A CONTROVERSIAL CHURCHMAN Essays on George Selwyn, Bishop of New Zealand and Lichfield, and Sarah Selwyn Allan Davidson, Editor New Zealand’s frst Anglican bishop, George Selwyn, was a towering fgure in the young colony. Denounced as a ‘turbulent priest’ for speaking out against Crown practices that dispossessed Maori, he brought a vigorous approach to episcopal leadership. His wife Sarah Selwyn supported all her husband’s activities, in a life characterised as one of ‘hardship and anxiety’; she expressed independently her sense of outrage over the Waitara dispute. Selwyn promoted participatory church government, founded the innovative Melanesian Mission, and developed a distinctive style of colonial church architecture. More controversially, he battled with the Church Missionary Society, and was caught up in the bitter maelstrom of settler and Maori politics. His personal links with colonial and ecclesiastical networks gave him access to the heart of empire. These essays offer new insights into Selwyn’s role in developing pan-Anglicanism, strengthening links between the Church of England and the Episcopal and Anglican Churches in North America, and his time as Bishop of Lichfeld (1868–78). His place in Treaty history, as a political commentator and source of historical information, is recognised. George Selwyn left a large imprint on New Zealand church and society. This collection both honours and critiques a controversial bishop. Phone: 04 473 8128 Email: [email protected] www.bwb.co.nz Distributor: HarperCollins, PO Box 1, Shortland St, Auckland Contact: [email protected] Sales Manager: [email protected] 300 pages 240 x 170 mm 50 b&w illustrations ISBN 9781877242519 $49.99 December 2011 Author Information Allan Davidson taught church history for many years at St John’s College and the University of Auckland. He has published extensively on religious history in New Zealand and the South Pacifc and recently edited Living Legacy: A History of the Anglican Diocese of Auckland (2011). Other contributors include: Sir Paul Reeves, Warren Limbrick, Janet Crawford, John Stenhouse, Grant Phillipson, Jonathan Mane-Wheoki, Bruce Kaye, Rowan Strong, Terry Brown, Ken Booth, and Judith Bright.