Matt Tomlinson - God Is Samoan: Dialogues between Culture and Theology in the Pacific

2020 University of Hawaii Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Tomlinson, Matt, author.

Title: God is Samoan : dialogues between culture and theology in the Pacific / Matt Tomlinson.

Other titles: Pacific islands monograph series ; no. 29.

Description: Honolulu : Center for Pacific Island Studies, University of Hawaii, Ma noa : University of Hawaii Press, 2020. | Series: Pacific islands monograph series ; 29 | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019052166 | ISBN 9780824880972 (cloth) | ISBN 9780824883164 (pdf) | ISBN 9780824883171 (epub) | ISBN 9780824883188 (kindle edition)

Subjects: LCSH: ChristianityOceania. | Christianity and cultureOceania. | TheologyOceania. | Pacific IslandersReligion.

Classification: LCC BR1490 .T66 2020 | DDC 230.0996dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019052166

Cover art: Wooden carvings of the Holy Family, baby Jesus with Mary and Joseph sitting by a kava bowl at Fatu-o-iga (Holy Family) Cathedral, Tafuna, American Smoa, May 2016. Photo by author.

Maps by Manoa Mapworks, Inc.

University of Hawaii Press books are printed on acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Council on Library Resources.

The drive from Smoas Faleolo International Airport to the capital city, Apia, goes past many villages. In nearly every village, a church building takes center stage, towering above residential houses. With such visibility, you could be forgiven for thinking that you had arrived in Gods country or that the Christian God has always been part of Samoan society. It is therefore fitting that Matt Tomlinson titles this book God Is Samoan: Dialogues between Culture and Theology in the Pacific.

The prominence of church buildings in Smoa illustrates broad and intellectually intriguing issues about Christianity in the Pacific. First, it underscores how Christianity has taken root in Oceania and become an important part of the lives of many Pacific Islanders. Since the first Christian missionaries arrived in the mid-seventeenth century, Christianity has permeated nearly every aspect of most Pacific Island societies.

Second, it shows that Pacific Islanders have agency in this process, rather than simply being passive victims of a global project of Christianization. While it is true that missionization has had some adverse impacts on Pacific Island societies and cultures, it is also true that Pacific Islanders have appropriated and used Christianity and its theology and institutions for their own purposes. In the process, they have indigenized aspects of Christianity and infused it with Pacific Island cultures and worldviews.

Third, it highlights the role that Pacific Islander scholar-theologians, clergy, and church leaders play in shaping church institutions and teachings. While early missionaries were largely Euro-Americans, nowadays there are many Pacific Islander scholar-theologians who have influenced how Christian theology is contextualized to reflect not only Judeo-Christian teachings but also Pacific Island cultures, beliefs, and practices. Many of these scholar-theologians work out of several seminaries and theological colleges in the region, including Malua Theological College and Piula Theological College in Smoa, Kanana Fou Theological Seminary in American Smoa, and the Pacific Theological College in Fiji. These Pacific Islander scholar-theologians often draw on the land (vanua or fanua) to shape their societies in ways that foreign theologians cannot.

In God Is Samoan, Tomlinson examines the intersections between theology viii and culture. Informed by his training in anthropology and drawing on a variety of sources, including archival data, scholarly writings (especially from Pacific Islander scholar-theologians), and ethnographic fieldwork, he weaves a captivating and informative account of the infusions of Pacific Island cultures and worldviews into theology. He provides insights into contextual theology and how it is manifested in Oceania. For example, in chapter 4, he refers to how Fijis iTaukei scholar-theologian, Ilaitia Tuwere, has invoked the Fijian trio of vanua, lotu (Christianity), and matanit (government) as foundational to Fijian theology. Rootedness in the vanua, he argued, is fundamental to Pasifika theology, or what is sometimes referred to as Coconut Theology or Pacific Way theology.

Tomlinson focuses on the work of scholar-theologians from Smoa, Tonga, Fiji, and Aotearoa/New Zealand, but he locates it within a broader regional context. He also frames it within the disciplines of theology, anthropology, and Pacific Islands studies, providing a refreshing dive into interdisciplinary dialogue, especially among scholars in these fields. Tomlinsons theoretical contribution to scholarship on the Pacific Islands lies in his engagement with the practice and framing of Pasifika theology and his analysis of the ways in which culture is deployed in different disciplinary contexts.

The books subject matter is particularly important to Pacific Islands studies, as it provides a compelling argument that theologylike anthropology, history, political science, economics, and other such disciplinesshould be central to intellectual engagements in Pacific Islands studies. This is especially true given the fact that Christianity has had a profound impact on Pacific Island societies, both at home in the Islands and in the diaspora. While the interdisciplinary nature of Pacific Islands studies is often associated with the interweaving of traditional disciplines, this book provides a convincing case that theology, especially Pasifika theology, is a compelling, contemporary, and crucial topic within Pacific Islands studies.

This volume is masterfully written, and it is an informative and enjoyable read. Tomlinson is able to engage sophisticated anthropological and theological concepts in a way that is highly accessible, and the photographs throughout help illuminate and give life to the various issues he covers. God Is Samoan is a valuable contribution to Pacific Islands scholarship. It will make a great course reader in disciplines such as theology, anthropology, Pacific Islands studies, and cultural studies, and it will be useful to anyone interested in these fields or in the Pacific Islands region in general, such as clergy, church leaders, and scholars at seminaries, theological colleges, and other institutions around the world.