The Remnant Church: A Christian Sect of the Solomon Islands

‘I Was Like Abraham’: notes on the anthropology of Christianity from the Solomon Islands

“…Like their European precursors, these post-colonial projects are at once ethno-histories and ethnotheologies that insert peoples and places into a universal sacred plan (e.g., Burt 1983;Jacka 2002). Furthermore, the antiquity of such projects suggests that, while there may be an elective affinity between some forms of Christianity and contemporary globalisation (Hefner 1993:20-22, 28), we should not under-interpret the reflexivity in ethno-theology as only about the positioning of microcosmic identities within the political and economic processes of macrocosmic modernity.…”

Kingdom Tok: Legends and Prophecies in Honiara, Solomon Islands

“…However, the ‘Jewish’ groups see ‘theocracy’ differently from Pentecostal Christians in Honiara in that they view such divine mandate as given by God to the people of Israel in the Old Testament ( cf . Burt :339, this issue). And since they claim a genealogical connection to the Lost Tribes of Israel, they see themselves as legitimate recipients of that mandate.…”

“…Groups of Solomon Islanders with a strong identification with Judaism have usually emerged after a breakaway from other denominations (see Burt ). Historically, the same process has been identified in the formation of Pentecostal churches, in Solomon Islands and elsewhere (Ernst :159–204; Robeck ).…”

“…In Solomon Islands, and particularly Malaita, religious groups make use of connections with Israelite ancestors to articulate various interpretations of kastom . For example, Ben Burt has shown that the doctrine of the Remnant Church derived ‘from careful study based on intellectual and historical premises widely accepted by Kwara'ae’ people and legitimated ‘its members' political aspirations’ (Burt :334). Thus, while these groups are described as seeking a connection with their past, Pentecostal converts are portrayed as working towards their separation from it.…”

Politics and State-building in the Solomon Islands

“…In ths sense, the core narratve of the Deep-Sea Canoe Movement s smlar to that of the Remnant Church as descrbed by Burt (1983). Vsonares among the Kwara'ae-speakng people who lve near Auk, south of the To'abata, founded the Remnant Church n the 1950s.…”