book reviews 489
© 2008 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2008 Association for the Journal of Religious History
theological faculties and how they came to exert such influence abroad. Theological
students from all over the world, not just North America and Britain, were drawn to
study at the feet of German “super” professors. Finally, there is much to be learned
from Hudson’s work that has relevance far beyond the international community
of theologians. In the end it is a most instructive study about what constitutes
“scientific theology” and as such a major contribution to modern German intellectual
history.
John A. Moses
St Mark’s National Theological Centre
Dolores Janiewski, and Paul Morris: New Rights New Zealand: Myths, Moralities
and Markets. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 2005; pp. viii + 206.
David Loy’s essay “The Religion of the Market” (2000) drew attention to the ways in
which economic theory was becoming theologised, treated as possessing a sui generis
status, and how this in part stemmed from the Christian roots of secular Western
society. Janiewski and Morris have made an important contribution to this area of
research in providing a detailed examination of the implementation of “New Right”
policies in New Zealand from 1984 to 2004. The religious significance of this political
shift is carefully spelled out, chiefly with reference to the Biblical narratives of
Genesis and Exodus. The authors demonstrate conclusively that although New Zealand
has low rates of church attendance and is apparently religiously indifferent, the myths
of Judeo-Christianity, and moral discourses drawn from these myths, are still
extremely powerful in both popular and academic rhetoric.
In case it be thought that such a book (with its detailed portraits of key players in
the rise of the New Right in New Zealand) is too parochial to reach a broad reading
public, it must be noted that New Right politics and economics in neighbouring Aus-
tralia, and in the United Kingdom and the United States are covered as well. Key intel-
lectual influences, including Friedrich von Hayek (The Road to Serfdom [1944]), Karl
Popper (The Open Society and its Enemies [1944]) and Milton Friedman (Capitalism
and Freedom [1962]) are examined, and the importance of Communism (Russia,
China) and the Christian opposition to it (and Labour and other leftist parties in demo-
cratic countries) is cogently presented. The Communist states opposed both religion
and free market economics, thus linking them to the thought of those opposed to
Communism. Some New Right leaders were sincere practising Christians, others were
merely social conservatives who believed the moral codes of Christianity were the
religion’s most important legacy.
The analysis of the relationship between radical economic deregulation and social
conservatism is deeply intriguing and returns the focus to religion. In secularised
countries like New Zealand and Australia most have abandoned the prescriptive moral
codes and socially conservative attitudes, living together without marriage, favouring
liberal divorce laws, and asserting that homosexuality and others non-mainstream
lifestyle choices should be supported equally. Chapter 5, “Revelation: Marketing
Morality,” examines the way in which the New Right redefined freedom, so that
previously cherished principles such as social justice, welfare assistance, and state-
sponsored education and health became “oppressive” and a denial of individual
freedom and self-reliance. This, interestingly, helps to explain why religion is generally
considered important, if not central, for New Right thinkers and politicians (where