Fijian Methodism, 1874-1945 : the emergence of a national church

Abstract

This thesis examines the evolution of Methodism in Fiji from the time Christianity was nominally accepted by a majority of Fijians to the point at which the church was self-supporting and its independence a matter for gradual negotiation. The study is one of culture contact after the early years of European penetration when the indigenous population either accepted or modified the ideas and institutions that were imported. The thesis gives greater attention to theme rather than chronology in order to highlight the issues involved in the emergence of a church possessing, but lot necessarily conscious of, a unique national identity. An examination of leadership reveals that for much of the period this role Has dominated by the missionary presence and Fijian ministers only received the trappings of authority. As a counter-balance to clerical control, chiefly power, strengthened rather than weakened by various influences including Christianity, compromised and circumscribed the position of both missionary and Fijian minister within the church hierarchy. At the village level, Methodism derived its strength and broad appeal from the unity of Fijian communal life, the latter in turn bolstered by colonial policies. However the excessed of missionary rule in the late nineteenth century - particularly a severe disciplinary code - resulted in a decline in the degree of Fijian commitment to the church after 1910. At the same time Methodism failed to diminish Fijian attraction to traditional beliefs which, either in their original form or through syncretic cults, co-existed alongside the institutional church and provided an outlet for nationalist feelings, a role the conservatively-inclined Methodist Mission found difficult to perform. The struggle of Methodism with rival Christian denominations indicated that in the futile years of sectarian conflict, the differences were mainly introduced rather than innate, a reflection of bitter acrimony among European missionaries loyal to their particular religious tradition. Methodism survived this period of hostility with no significant loss in adherents, a feature attributable not to enlightened leadership but to the church's strength at the village level. A similar pattern of conflict giving way to co-operation characterized relations between church and state. Mission authorities acknowledged the supremacy of governmental control over Fijians only after considerable friction between the two institutions. By the 1920s Methodism was the de facto if not de jure Established Church. The thesis finally examines the theme of devolution of responsibility. In the field of education the dominant position of the mission before 1900 gradually declined to be replaced by the Government which alone possessed the financial resources to satisfy growing Fijian demands for improved educational access. Within the church itself, the assumption of control by Fijians is shown to have its roots in the methods of mission finance. Fijian concern at their exclusion from decisions relating to the disbursement of mission funds, led for more vocal demands for self-support at the circuit level and subsequently to minority-sponsored requests for church independence. In the seventy years after 1874, Methodism took root as the major claimant to the Fijians' religious allegiance. Today the church remains one of the three pillars (along with traditional custom and the Fijian administration)Which uphold Fijian society. Show more