Aotearoa-New Zealand received Christianity as part of the colonial/missionary matrix of nineteenth century European expansion. Consequently the form and content of faith was largely shaped by factors distant both in geography and symbolic resonance. Christian theology maintains a cultural dissonance, particularly from an emergent Pakeha cultural indentity. The quest for contextualisation has become a familiar one in post-colonial societies, though not as vigorously pursued in Western nations as in other parts of the world. Only recently has attention been paid to the possibilities of local theologies in New Zealand. C.S. Song�s suggests �Perhaps a poet can tell us how we should go about theology�. In this he is pointing to the necessity of contextual theology using domestic cultural product as an important source for theological reflection, encapsulating as it does local history and experience. James K. Baxter, one of New Zealand�s finest poets, was also a Catholic and social critic. In the last years of his life particularly, the major part of his writing, both poetry and prose, was concerned with his vision of a Christian humanism which might make a practical difference in the immediate context. He established a community at the small settlement of Jerusalem beside the Whanganui River, where he sought to give tangible expression to a mixture of radical Christian acceptance and Maori spiritual values. This thesis examines Baxter�s contribution to the task of contextual theology. In particular, it draws on a great deal of unpublished prose material, until now largely unexamined, from the late period of his life. This, together with the wider body of his writings, is used to investigate his religious thought and movement within it. After an introductory and methodological chapter, the thesis examines Baxter�s categorisation of the fragmented and spiritually bereft nature of Pakeha existence. It then seeks to follow the major themes of his own powerfully articulated responses to this condition, in a series of chapters introduced with Maori terms; a cultural connection which was important to Baxter. The investigation uncovers a commitment to a Christian humanism that recognises the immanence of Christ, and a rather startling manifesto which parallels the approach of Liberation Theology in a distinctly New Zealand context. The survey of Baxter�s religious thought concludes with a critical reflection on his themes. A final chapter considers the contribution which Baxter makes toward the challenge of contextual theology. Considering the relationship between poetic reflection and theology, it stops short of classifying Baxter as a theologian. Rather the argument is advanced that he has provided vital raw material to the ongoing task of local theology; his role is one of �funding� contextual theology symbolically. Baxter is significant in the development of theology in Aotearoa-New Zealand, both for his contribution and his encouragement to further reflection.

Aotearoa-New Zealand received Christianity as part of the colonial/missionary matrix of nineteenth century European expansion. Consequently the form and content of faith was largely shaped by factors distant both in geography and symbolic resonance. Christian theology maintains a cultural dissonance, particularly from an emergent Pakeha cultural indentity. The quest for contextualisation has become a familiar one in post-colonial societies, though not as vigorously pursued in Western nations as in other parts of the world. Only recently has attention been paid to the possibilities of local theologies in New Zealand. C.S. Song�s suggests �Perhaps a poet can tell us how we should go about theology�. In this he is pointing to the necessity of contextual theology using domestic cultural product as an important source for theological reflection, encapsulating as it does local history and experience. James K. Baxter, one of New Zealand�s finest poets, was also a Catholic and social critic. In the last years of his life particularly, the major part of his writing, both poetry and prose, was concerned with his vision of a Christian humanism which might make a practical difference in the immediate context. He established a community at the small settlement of Jerusalem beside the Whanganui River, where he sought to give tangible expression to a mixture of radical Christian acceptance and Maori spiritual values. This thesis examines Baxter�s contribution to the task of contextual theology. In particular, it draws on a great deal of unpublished prose material, until now largely unexamined, from the late period of his life. This, together with the wider body of his writings, is used to investigate his religious thought and movement within it. After an introductory and methodological chapter, the thesis examines Baxter�s categorisation of the fragmented and spiritually bereft nature of Pakeha existence. It then seeks to follow the major themes of his own powerfully articulated responses to this condition, in a series of chapters introduced with Maori terms; a cultural connection which was important to Baxter. The investigation uncovers a commitment to a Christian humanism that recognises the immanence of Christ, and a rather startling manifesto which parallels the approach of Liberation Theology in a distinctly New Zealand context. The survey of Baxter�s religious thought concludes with a critical reflection on his themes. A final chapter considers the contribution which Baxter makes toward the challenge of contextual theology. Considering the relationship between poetic reflection and theology, it stops short of classifying Baxter as a theologian. Rather the argument is advanced that he has provided vital raw material to the ongoing task of local theology; his role is one of �funding� contextual theology symbolically. Baxter is significant in the development of theology in Aotearoa-New Zealand, both for his contribution and his encouragement to further reflection.

Pakeha identity has long been problematic, caught in a straddling stance between European co-ordinates of origin, and life in Aotearoa. This has been particularly evident over the last three decades: with the rise of tino rangatiratanga, Pakeha identity has undergone something of a crisis. Group identity, especially in such periods of crisis, requires �narratives� that re-imagine being and belonging. Poetry by Pakeha both displays the problem with identity at the cross cultural threshold between Maori and Pakeha, asking � what happens when Pakeha engage cross-culturally with te ao Maori, appropriating te reo Maori and drawing on Maoritanga, to re-vision and reconfigure identity? And how does such an approach shape the imagining of Pakeha identity?� I study, in parallel, the cross-cultural poetry of James K. Baxter and Glen Colquhoun in relation to these questions. Borrowing a conceptual metaphor from Colin McCahon, I examine these cross-cultural poems in detail as �load-bearing structures�. I pay particular attention to the way in which, in purpose, design and materials, they function to re-imagine Pakeha identity in reciprocal relationship with te ao Maori. Aware of the problems of culture-crossing, at the outset I establish a historical and interpretive framework for the poetry. Furthermore, I discuss the question of appropriation, arguing for an ethical distinction between appropriation and misappropriation based on a cross-cultural relationship of faithful and reciprocal engagement. I conclude that Baxter and Colquhoun are singular and radical in their reconfiguration of Pakeha identity. Baxter embraces te ao Maori in a direct challenge to Pakeha nationalism, prescribing the necessary corrective of the tuakana-teina dynamic to Pakeha identity and its relationship with te ao Maori. Writing after the Maori renaissance, Glenn Colquhoun irreverently opens up a further reconfiguration of cross-cultural relationship, pushing both Maori and Pakeha beyond a cultural dichotomy towards a mutually defining complementarity. Both place themselves on the cultural threshold of language, embracing the tensions of the cross-cultural scenario. The result is cross-cultural poetry, load-bearing structures that manifest the tension and ambivalence of the settler culture�s straddling identity, enacting what it is to be Pakeha.

Pakeha identity has long been problematic, caught in a straddling stance between European co-ordinates of origin, and life in Aotearoa. This has been particularly evident over the last three decades: with the rise of tino rangatiratanga, Pakeha identity has undergone something of a crisis. Group identity, especially in such periods of crisis, requires �narratives� that re-imagine being and belonging. Poetry by Pakeha both displays the problem with identity at the cross cultural threshold between Maori and Pakeha, asking � what happens when Pakeha engage cross-culturally with te ao Maori, appropriating te reo Maori and drawing on Maoritanga, to re-vision and reconfigure identity? And how does such an approach shape the imagining of Pakeha identity?� I study, in parallel, the cross-cultural poetry of James K. Baxter and Glen Colquhoun in relation to these questions. Borrowing a conceptual metaphor from Colin McCahon, I examine these cross-cultural poems in detail as �load-bearing structures�. I pay particular attention to the way in which, in purpose, design and materials, they function to re-imagine Pakeha identity in reciprocal relationship with te ao Maori. Aware of the problems of culture-crossing, at the outset I establish a historical and interpretive framework for the poetry. Furthermore, I discuss the question of appropriation, arguing for an ethical distinction between appropriation and misappropriation based on a cross-cultural relationship of faithful and reciprocal engagement. I conclude that Baxter and Colquhoun are singular and radical in their reconfiguration of Pakeha identity. Baxter embraces te ao Maori in a direct challenge to Pakeha nationalism, prescribing the necessary corrective of the tuakana-teina dynamic to Pakeha identity and its relationship with te ao Maori. Writing after the Maori renaissance, Glenn Colquhoun irreverently opens up a further reconfiguration of cross-cultural relationship, pushing both Maori and Pakeha beyond a cultural dichotomy towards a mutually defining complementarity. Both place themselves on the cultural threshold of language, embracing the tensions of the cross-cultural scenario. The result is cross-cultural poetry, load-bearing structures that manifest the tension and ambivalence of the settler culture�s straddling identity, enacting what it is to be Pakeha.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis explores theoretical aspects of the affective dimension of literature. Beginning with Aristotle's tying of katharsis to the drama, the pattern of affective relations is completed through the establishing of terms for each of the three broad traditional genres. These relations can be expressed in the ratio: as katharsis is to the genre of the dramatic, so kenosis is to the genre of the lyric, so kairosis is to the genre of the epic. Within each of these affective relations, further relations are determined for the identity structures within each genre. In defining these identity structures, the philosophical, theological, psychological and literary aspects of katharsis, kenosis and kairosis are explored. Of particular use in mapping these identity structures and literary affects were the philosophical theories of Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, Heidegger, Sartre, and Wittgenstein; the theological views of D.G. Dawe, John Macquarrie, Charles Pickstone, and Ernest F. Scott; the psychological theories of C.J. Jung, Jacques Lacan and Julia Kristeva; the literary theories of Mikel Dufrenne, Stanley Fish, Toshihiko and Toyo Izutsu, Hans Robert Jauss, W.R. Johnson, Frank Kermode, William Elford Rogers, and D.T. Suzuki; and the literary works of Homer, Shakespeare, George Herbert, S.T. Coleridge, Charles Baudelaire, Wallace Stevens, and James K. Baxter. Taking up Aristotle's project to grant cognitive value to the experience of art, this thesis argues for the centrality of identity structures within the dimension of the affective. The thesis further determines that literature's affective dimension is the domain within which aesthetic identity is established. Such imaginative identity structures amount to a cultural catalogue of identity possibilities. As the keepers of this catalogue, the three interpretive genres amount to a body of affective knowledge that is its own dimension.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis explores theoretical aspects of the affective dimension of literature. Beginning with Aristotle's tying of katharsis to the drama, the pattern of affective relations is completed through the establishing of terms for each of the three broad traditional genres. These relations can be expressed in the ratio: as katharsis is to the genre of the dramatic, so kenosis is to the genre of the lyric, so kairosis is to the genre of the epic. Within each of these affective relations, further relations are determined for the identity structures within each genre. In defining these identity structures, the philosophical, theological, psychological and literary aspects of katharsis, kenosis and kairosis are explored. Of particular use in mapping these identity structures and literary affects were the philosophical theories of Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, Heidegger, Sartre, and Wittgenstein; the theological views of D.G. Dawe, John Macquarrie, Charles Pickstone, and Ernest F. Scott; the psychological theories of C.J. Jung, Jacques Lacan and Julia Kristeva; the literary theories of Mikel Dufrenne, Stanley Fish, Toshihiko and Toyo Izutsu, Hans Robert Jauss, W.R. Johnson, Frank Kermode, William Elford Rogers, and D.T. Suzuki; and the literary works of Homer, Shakespeare, George Herbert, S.T. Coleridge, Charles Baudelaire, Wallace Stevens, and James K. Baxter. Taking up Aristotle's project to grant cognitive value to the experience of art, this thesis argues for the centrality of identity structures within the dimension of the affective. The thesis further determines that literature's affective dimension is the domain within which aesthetic identity is established. Such imaginative identity structures amount to a cultural catalogue of identity possibilities. As the keepers of this catalogue, the three interpretive genres amount to a body of affective knowledge that is its own dimension.

This thesis will investigate the fictional discourse that has developed around academia and how this discourse has manifested itself in the New Zealand literary tradition, primarily in the works of M.K. Joseph, Dan Davin and James K. Baxter. These three writers have been selected because of their status within Kai Jensen's conception of “a literary tradition of excitement about masculinity”; in other words, the masculine tradition in New Zealand literature which provides fictional representations of factual events and tensions. This literary approach is also utilised in the tradition of British university fiction, in which the behaviour of students and faculty are often deliberately exaggerated in order to provide a representation of campus life that captures the essence of the reality without being wholly factual. The fact that these three writers attempt, consciously or unconsciously, to combine the two traditions is a matter of great literary interest: Joseph's A Pound of Saffron (1962) appropriates tropes of the British university novel while extending them to include concerns specific to New Zealand; Davin's Cliffs of Fall (1945), Not Here, Not Now (1970) and Brides of Price (1972) attempt to blend traditions of university fiction with the masculine realist tradition in New Zealand literature, though, as we will see, with limited success; Baxter's station as the maternal grandson of a noted professor allows him to criticise the elitist New Zealand university system in Horse (1985) from a unique position, for he was more sympathetic towards what he considered the working class “peasant wisdom” of his father, Archie, than the “professorial knowledge” of Archie's father-in-law. These three authors have been chosen also because of the way they explore attitudes towards universities amongst mainstream New Zealand society in their writing, for while most novels in the British tradition demonstrate little tension between those within the university walls and those without, in New Zealand fiction the tension is palpable. The motivations for this tension will also be explored in due course, but before we can grapple with how the tradition of British university fiction has impacted New Zealand literature, we must first examine the tradition itself.