‘The Language of Eden in God’s Own Country: Gaelic Presbyterianism in Aotearoa New Zealand’

This article explains the rise and fall of Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) in the Presbyterian churches of Aotearoa New Zealand during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In this period, Scottish Gaelic went into steep decline in Scotland and in diaspora communities. This phenomenon was especially notable within Presbyterian churches. Several case studies have charted the decline of Gaelic Presbyterianism in Highland Scotland, Lowland Scotland, Canada, Australia, and the United States of America. This article does the same for Aotearoa New Zealand. It explains that Gaelic in Aotearoa New Zealand was subject to the same pressures as elsewhere. The language’s widespread association with poverty and backwardness meant that many Gaels discarded it for the sake of social advancement. Church leaders tended to favour the assimilation of Gaels after the first generation. Finally, those committed to the language struggled to maintain it in an Anglophone society.