The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and the Advocacy of Local

153 Pages·2010·8.44 MB·English

by  Christine Louise Lin

SINO-PLATONIC PAPERS

Number 92 January, 1999

The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan
and the Advocacy of Local Autonomy

by
Christine Louise Lin

Victor H. Mair, Editor
Sino-Platonic Papers
Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305 USA
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www.sino-platonic.org
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_______________________________________________
The Presbyterian Church In Taiwan
and
The Advocacy of Local Autonomy
Christine Louise Lin

ChristineL.Lin,"ThePresbyterianChurchinTaiwanand theAdvocacyofLocalAutonomy."
Sino-PlatonicPapers,92(January, 1999)
Formy grandfather, Dr. AlbertWu-fu Chen
.,

Christine L. Lin,"The PresbyterianChurchin Taiwan and the Advocacy ofLocal Autonomy."
Sino-Platonic Papers, 92 (January, 1999)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
•
PREFACE.......................................................................................... vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS........................................................................ IX
LIST OFABBREVIATIONS.................................................................... xi
MAPOFTAIWAN xiii
INTRODUCTION . 1
I. PRESBYTERIAN MISSIONARYWORK INTAIWAN.... 9
LiteracyandConflicts with Tradition 11
Cultivating an Indigenous Church........................................................ 13
The PCTandthe ~eriodofJapanese Rule 15
II. THEPUSH TOWARDS TAIWANESEINDEPENDENCE..... 27
The February 28,1947Uprising anditsAftermath 28
Building a Strong Christian Ministry 33
Struggles with Identity: The Cases ofPeng Ming-min andShokie Coe............ 35
The PCT's Withdrawalfrom the WCC 44
III. PRESERVING THE TAIWANESELANGUAGE 49
Translating the Bible intoRomanizedTaiwanese 49
RomanizedBiblesandHymnals.......................................................... 55
Taiwanese Language UnderNationalistRule 59
IV. CHURCH, VERNACULAR,ANDTHEEMERGENCE OF A HUMAN
RIGHTS MOVEMENT 69
.. The PCTas the Church ofthe Native Taiwanese 70
The 1979Kaohsiung Incidentandthe Kaohsiung Trials...................... ..... 77
The Tangwai Movement 86
CONCLUSION ~ 91
APPENDIXES
A. Public Statementon OurNational Fate................................................... 95
B. Motivation Ba~edon Faith andTheology................................................ 98
C. OurAppeal 100
D. ADeclaration on Human Rights 104
E. Taiwan Church News, FirstIssue 106
F. Taiwan Church News, ExcerptApril 8, 1998 110
G. A DeclarationofFormosan Self-Salvation III
H. Excerpts from the Bible: Fonnosan,Taiwanese, Chinese: Foochow 113
I. OldTestament: Genesis 1:1. 115
J. Romanized NewTestament: Matthew 1:1-25 116
K. The Lord's Prayer 117
L. Taiwanese Hymn 118
M. Confession ofFaith 119
N. Shanghai Communique 121
BffiLIOGRAPHY 125
v

Chrisline L. Lin, "The Preshyterian Church in Taiwan and the Advocacy ofLocal AULOnomy."
Sino-Platonic Papers, 92 (January, 1(99)
PREFACE
Taiwanese, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese words appear in italics when used as a
translation for an English word or phrase. To the best of Illy ability. I have tried to
standardize the spellings of words written in Taiwanese and Mandarin. I have used the
PCT romanization systenl for writing Taiwanese and the Wade-Giles systenl for writing
Mandarin. In direct quotations, I have used the spelling systelll of the original source.
While Ihave written Taiwanese narlles with the last name preceding the first name. I have
written Mandarin names in the order most conlffionly used for a particular name. The
Inacron in Japanese spellings is represented by "6". I did not have a prograrn for writing
all the Taiwanese tone marks, but have written them in by hand where appropriate.
apologize for any missing tone marks and other inconsistencies in spelling that are not
mentioned above.
•
Vll