Latter-Day Saints and missionaries in Polynesia, 1844-1960

Abstract

BECAUSE the Latter-day Saints Church was born in America, this study necessarily begins by examining the social and doctrinal bases of the church in its American context. Chapter One, therefore, shows the relationship of the Latter-day Saints to other American revivalists, and places Latter-day Saints doctrine in its appropriate historical setting. The growth of the church's missionary work is examined in Chapter Two. The Latter-day Saints missionary effort in the Pacific islands was both encouraged and limited by certain racial doctrines; these are discussed in Chapter Three. In Chapter Four, an outline of Latter-day Saints contact with various Polynesian islands is given, and various themes, to be discussed in depth later, are touched on. Chapter Five presents an examination of the qualities and abilities of Latter-day Saints missionaries in Polynesia, and gives an indication of the problems faced by the missionaries, and the methods employed by them. In Chapter Six the focus is on the missions as institutions, rather than the missionaries as individuals. Mission attitudes to land acquisition and financial matters are especially examined in this chapter. An outstanding feature of Latter-day Saints history in the Pacific was the missionaries' rivalry with other mission organizations. This is discussed in some detail in Chapter Seven. The difficulties encountered by the missionaries in their contact with government officials and administrators in the islands is the subject of Chapter Eight. Chapter Nine presents aspects of the Latter-day Saints missionaries attitude to, and involvement with, the Polynesian islanders, and shows some of the effects of the missionaries' teaching on the islanders. A conclusion assesses the success of Latter-day Saints missions in the Pacific, and suggests some of the reasons for the church's acceptance by Polynesians.