Taiwan as the Promised Land? The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and Its Struggle for Inculturation
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| Year of publication | 2014 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) is not just religious organization, but also movement for social change and political rights. The church is very active in many different social events, as charity, education, health care... The church has proclaimed to become prophet for Taiwanese nation and critic of social and political iniquity. If inculturation is intentional transmission of system of ideas and values from one culture to another, than the PCT´s Christian ideas (which are specific, but I realize they are not Western anymore) represent the system of cultural values that are trying to be passed to Taiwanese culture. This system includes not only religious beliefs, but also other cultural or political ideas. During process of inculturation, which can be observed in statements and documents of PCT, it is easy to see how important legitimization is, because it provides the church with recognition – and the church´s ideas can be transferred only if they are widespread and identified. The questions that this paper aims to answer are how exactly has the PCT established legitimacy for its social involvement, which strategies has the PCT used, and if the problem of legitimacy is connected to process of inculturation. |
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