Moore, who had completed his Bachelor of Divinity at Otago in 1949–1951
while a student at Knox Theological Hall (Rae 1991: xix). The first chair of
religious studies in New Zealand at Victoria University was taken by Lloyd
Geering, who was the former principal and Professor of Old Testament studies
at Knox Theological Hall (Barrowman 1999: 269–271). Other factors, too,
were at play in the early years. The annual religious studies symposia from
1974 to 1984 were organized and hosted by the Auckland University chaplains.
Staff appointments even at a later stage often involved people with a background
in theology. Douglas Pratt’s appointment at Waikato University in 1988, for
example, followed on from his work as ecumenical chaplain to that university.
In more recent times, James Veitch has understood the steady focus on
theology and the Judaeo-Christian tradition in New Zealand departments to
be the result in part of church influence and the smallness of the discipline
group and financial cuts, so that there have been ‘few opportunities for the
development of a curriculum for the multi-disciplinary study of world religions’
(1991: 34). Veitch’s answer to the problem—to ‘spur reform for the teaching
of Christian theology as an independent university discipline’ and to ‘encourage
a more rigorous use of the historical principle in the study of Christianity as
a world religion in the arts faculty’—is also focused on a concern for
Christianity, rather than world religions per se. Paul Harrison (1992) criticizes
Elizabeth Isichei for much the same reason, although she is more polemical,
and suggests Colin Brown as ‘an excellent counter-example’ (1992: 23), because
he has dealt with Christianity in a thoroughly academic way. However, the
argument still places Christianity as the central focus. Harrison’s second
example of good practice is Peter Donovan (1992: 24) but again the example
is, as Harrison puts it, ‘perhaps regrettably’ from ‘Judaeo-Christian territory’.
Maurice Andrew’s (1990) book on reforming religion in New Zealand is also
similarly completely focused on Christianity.
In both Australia and New Zealand national associations of scholars in the
discipline area as well as those from associated disciplines provide a forum for
networking as well as a visibility for the discipline among scholarly societies in
general. New Zealand staff in departments of Religious Studies and Theology
met annually from 1970 and held their first conference at Knox College in 1971.
It was at the 1978 conference in Wellington that the New Zealand Association
for the Study of Religions (NZASR) was established. The Australian Association
for the Study of Religion (AASR) was founded at the Adelaide College of
Advanced Education (later part of the University of Adelaide) in 1975 with the
first national conference in 1976. Both associations were also supported in
their conferences by the Charles Strong Trust of Australia, which sponsored
keynote lectures at many of the annual conferences, most often in conjunction
with the AASR meetings.
In both countries the associations were strong from the beginning. Victor
Hayes drew up the first constitution of the AASR, but interestingly the NZASR228
MAJELLA FRANZMANN