Theology of Land Implies in The Culture of Paiwan Tribe

• Main Authors: Wei-Fan Li, 李偉帆
• Other Authors: Ya-Tang Chuang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/8d5rj7

碩士 === 長榮大學 === 神學系 === 106 === Paiwan’s culture is beautiful in God’s eyes , including the content of ecological harmony and spectacular inner beauty. First chapter introduces the connections between God and the Paiwan’s culture. The second chapter gives the explanation about the rich and diverse mythical stories of the Paiwan tribe, and how these myths are connected with Paiwan’s tribal religion, daily rituals, and logical concepts. It also showed that Paiwanese were great warriors and indomitable defending their land, their deep relationship and bonding with the land based from Paiwan’s tribal history. 　 The third chapter gives four distinct mythical stories and uncover the theological meanings which are closely related to the land. For instance, the first “myth of the millet” establishes Paiwan people’s respect and attitude towards the land and discovers the “sacrifice” which cannot be separated from the land caring. Paiwan’s sacrifice manifests the mutually beneficial and co-existing wisdom which is among the living person, dead person (the spirit of ancestor) and the creator. Thus the mechanism makes the land respectful and precious. The “myth of the turtle” expresses the vast wisdom of the nature and it is much superior than the human being. In which shows Paiwanese humble attitude towards the nature. The “myth of the wild boar” describes the Paiwannese acknowledgment of greed and the punishment when they make mistakes and cross the line. Lastly, the “myth of shooting the sun” lets Paiwan people begin to reconcile with themselves, nature and the creator and expresses the mission that the human shall have. 　 The fourth chapter explains the heritage of the first born (Vusam) and its resemblance of the endless creation of the land. In the pan-deism worldview of the Paiwan tribe, the land is viewed as the living place for their ancestors, which naturally became a binding force for the Paiwan tribe to protect and preserve the ecology. It further established the coexistence relationship between the land and the people. The fifth chapter concludes the close relation of the Paiwan culture with the ecology, and the abundant theological meaning within this relationship.