Epos

Abstract

In this chapter, it is introduced the category of Epos, the mythical, legendary, and historical dimension of identity. The chapter describes how the oral history of the conversion of the first Christians in Shuiwei has been linked to the history of Christianity in Taiwan. In an almost classical conversion narrative, a local gangster became interested in Christianity, converted, and gave up his sinful ways. The non-classical element is that it was all triggered by the gangster’s interest in a Presbyterian pastor’s bicycle. One of the brothers of this gangster followed his brother and became Presbyterian, but after a short time, because of some problems between the two families, he converted to Catholicism. In one section of the chapter, the situation of Catholicism in Shuiwei is framed by the Chinese Rites Controversy that ran from the mid-seventeenth to the mid-twentieth century. In this debate, Dominican missionaries, who demanded a clear break of their converts with the worship of ancestors and Confucius, faced the Jesuits, which considered these rituals as permissible local custom. As only Dominicans were present in Taiwan, the choice of Catholicism for the resolution of a conflict meant the cutting of relationships with the ancestors and the foundation of a new family line.