: SPCK, 1987. On "story" in the village
preaching of Melanesia, see, for example, Hans Wagner, "Native Sermon Illustrations in
Accordance with Nature Thinking and Psychology" (Selections), in J. D'A. May, ed., Living
Theology in Melanesia (Point Ser. 8). Goroka: Melanesian Institute, 1985, pp. 24ff.; Trompf, J.
Gough and Eckhart Otto, "Western Folktales in Changing Melanesia," Folklore 99/2 (1988):
204ff.
55
Esp. Narokobi, "A Truly Noble Death," Catalyst 10/3, 1980, pp. 149ff. (also May, op. cit.,
pp. 54ff.); "Christianity and Melanesian Cosmos: the broken pearls and a newborn shell," in
Trompf, ed., Gospel, op. cit., pp. 32ff. Cf. The Melanesian Way. Port Moresby: IPNGS, 1983,
for Narokobi's philosophy.
56
Narokobi, "What is Religious Experience for a Melanesian?" Point (Spec. Issue) 1 (1977): 11,
(also in May, op. cit., p. 76).
57
Momis, esp. "Values for Involvement: theology and politics," Catalyst 5/3 (1975): 3ff. (also in
May, pp. 78ff.); "The Priest and the Polis," Catalyst 8/1 (1978): esp. 8-9, cf. P. Murphy,
"Momis' Theology of Politics Interpreted," ibid. 5/3 (1975): 19ff.; Lini, "Christians in Politics,"
in Trompf, Gospel, op. cit., pp. 183-5; Akuila Yabaki, "Issues of Church and State in Recent
Events in Fiji," South Pacific Journal of Mission Studies 2/2 (1991): 13-16; cf. Lasaro interviewed
in Pacific Islands Monthly 16 June 1989: 14.

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Amid Fiji's race tensions, Methodist General Secretary Manasa Lasaro has
upheld the right of his highly conservative clinical constituency to advocate
government legislation imposing Sabbatarianism and a strict moral code even
on non-indigenous inhabitants of the islands while his opponent in this matter,
Methodist President Josateki Koroi, has had no compunction in appealing to
constitutional freedoms and United Nations statements about human rights
along with apt Bible quotations.
Political theologies, as elsewhere, relate to special contextual issues and radical
thinkers have generally been more energetic in framing them. The more urbane
Servati Tuwere, for instance, has attempted to moderate Fijian conservatism by
cherishing the possibility of a healthy multiculturalism with "a theology that
will set us free to work joyfully with . . . non-Christian religions."58 From
undecolonized parts of the region, further, there have been heard striking
appeals both to Christ as the focus of social liberation among the oppressed and
to traditional communitarian life as the enactment of gospel — in New
Caledonia, especially by ex-Catholic priest and Christian Socialist martyr Jean-
Marie Tjibaou, and among various west Papuans, including exile Max Ireeuw,
who oppose Indonesian hegemony over so-called Irian Jaya.59
Opposition to continuing colonialisms is linked with eco-sensitive theological
endeavour across the southwest Pacific as a whole, because "economic impe-
rialism" — the large scale mining, logging, and plantation operations of foreign
businesses — poses threats to the environments of independent nations, not
only dependencies. In a view recalling Narokobi Solomonese Esau Tuza writes
of a "Melanesian cosmological process," in which the secular and spiritual are
not ripped apart, and "man [sic], nature and the gods (or God) take part in a
process leading towards a final end of the whole cosmos."60 Former moderator
Leslie Boseto (also from the United Church and Solomonese) was perhaps the
first to set the option for the poor and responsibility towards creation as two top
priorities in Melanesia, and in a recent statement by Tom Ole, of the United
Church again, the integrity of creation — now so high on the WCC agenda —
has been interpreted for Melanesians as community rather than the state,
egalitarianism not hierarchy, interdependence (and cosmic wholeness) not
individualism and separateness. The theology of cosmic integration has also
been pressed to the service of a nuclear free Pacific.61

58
Tuwere, "Thinking Theology Aloud in Fiji," in Trompf, Gospel, op. cit., pp. 148ff. (though
Tuwere has weakened his stance in recent years).
59
For Tjibaou's most important statements, Tjibaou and Paul Missotte, Kanake: the Melanesian
way. Papeete: Les Editions du Pacifique, 1985, cf. interview in Les temps modernes 464 (March
1985): 1599. For Ireeuw, "An Appeal for Melanesian Christian Solidarity," in Trompf, Gospel,
op. cit., esp. pp. 178-80.4 (Ireeuw has a Dutch Reformed background.) Note also Baptist, Joshua
Damoi, "Struggles Faced in Living God's Kingdom: Papua New Guinea and Irian Jaya," in May,
op. cit., pp. 124ff.
* Tuza, "A Melanesian Cosmological Process," Catalyst 8/4 (1978): 255.
61
Boseto, "Environment and Community in Melanesia," Melanesian Journal of Theology 1/2
(1985): 166ff.; "Your Kingdom Come," in May, op. cit., esp. p. 100; Ole, "Making Sense of the
Oneness of Life," Melanesian Journal of Theology 6/2 (1990): 39-41. Cf. Suliana Suwatibau and
David Williams, A Call to a New Exodus. Suva: Pacific Council of Churches, 1982.

182
VOL. LXXXn No. 326 AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL AND MELANESIAN THEOLOGY

The intricate webs of reciprocity in traditional cultures — sharing within the

primary group, the unquestioned fulfilment of obligations towjtrds kin, the
constant round of give-and-take between affinal and other allied groups —
have provided the springboard for social theologies. These reciprocal
elements constitute the "noble traditions," as the Papua New Guinea
constitution enshrines them, and, when integrated, they are with the
Christian message (and when both tradition and Christianity are divested of
old tribal and newer denominational exclusion), they provide the basis for a
new society.62 The idealism upholding such "nobilities," mind you,
nowhere more systematically expressed than by Momis, is hard-pressed for
survival when regional wars erupt — as on Momis' own Bougainville
(1989-92), this conflict forcing him to walk a political tight-rope between
desires for a peaceful Papua New Guiñean unity and pressures to alleviate
the victims of mining capitalism and neo-colonialism on Bougainville itself.
On the other hand, small-scale reciprocity has remained intact through
crises, even being enriched by them when families and groups back
themselves up with remarkable sacrifices; and theologians see this resilient
mutuality as a challenge, even an embarrassment, to the imported Christian
individualism, or to a Christianity succumbing to capitalist assumptions
about necessary self-interest. Here Melanesian theologies may well find
themselves at the cutting edge worldwide, as is their work on related
matters, such as total rather than economic development, and on problems
to do with revenge (negative "payback") that have been left over from
traditional warrior cultures.63
Women's issues are also now fast rising on the list of priorities for
theology, women at last seizing publication opportunities in a region
rather notorious for traditional male dominance (in warrior cultures).
Strong female leaders in the churches have often been staggered at the
obstacles put in the way of the ministries they have felt called to
undertake. In the Bible, significantly, as Lutheran Rose Ninkama argues,
there is so much inspiration for the liberation of women than in almost all
local traditions (she herself being a New Guinea highlander, from the
quite recently contacted Chimbu).64

62
See esp. Momis, "The Christian View of a New Society," in Trompf, Gospel, op. cit., esp. pp.
160-63; Tuwere, loc. cit., p. 154, cf. Preamble, Papua New Guinea Constitution, 1975.
63
On the challenge, see recent statements by the Catholic priest Arnold Orowae, "Christian
Commitment in Papua New Guinea," Catalyst 22/1 (1992): 14-15. See Dick Avi, "Church
Mission and Development," Point 1 (1979): 29ff. on development, and Boseto, I Have a Strong
Belief. Rabaul: MI and Unichurch, 1983, esp. p. 74. Cf. Trompf, Payback, op. cit., chs. 1, 7 (on
revenge). Avi and Boseto are United Church ministers, the former now being a key person in the
Pacific Council of Churches, Suva.
64
Ninkama, "A Plea for Female Ministries in Melanesia," in Trompf, Gospel, op. cit., pp. 128ff.
Cf. also Louise Aitsi, "Women in the church in Melanesia," in May, op. cit., pp. 196ff., and see
also the issues of Point 2 (1975) devoted by the Melanesian Institute to "New Horizons for
Melanesian Women," and Catalyst 21/4 (1991), on "Women in Ministry."

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INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF MISSION

Formalist theology contextualized

A cluster of theologians different from those considered above, have been

addressing some of the central doctrinal positions of Christianity and relating
them to the Melanesian context. Others again, given the immense impact on the
Pacific Islands of the major western Christian traditions, have attempted to
apprise the significance of particular denominational orientations for their
cultural needs. These theologies are thus more recognizably formalist, with
concerns for some of the more perennial issues in theology over the last four
centuries, yet they are nonetheless undertaken with "contextualization" in
mind.

Doctrinal themes

Relating Christ to Pacific culture has been an important theme in seminary

teaching over the last forty years. Among others, Australian Lutheran John
Strelan considered the possibility of Christ the new Adam as the "Great
Ancestor" for Melanesians, and Catholic Fr Theo Aerts MSC saw implications
in the self-sacrificing dema deities or culture heroes of tradition for Melanesian
apprehensions of Jesus's love and self-giving.65 A few indigenous theologians
have developed Christologies in a not unrelated way. Among more radical
thinkers, Solomonese Joe Gaquare of the United Church writes of indigeniza-
tion of gospel and church as incarnation, Christ no longer being distorted
through foreignness, but being "the Word dwelling" among Melanesians, "full
of grace and truth" rather than a second-hand image.66 Two Solomonese, more
conservative and from the South Sea Evangelical Church on Malaita, produced
two complementary theses in which Christ's atoning sacrifice is linked both to
the Old Testament cultures and the unusually elaborate sacrificial procedures of
their own culture, the Toa[m]baita, who even offered burnt holocausts.67
The quite reasonable cooperation between mainline churches in Melanesia has
confirmed ecumenism as an important theological theme;68 and, given various
Melanesia- and Pacific-wide theological consultations over the last two
decades, concepts of Melanesia and Pacific theologies have been thoughtfully
addressed (for example, by Papuan John Kadiba [United Church] and Sol-

65
See esp. Strelan, Search for Salvation. Adelaide, Lutheran Publishing House, 1977, ch. 4 ;
Aerts, "Melanesian Gods," Bikmaus 4/2 (1983): 21ff.
66
Gaquare, "Indigenisation as Incarnation — the concept of a Melanesian Christ," Point 1 (1977):
147, Cabro in May, op. cit., pp. 209, 211.
67
P.B. Idulusia, "Biblical Sacrifice through Melanesan Eyes," (Bach. Theol. thesis CLTC
[Christian Leaders Training College]), Banz, 1979 (also in May, op. cit., pp. 256ff); F.F.
Suruma, "Toabaita Traditional Beliefs and Worship of Ancestors" (Bach. Theol., CLTC), Banz,
1979.
68
For example, Avi, "Ecumenism and the Melanesian Council of Churches," Catalyst 10/3
(1980): 185ff.; Robert Lak, "What is Ecumenism? a Catholic viewpoint," Melanesian Journal of
Theology 1/2 (1988): 158ff.

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omonese Robert Hagesi [Anglican]).69 Catholic and Protestant alike have

pondered sacramental adjustments, considering coconut meat and milk, or
kava, or betel nut, for instance, as apter in Melanesian historical life than bread
and wine, and there have been critiques of imported styles of church worship in
favour of more spontaneous celebration.70

Denominational concerns

Interesting work has been done on the value of particular church traditions for
cultures receiving them. Torres Strait Islander Dave Passi, for one, on the very
"bridge" between Aboriginal Australia and Melanesia, has pressed home the
point that "high" Anglicanism was more suitable for the people than London
Missionary Society styles and structures because the traditional zogoga priest-
hood was of a hierarchical nature.71 Reflectors within Orders of the Catholic
and Anglican communities also have their ways relating sacral vocation to the
"tabued" specialists of the past, or see in the poverty of their Order's life-way
the means of preserving the simple Christian life in the face of modernization.72
A small host of in-house theses emerging from seminaries currently do
theology with particular musico-liturgical, ecclesiological and doctrinal tradi-
tions in view.

Fundamentalist and charismatic theologies

Fundamentalism is currently growing worldwide. Its presence in Melanesia

dates to the first decade of this century, but its effects have noticeably increased
over the last twenty years.73 Melanesians trained in the overseas (often US)
training schools of minor missions significantly, return imaging traditional
culture as a terrible darkness to be replaced by the pure light of the gospel, and
they view the so-called indigenization of Christianity as a compromise with the
Devil. In consequence their theologies all too often74 replicate western "bibli-
cist discourse," being attractive for appearing to have a safe, worldwide
monochrome character — as final truth. The definiteness of fundamentalism

69
Kadiba, "In Search of a Melanesian Theology," in Trompf, Gospel, op. cit., pp. 139ff; Hagesi,
"Towards a Melanesian Christian Theology," Melanesian Journal of Theology 1/1 (1985): 17ff.;
Cf. Trompf, Melanesian Religion, op. cit., eh. 11.
70
On sacraments, Kadiba, loc. cit., pp. 145-46; Dawia; "Indigenizing Christian Worship," Point
1 (1980): 13ff.
71
Passi, "From Pagan to Christian Priesthood," in Trompf, Gospel, op. cit., pp. 46-48. For
background, D. Wetherell, "From Samuel McFarlane to Stephen Davies" (unpublished MS,
submitted for publication).
72
For the latter, note Giles Pondo of the Anglican Melanesian Brotherhood in the Solomons,
"About Poverty," Catalyst 10/4 (1980): 276ff.
73
May, Christian Initiator: théologie in Pacific (Theol. Interkult 4), Dusseldorf: Patmos, 1990,
ch. 8. For background M. Mary, ed., Fundamentalism Observed, New York, 1992 — , 5 vols.
74
William Edoni, "The Confrontation of Traditional and Christian Values in Papua New Guinea,"
Point 9 (1986): 35-42.

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appeals to peoples whose traditions were definite especially in terms of a

passed-down regimen of expected behaviour — and this factor has made
sectarian protestantisms influential in parts of the region for most of the
twentieth century. Seventh Day adventism, for instance, which requires its
adherents to dispense with Levitically unclean foods — the pigs and crabs so
traditionally important in Melanesian diets! — has a proportionately higher
following in Melanesia than anywhere else on earth. In each culture, adventism
replaces one unqualified code for another.75
Spiritistic styles of Christianity are considered in conjunction with fundamen-
talism here, because the discourse of charismatic or Pentecostalist theologies is
very distinctively conservative or Evangelical, Bible interpretation and "purple
passage" quoting usually reflecting western rhetorical influences.76 If most
Melanesian Charismatic-Pentecostalist writing does not often add anything
exploratory to the theology of the Holy Spirit (note, for example, Richmond
Tamanabae),77 a few others have perceived that the impact of Pentecostalist
preaching on cultures not long contacted has resulted in collective ecstatic
activity of a truly remarkable kind — groups being caught up in altered states
together, new hymns being composed, mountains being used as staged temples
for worship, etc., see in them the key to a Melanesian spirituality of the future.78
Recent popularity of charismatic worship forms within the ambience of the
mainline churches makes their theological work very important for the future.
And there has been some interesting contextual hermeneutical work coming out
of charismatic preaching: Ben Lentrut of the Uniting Church, for one, constantly
challenges the old belief systems, and in one memorable sermon conceived the
women at Jesus ' tomb trying to "return to the cult of the ancestors. " 79

Theologies in Independent Churches and other new religious movements

Melanesia has spawned a great variety of new religious movements, and a

coverage of the manifold ways by which each has brought tradition and Chris-
tianity in relation to each other — sometimes syncretically or synthetistically —
would take a whole volume in itself. Among these movements lie up to eighteen
Independent Churches, some comparable to the better-known African models
and some interesting for theologies developed by their leaders.80 Paliau

75
See Trompf, Payback, op. cit., chs. 7 , 9 .
76
See esp. J. Barr, "A Survey of Estatic Phenomena and 'Holy Spirit Movements' in Melanesia,"
Oceania 54/2 (1984): 109ff.
77
Tamanabae, "The Pentecostal Movement," Catalyst 11/1 (1981): 5ff (in the Christian Revival
Crusade, with Anglican background).
78
Esp. Simeon Namunu, "Spirits in Melanesian Tradition and Spirit in Christianity," in Trompf,
Gospel, op. cit., pp. 109ff. (also partly with Point Ser. 3), Goroka, 1983, pp. 54ff. (United
Church); Michael Mailiau, "Searching for a Melanesian Way of Worship," ibid., esp. pp. 125-27
(South Sea Evangelical Church).
79
Lentrut, unpublished Sermon, Easter Day, Goroka, 1983.
80
Trompf, "Independent Churches in Melanesia," Oceania 51/1 (1983): 51ff.; cf. Melanesian
Religion, op. cit., eh. 9.

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VOL. LXXXn No. 326 AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL AND MELANESIAN THEOLOGY

Maloat, the Baluan Islander from New Guinea who was recently knighted,
framed a new long "Story belong Got' as the founder of Melanesia's first
Independent church in 1946 and was at work revising it up until his recent
death. In his crisp accounts of salvation history, he has suggested that Eden was
like idyllic village life on the New Guinea islands of the past; that Pilate was a
member of the Australian colonial administration; and that God will adversely
judge all colonial governments for mistreating the blacks.81 Ex-Methodist
founder of the Christian Fellowship Church, the Solomonese Silas Eto, or the
"Holy Mama" of New Georgia, has attracted attention from 1960 for fostering
Christian religious experience through traditional-looking states of ecstasy,
visions, prayers focused on strings (where a protector spirit allegedly liked to
sit) and through mixing iconic motifs to do with John Wesley and the Roviana
cultural assumptions.82 Sekaia Loaniceva, otherwise known as Vuniwai or
"appointed Healer-Physician," initiated Fiji's Congregation of the Poor (from
1953), and has encouraged members to wear special white garbs, experience
baptism by lightning during thunder storms, received "total healing," disdain
money and wealth as "incompatible with the Kingdom of God," and look to the
time when Fiji will become the cosmic centre of God's work.83
Melanesia is renowned for its so-called "cargo-cults" movements expecting the
supernatural arrival in abundance of money or western-style goods. Some such
movements now claim the status of church and their leaders teach two sets of
sacred "stories," one for the whites (the biblical account) and one for the blacks
(myths concerning old culture heroes of a given area or teachings about the
messianic role of particular cult leaders).M Readers must be wary of redefining
all, even most new religious movements in Melanesia as cargo cultist, how-
ever, for there is a greater variety than meets the eye;85 and it is wiser if the
village theologies of distinct movements are continually related back to the
broad range of oral theological reflection going on constantly in Melanesian
villages. Village Christianity needs much more attention,86 and written
Melanesian theologies can only avoid elitism by responding sensitively to the
yearnings felt at the "grass roots."
As for the effects of non-Christian religions, they are statistically significant
only in connection with rural or cargoist developments. According to the 1991
Census, for instance, there are now as many as 20,000 Baha'is in Papua New

81
Cf. For some of Paliau's more recent published work, Kalopeu: Manus Kastom Kansol: stori
[Lae: Makasol, 1982]. 82. See esp. Tuza, 'The Demolition of Church Buildings by the
Ancestors," in Trompf, Gospel, op. cit., pp. 78-89.
82
See esp. Tuza, "TTie Demolition of Church Buildings by the Ancestors," in Trompf, Gospel,
op. cit., pp. 78-89.
8
* P. Rokotuiviwa, "The Congregation of the Poor," in C. E. Loeliger and Trompf, eds, New
Religious Movements in Melanesia. Suva: USP and UPNG, 1985, pp. 172-183.
84
Trompf, "Independent Churches," loc. cit., esp. pp. 56, 67-68; "Keeping the Lo under a
Melanesian Messiah," in J. Barker, Christianity in Oceania (ASAO Monographs 12). Lanham:
ASAO, 1990, pp. 59ff.
85
Loeliger and Trompf, op. cit., pp. ix-xvii.
86
Barker, op. cit., pp. Iff.

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INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF MISSION

Guinea, but these are mainly concentrated in upland Papuan areas where hopes
for dramatic material benefit have been generated. While Islam and Saudi-
funded mosques generally put off west Papuans in Irian Jaya, Islam has made
new ground in some Papua New Guinea towns (from 1991), yet mainly through
members of a specially mono-theistic cargo movement in New Britain seeking
a suitable focus for worship away from the village.87 The tiny sprinkle of
Melanesians who are attracted by Buddhism or Fijian Hinduism, however, are
mainly isolated intellectuals.

CONCLUSION

It will have become obvious that Aboriginal and Melanesian theologians have
on their agendas issues that are recognizably crucial for the global mission of
the church. Liberation, social justice, integrity of creation, total development,
peace, simplicity of lifestyle, healing — these are all matters fundamental for
humanity's future, and spiritual leaders among the indigenous peoples of the
southwest Pacific have their own paradigmatic methods of calling for their
actualization theologically. The personal closeness of these church leaders to
the basic socio-economic conditions of biblical times, as well as their gifts to
convey the gospel in parabolic and story form, challenges a world that has gone
too far. The challenges of prophets from both desert and jungle in this
somewhat theologically unknown part of the world should be heard and heeded
as far afield as possible, not only in opulent white Australia, not only by the
persistent colonizers of Melanesia, and not just by newly independent Melane-
sian governments too eager to make concessions to exploitative investors. For
our common future, Aboriginal and Pacific Island wisdom, with its roots in
what are probably the most ancient surviving cultures, deserve decisive
incorporation into the church's vision and task of human transformation.

87
For background, Philip Bail Oenakia and Francis Koimanrea, "The Pomio Kivung Movement,"
in Wendy ftannery, ed., Religious Movements in Melanesia Today (1) Point Series 2, Goroka:
MI, 1983, pp. 171ff.

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