Taiwanese Christian identity and political activism during the democratization of Taiwan after the 1970s – A case study of Rev. Dr. Kao Chun-Ming

Rev. Dr. Kao Chun-Ming (1929-2019) served as the General Secretary of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) from 1970 to 1989 and actively participated in the democratization of Taiwan, the Republic of China (ROC), from the 1970s to 1990s. This paper aims to analyze two aspects of Kao’s public identity, Taiwanese and Christian, through Kao’s The Prison Letters and his two memoirs. This paper argues that Kao chose to emphasize the Christian aspect of his identity during the authoritarian regime and underscore the Taiwanese aspect in the democratic period, although the two aspects of his public identity existed concurrently throughout his lifetime. This deliberate choice of highlighting different aspects of his public identity reflects his strategical political activism when he faced different political regimes and serves as a mirror to reflect the democratic transformation of Taiwan from the 1970s to the 2000s.