Abstract
Anthropology has traditionally been concerned with small scale societies and communities which seem to be threatened by the spread of transnational institutions. Recent concern with increasing globalization, has stimulated discussions on how anthropologists can further our understanding of this phenomenon by looking at the simultaneous social processes of globalization and localization. Several anthropologists engage in the conceptualization of this phenomenon using terms such as syncretism, 'creolisation' (Hannerz 1991), prior difference or posterior difference (Miller 1995), all of which tend to assume that the 'indigenous' can be easily be identified as such and distinguished from the 'imported'. In this paper, I argue that the boundaries are sometimes blurred as new forms are used to express old themes or ostensibly imported meanings are merged with indigenous ones. This paper examines the recent development of aboriginal theology in the wake of cultural revival among the Paiwan in southern Taiwan. Christianity reached the Paiwan in southern Taiwan after World War II and mass conversion occurred in the following two decades. The local perceptions of Christianity have shifted over the past 50 years. Partly influenced by the Asian theology, aboriginal theologians endeavour to interpret the 'universal Christianity' from within their own cultural elements. The initial opposition set between culture and gospel is gradually contested. As Christianity has become part of Paiwan identity, Christian ideals and Paiwan ideals are seen as inseparable.