臺灣原住民族都市教會之轉型過程及其動力因素 ─以基督教福音宣教會信實教會為例

Abstract

近代臺灣的基督宗教以十九世紀為開端，其中原住民族群佔有相當高的比例，以長老教會為例，原住民教會約占了全部教會總數的將近一半，臺灣戰後原住民族群宣教的蓬勃發展被比喻為「二十世紀的神蹟」。 1960年代開始，由於臺灣社會工業化導致的推拉作用，大量的鄉村人口遷移至都市，這樣的推拉作用也帶動了原住民青年離開部落前往都市尋找工作的外移趨勢。這項外移現象，也直接形成了「都市山胞」或「都市原住民」這個新的群體。都市原住民的形成，不但將原住民的生存空間從原居家鄉延伸到都市各個角落，使得原住民在臺灣城鄉體系中的流動性增強，也因而和漢人主流社會成員的接觸機會增加、接觸層面多元化，而在臺灣的原漢關係史上開始締造新的族群互動模式。在日治時期首位「高砂族」信徒皈依基督宗教後將近半個世紀的1970年代，基督宗教的教義、文化與世界觀已或多或少地融入多數的臺灣原住民部落當中，成為構成部落文化的基本要素之一，而這樣的部落文化也由移居都市的原住民帶入了都市。 在省政府基於為了解原住民經濟和生活品質，而於1991年所撰寫的調查報告中顯示：1985年，都市原住民當中信奉基督宗教者，高達其總人口比例的85.83%，而山地原住民與平地原住民的基督宗教信徒，則分別占了整體人口的85.13%及70.70%；然而，及至1991年，基督宗教信徒佔山地原住民、平地原住民與都市原住民的總人口比例分別為：83.94%、61.43%及64.50%，原住民族信奉基督宗教者出現逐漸衰退的現象，而無神論者或信仰道教和佛教的人數則相對地在增加。 此研究中所關注的對象為新北市地區眾多原住民族都市教會之一，此都市獨立教會，在原住民基督宗教信徒人口衰退的趨勢下，於1990年代初期歷經一次整體性的轉型與重組，究其轉型原因以及轉型過程，並未出現與靈恩運動相關之現象，而與新傳入教會中一系列與《聖經》相關的神學論述有關。在轉型時期，多數不願接受轉型的信徒離開教會，而接受轉型之少數信徒重整教會後，教會人數緩慢地持續增加至轉型前之規模，並出現現代化、全球化、原住民傳統文化的復振與轉型再現的現象，以及絕症患者於醫病禱告後痊癒的事件。在臺灣原住民基督宗教信徒人口產生變動的時代脈絡之下，以象徵/詮釋人類學觀點與民族誌方法呈現一都市原住民獨立教會的轉型過程與動力因素，試圖對於此社會變遷背後的時代意義提供一些貢獻，為本研究嘗試達成的目標。基於在此教會內部所進行的田野與訪談工作，本研究認為，此都市獨立教會轉型之原因，基督宗教內部所具有的「復振」本質，具有關鍵性的影響。 雖然在復振運動過程中，「反融合」所造成的阻力(或壓力)，以及在「對於新興宗教的普遍性偏見」的環境條件之下，造成轉型前的許多教友們，由於無法接受新進的神學概念、原住民傳統服裝的再現……等等因素，因此在轉型時期，教會的規模曾一度大跌至既有的15%左右。然而，由於起初透過再學習新的神學概念而開啟教會內部的「復振運動」的少數人，最終將此「復振運動」擴及至教會整體，新進入的神學概念在教會轉型期間所遭受的內外阻力(或壓力)之下，仍被保留至今，轉型後的教會規模從起初縮減至15%的規模，再次成長為超過轉型前的規模，並且在教會轉型之後，培育出各領域的原住民人才。因此，本研究主張將此都市獨立原住民族教會的轉型，視為一件成功的基督宗教「復振運動」事件。

Christianity in modern Taiwan began in the nineteenth century. In the whole Taiwan Christian population, the indigenous peoples occupied a fairly high proportion. For example, the indigenous churches accountfor nearly half of the total churches of the Presbyterian Church. The flourishing development of the Christian gospel missionaryin Taiwan indigenous peoples after World War IIis comparedto “the miracle of the twentieth century.” Since the 1960s, due to the push-pull effect caused byindustrialization, a large number of rural populations have migrated to the cities. The push-pull effect also led the youth generation of indigenous peoples leaving the tribes and wentto the cities to seek for jobs. This external migration of the tribes has formed a new group called “urban indigenous peoples.” The emergenceof “urban indigenous peoples” not only extended the living space of the indigenous from the original hometown to all corners of the city but also enhancedthe mobility of the indigenousbetween cities and countryside. Thus,it also increased and diversified the interactionsbetween the indigenous and the mainstream members of the Han Chinese. In the end, it began to create a new pattern of ethnic interaction in the history of the indigenous and the Han Chinese relations in Taiwan. In the 1970s─when the first "Takasago" believer converted to Christianityin the Japanese occupation periodfor nearly half a century─the doctrines, cultures, and worldviews of Christianity have been integrated into the majority of Taiwanese indigenous tribes and became one of the fundamentaltribal cultures, and this tribal culture wasbrought into the cities by the urban indigenous peoples as well. In the survey report written by the provincial governmentin 1991 in order to understandthe economy and quality of life of the indigenouspeoplesdemonstrates: in 1985, there are 85.83% population of the urban indigenous who believed in Christianity, as for “the mountain indigenous” and “the lowland indigenous” the Christians accounted for 85.13% and 70.70% of the total population respectively. However, by 1991, the proportions of Christians in the total population of “the mountain indigenous”, “the lowland indigenous” and “the urban indigenous” were 83.94%, 61.43% and 64.50% respectively. In sum, the number of indigenous Christian believers declined gradually, and the numbersof atheists or Taoism and Buddhism believers wererelatively increasing. This study focuses on one of the urban indigenous churches in New Taipei City. The urban independentchurch which this study focusesexperienced a holistic transformation and restructuring in the early 1990s under the trendof Christians proportion of indigenous peoplesdecline. The reason for its transformation and the process of the transformation did not appear to be related to the Pentecostal movementbut related to a new series of theological discussions about the Bible. During the transition period, most of the believers who did not accept the transformationleft the church, and the minority who accept the transformationreorganized the church. After the transformation, the members of the church slowly increased to the scale before, and the phenomenaof modernization, globalization and the indigenous traditional culture resonating appeared. Furthermore, the event that a terminally ill patient recovered after healing prayed happened. The goal this research tried to attempt is: presenting the transformation process and its dynamic factors of an urban indigenous independent church with the symbolic/interpretive anthropological viewpoint and ethnographic methods, in order to make some contributions to understand the significance of the time behind this social change.This study claims that the “revitalization” nature within Christianity made a crucial impact on the transformation of this urban independent church. During the revitalization movement, due to the resistance (or pressure) caused by "anti-syncretism" and the environmental conditions of "universal prejudice against new religious movements", many church members could not accept the changes: the new concept of theology, the reappear of the traditional indigenous costumes, and so on. Thus,the scale of the church once fell to about 15%.However, the minority who initially opened the “revitalization movement” within the church by learning the new theology extended it to the whole church. Despiteunder the internal and external resistance, the newly entered theology has been retained until now, and the scale of the converted church has grown to exceed the pre-transition scale.Besides, after the transformation of the church, it has cultivated indigenous youth talent in various field.Therefore, this research advocates the transformation of thisurban indigenous church as a successful Christian revitalization movement event.