CHRISTIANITY

Christianity

Christianity

Christianity in a variety of denominations found its way to New Guinea in the late nineteenth century, the London Missionary Society having entered the area around 1874. The colonial powers in the region were Christian nations which saw missions as their allies in the spread of civilization. Both Protestant and Catholic missions in Oceania became involved in the promotion of health and education. Studies of Christian conversion indicate that biblical stories and Christian rituals assumed, by those to whom the first missionaries preached, to work in ways similar to indigenous myth and ritual.

As has occurred in other parts of Oceania, Christianity has permeated ...