| Communications and Development |  |
Published by Communications and Development
Canterbury University senior lecturer in Religious Studies Dr Mike Grimshaw has co-edited the first issue of Landfall dedicated to religion and spirituality in more than 40 years.
In 1966 New Zealand 's premier arts and literary journal published a symposium on “Religion in New Zealand”. That was the first and last time Landfall discussed religion in depth.
That is until the latest issue of the biannual journal, Landfall 215: “Waiting for Godzone”, which Dr Grimshaw guest edited with Dr Paul Morris and Associate Professor Harry Ricketts of Victoria University of Wellington. The issue offers a new exploration of the spiritual state of the country as reflected in our culture and literature.
“In the past 40 years the discussion has changed. There is a breakdown between spirituality and religion. People are far more comfortable talking about spirituality whereas religion is seen as very traditional, church-based and orthodox,” Dr Grimshaw said.
“This issue of Landfall is far more wide-ranging and eclectic and reflects the change and diversity of the past 40 years. The discussion now covers everything from landscape to roots music, religion and nationalism, and even Kiwi-joker spirituality.”
One of the big themes of the special issue is what Dr Grimshaw called our “New Age re-enchantment with the land”.
“Landfall 215 looks at the role of the landscape — what happens when people invest so much meaning and belief in the land, what we call ‘landscape paganism',” he said.
“The big question we are asking is why in a very urban country do we invest all our spiritual and religious feelings into a landscape where there are no people and what does this say about us?”
Dr Grimshaw said among “the answers” the journal turns up is that New Zealanders possess a very personal and pragmatic spirituality.
“It is spirituality of the everyday glimpsed rather than perpetually pursued in many ways, and yet it sits there always in our expressions of literary and artistic culture.
“We are waiting still in a sense for a Godzone — hence the title of the issue. What we've discovered is that it's the waiting that's the most important thing. As a nation we tend to be against people who try to impose a Godzone and are wary of religion.”
Dr Grimshaw was pleased to note that many past and present UC students have their work showcased in the current issue alongside “big names” such as CK Stead and Cilla McQueen.
For further information please contact:
Maria De Cort
Communications Officer
University of Canterbury
Tel: +64 3 364 2072
Fax: +64 3 364 2679
maria.decort@canterbury.ac.nz