| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 112.2

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to the AHR online. About 308 words from this article are provided below; about 684 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the American Historical Association, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time. AHA members can go to the AHA individual membership section to locate their member numbers.
If you are not a member of the American Historical Association, you can:: • Join the AHA and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the American Historical Review.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the American Historical Review (104.3-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the American Historical Review.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 112.2 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Oceania and the Pacific Islands

Sujit Sivasundaram. Nature and the Godly Empire: Science and Evangelical Mission in the Pacific, 1795–1850. (Cambridge Social and Cultural Histories.) New York: Cambridge University Press. 2005. Pp. xi, 244. $80.00.
Sujit Sivasundaram presents an intriguing exploration of the intertwining of Christian missionary activity in the Pacific and the practice of science. He contends these ideological forces were so enveloped from the late eighteenth century that we should no longer view them as competing, let alone distinct ideologies. Sivasundaram's book is primarily concerned with the development and use of "theologies of nature" from the beginning of missionary endeavors in the region from the 1790s until the mid-nineteenth century. He overwhelmingly concentrates upon the London Missionary Society's (LMS) personnel and their writings. Their rich illustrations of missionary work take us from New South Wales, the early British settlement in Australia, to Tahiti, Raiatea and Huahine in present-day French Polynesia, Erromanga in present-day Vanuatu, and the Hawaiian islands; we also see glimpses of New Zealand, the Marquesas and the Cook Islands in our historical travels in the early contact years in the Pacific.	1
Sivasundaram set his study in the Pacific owing to the shared importance of nature as a medium to conceptualize spirituality for both the missionaries and their Pacific charges. Also, he argues that the newness of colonial contact between Pacific peoples and Europeans at this time reveals a clear measure of how missionaries attempted to influence indigenous thinking about nature and, conversely, how contact with Pacific indigenes, their ideas, and material cultures helped develop Christianized science. Sivasundaram shows that the development of discourses of Christianized science was perhaps more for the benefit of Society members in England, strengthening their continued devotion and contributions of supporting funds, than as a means to advance the mass conversion of islanders.	. . .

There are about 684 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.