Winston Peters “Puts His Hand to the Plow”: The Bible in New Zealand Political Discourse
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Robert J. Myles
Abstract
This article examines the charismatic New Zealand politician Winston Peters’ sparse use of the Bible as a case study in the propagation of the “Cultural” and “Liberal” Bibles across the relatively irreligious landscape of New Zealand’s political landscape. It considers why politicians continue to employ biblical rhetoric despite increasing indifference towards Christianity and the Bible, by situating such moves within the context of global capitalism. It also identifies some peculiarities of the political use of the Bible unique to the New Zealand situation and explores how these have aided the construction of distinctive political identities.
“Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God’.” – Luke 9:62
“The Old Testament was my textbook.” – Winston Peters
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©2016 by De Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Hilary of Poitiers’ “Ruled” Exegesis in His De Trinitate: A Case-Study of John 1:1–2
- Gog and Magog in Literary Reception History: The Persistence of the Fantastic
- Southcottians and Shiloh: Genesis 49:10 and the Morphology of a Messianic Hope
- Between Exodus and the Final Judgment: “Sertaneja” Worldview and the Trajectory of Antonio Conselheiro’s Belo Monte (Brazil, 1893–1897)
- Mystical Unification or Ethnic Domination? American Biblical Archeologists’ Responses to the Six-Day War
- Winston Peters “Puts His Hand to the Plow”: The Bible in New Zealand Political Discourse
- Book Reviews
- The Oxford Encyclopedia of The Bible and Gender Studies
- There is No Crime for Those Who Have Christ: Religious Violence in the Christian Roman Empire
- Shared Stories, Rival Tellings: Early Encounters of Jews, Christians and Muslims
- English Psalms in the Middle Ages, 1300–1450
- The Bible in Arabic: the Scriptures of the ‘People of the Book’ in the Language of Islam
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Hilary of Poitiers’ “Ruled” Exegesis in His De Trinitate: A Case-Study of John 1:1–2
- Gog and Magog in Literary Reception History: The Persistence of the Fantastic
- Southcottians and Shiloh: Genesis 49:10 and the Morphology of a Messianic Hope
- Between Exodus and the Final Judgment: “Sertaneja” Worldview and the Trajectory of Antonio Conselheiro’s Belo Monte (Brazil, 1893–1897)
- Mystical Unification or Ethnic Domination? American Biblical Archeologists’ Responses to the Six-Day War
- Winston Peters “Puts His Hand to the Plow”: The Bible in New Zealand Political Discourse
- Book Reviews
- The Oxford Encyclopedia of The Bible and Gender Studies
- There is No Crime for Those Who Have Christ: Religious Violence in the Christian Roman Empire
- Shared Stories, Rival Tellings: Early Encounters of Jews, Christians and Muslims
- English Psalms in the Middle Ages, 1300–1450
- The Bible in Arabic: the Scriptures of the ‘People of the Book’ in the Language of Islam
