Disruptive Repentance: Faith and Activism at Waitangi in 1983

Mike Mawson Associate Professor of Theological and Religious Studies at University of Auckland

In 1983 on Waitangi Day, nine Pākehā Christian protesters (including Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian and Baptist ministers) were arrested and charged with disorderly behaviour for interrupting the morning church service at Waitangi. In solidarity with Māori activists and wider protests, they sought to draw attention to the longstanding failure of the New Zealand Government and Pākehā society to uphold the Treaty of Waitangi. The Christian protestors interrupted the service of national celebration by reading from the Old Testament prophets and offering prayers of repentance. Drawing on archival research and interviews, this paper analyses this protest action and its impacts.

Michael Mawson is the Maclaurin Goodfellow Associate Professor of Theological and Religious Studies at Waipapa Taumata Rau/ the University of Auckland. He holds a BA and MA from Te Herenga Waka/ Victoria University of Wellington and a PhD from the University of Notre Dame. Before moving to Auckland, he worked at Aberdeen University in Scotland and Charles Sturt University in Australia. Some of his books include The Oxford Handbook of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (2018), Standing Under the Cross: Essays on Bonhoeffer’s Theology (2023) and Unsettling Theologies: Memory, Identity and Place, co-edited with Brian Kolia (2024).

This seminar will be held ‘in person’.