Abstract.—Two early periods of the Christian missionization of Hawai`i are reflected in chants. In 1820, Hewahewa, the highest religious expert of the kingdom, participated in the first discussions between missionaries and chiefs. He welcomed the new god as a hopeful solution to the current problems of Hawaiians and understood the Christian message largely in traditional terms. He envisioned a Hawaiian Christian community led by the land’s own religious experts. Some ten years later, the chiefess Kekupuohi composed her response to a translation of the first chapter of Genesis. Deeply learned in the Hawaiian traditions of the origin of the universe––like the great chant, The Kumulipo––she retold the story in such a way as to address the concerns and emphases of the long history of Polynesian speculation. She also addressed problems in perception and thinking that had arisen through contact with Western education. Both Hewahewa and Kekupuohi demonstrated that Hawaiians could contribute to Christian thinking just as Greeks, Romans, and Germans had before them. [Hawai`i, Christianity, mission, literature, syncretism, native thinking]