What is it about?
Analysis of a contemporary novel (The Mountain) to examine how Jesus Christ is understood in Papua New Guinea. Indigenous themes like Jesus as ‘good man true’ and 'hapkas' clarify Biblical themes of Jesus as ancestor gift of Canaanite descent. The result is a theology of revelation which affirms cultural hybridity and indigenous innovation in conversion across cultures.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
Generally, missionaries are either heroes or villains. But what happens if we start not with missionaries but with indigenous perspectives? Such an approach is undertaken to examine the impact of Jesus in Papua New Guinea. The result is a ‘hapkas’ Christology and a startling demonstration of how a received message of Christian mission is transformed in a crossing of cultures.
Perspectives
I was born and raised in Papua New Guinea. This was a return to my birth story. It was also a highly creative research adventure that began in an art gallery and drew on the creative writing of a famous Australian writer.
Dr steve taylor
AngelWings Ltd
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Cultural Hybridity in Conversion: An Examination of Hapkas Christology as Resistance and Innovation in Drusilla Modjeska’s The Mountain, Mission Studies, October 2019, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/15733831-12341677.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
