A Sparkling And Truth-Pursuing Seminar On Joseph And His Brothers

長達兩小時的座談會,與談人與作者正反意見交鋒、精采絕倫,台南場將於6月2日在公報社台南書房舉行。(攝影/林宜瑩)

Taiwan Church News
3404 Edition
22 – 28 May, 2017
Headline News

A Sparkling And Truth-pursuing Seminar On Joseph And His Brothers

Reported by Lin Yi-yin

In the afternoon on May 21, a seminar on the book Joseph and His Brothers written by professor Ken Pa Chin was held at The Chinese Rhenish Church Taipei. Moderated by Rev Kuo Ming-chang, professor Chin critically engaged with Mr Lu I-Chung, an anthropologist of religions, and Mr Chiu Mu-tien, a public theologian, on the issues discussed in the book, for example, how to define KMT Christians? how to tell the good guys from the bad guys in the church between 1965 and 1971? and etc. Professor Chin even advertised the inner fighting history of the Chinese church after 1949, i.e. the bloody war between the Chinese House Church and the Three-Self Patriotic Church could be another version of Joseph and His Brothers.

Both Lu and Chiu expressed their discontent about Chin’s definition and description about KMT Christians in the book. Lu thought Chin’s blunt criticisms of KMT Christians should not mean the opposite party could be spared from blames. Chiu pointed out Chin’s caricatures of KMT Christians were too stereotyped without details, making many existing KMT Christians could not accept Chin’s stories.

In response, Chin explained what he meant by “KMT Christians” as a group of Chinese Christian beneficiary roaming between politics and religion. And the reason, why “KMT” is used as an adjective to describe such Chinese Christians, is intentionally to remind current Chinese-spoken Church which is still upholding a die-hard old theology without reflection, Chin said. As to the question, why painted the Christians with a bleak dichotomy of good guys vs bad guys in the period from 1965 to 1971, Chin responded it was a political judgement of course because it is very natural and close to the milieu under that era of martial law.

Translated by Peter Wolfe

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