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Paradise in the Pacific is often rendered as a natural state where "native" people live in simple harmony without the need for government or state institutions. However, Christian traditions also include paradise not simply as a state of innocence but also as a narrative of salvation history in which paradise is lost through original sin and must be restored through sacrifice and repentance. This article takes recent Fijian Christian interpretations of Tropical Cyclone Winston as a key site in which contested ideologies of Paradise are being reworked. As the idyll of island harmony is disrupted by disaster, Christians have seen Winston as an act of divine judgment and punishment on a sinful people. This essay analyzes how narratives of a sinful nation intersect with contemporary formulations of climate change, disaster, politics, and human agency.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	disaster preparedness, Christianity, natural disasters, Fiji, paradise
Research Division:	Human Society
Research Group:	Anthropology
Research Field:	Social and cultural anthropology
Objective Division:	Culture and Society
Objective Group:	Religion
Objective Field:	Religion and society
UTAS Author:	Finau, G (Dr Glenn Finau)
ID Code:	139836
Year Published:	2018
Web of Science® Times Cited:	17
Deposited By:	Accounting
Deposited On:	2020-07-07
Last Modified:	2020-08-25
Downloads:	18 View Download Statistics