One Island, Two Voices of Freedom: Imaginations of Freedom in Late Twentieth-Century Theology in Taiwan

This paper compares the works of two theologians based in Taiwan—Huang Po-ho and Chow Lien-hwa—to explore how, in the construction of contextual theology and the establishment of indigenized Christian churches, two kinds of “freedom” were pursued: a freedom concerning liberation from political and theological colonization, and a freedom concerning independence from Western cultural and religious imperialism. In the theological methods practiced or espoused in these treatises, we are able to see a tension between differing views of national ideology and visions for the church, thus nuancing two ideas in the current academic discussion: the meaning of “Taiwanese theology” and the boundaries of what counts as “Chinese theology.” Ultimately, the goal of this paper is to aid in the imagination and construction of contextual theologies that truly bring freedom to Taiwanese people and churches today as well as communities that find themselves in similar circumstances.