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“Days of Heaven on Earth”: Presbyterian Communion Seasons in Nineteenth–Century Otago
Author(s) -
Clarke Alison
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of religious history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.117
H-Index - 13
eISSN - 1467-9809
pISSN - 0022-4227
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9809.t01-1-00157
Subject(s) - heaven , faith , piety , asceticism , history , period (music) , ideology , religious studies , emotive , ancient history , sociology , theology , archaeology , anthropology , aesthetics , art , philosophy , law , political science , politics
Communion seasons were a distinctive and important part of nineteenth–century Presbyterian culture. This paper examines such occasions in the Presbyterian–dominated colony of Otago, New Zealand. Communion was a significant social event, and its preparatory fast days were holidays for the whole community. As a spiritual event, the communion season induced an experiential and emotive piety, belying common modern perceptions of nineteenth–century Presbyterianism as an ascetic and intellectualised faith. Over the period from the founding of the colony (1848) to the turn of the century, certain rituals of the communion season altered significantly. Some changes occurred in response to new ideologies such as temperance; others reflected a softening of traditional Calvinist theology in favour of a more inclusive religion, Presbyterians being invited to communion rather than having to prove themselves fit to attend. Such changes were not unique to Otago, and practice in the colony reveals a strong continuity with events in Scotland: the Presbyterian communion season proved a remarkably successful import to colonial Otago.