Taryn Dryfhout Professional Teaching Fellow Māori Worldviews and Systematic Theology
- MTheol, GDipTchg, BTh, DipBS, DipA, CertMaor, CertTeReoM
Taryn Dryfhout is a Professional Teaching Fellow at Laidlaw, with a research focus on the intersection between Māori worldviews and systematic theology.
Taryn has been based at the Henderson and Manukau campuses, as well as serving as a Distance Learning Tutor. She is involved in a range of courses across the School of Theology and School of Social Practice.
Taryn is a trained and registered secondary teacher, specialising in English, History, and Religious Education. In 2019, Taryn was named a Kupe Scholar by the Ministry of Education. She has been in tertiary teaching for several years now, including with Elim Leadership College in Auckland, and Pathways College in Tauranga.
Taryn’s master's thesis, Kaumatua Ahi Tere; Kaumatua Ahi Ka: Considering a Theology of Adoption How it Relates to the Māori Practice of Whāngai, looked at the connections between the Māori cultural practice of whāngai and adoption theology, and revealed that both whāngai and biblical adoption could be located within the wider understandings of family, kinship and community. This work was awarded distinction. Taryn is currently completing her PhD through the University of Otago. Her doctoral thesis Naku te rourou nau te rourou ka ora ai te iwi: Evaluating the relationship between a theology of community and Māori worldviews, looks at the theology of community that can be found in the work of Stanley Grenz, and compares and contrasts Māori understandings of community with Grenz’s theology. It is Taryn's hope that a deeper understanding of how Māori worldviews might relate with a theology of community, may allow for an enriched understanding of the underlying beliefs that are embedded within Māori cultural practices such as whāngai.
Taryn is also a published writer, whose publication record includes several non-fiction books, website content, and more than 400 feature articles, reviews, and columns, published in newspapers, magazines, and websites. Taryn is a member of the New Zealand Society of Authors (NZSA) and Mensa.
Belonging to the Ngāti Pōrou, Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe iwi, Taryn has been married to Stephen since 2004, and they have four busy children. Her oldest is an enthusiastic ‘speedcuber’ on the New Zealand Rubik’s cube circuit, and her younger three are wonderful whāngai blessings. They live in a beautiful rural region of Tauranga.