Taiwan Church News

3364 Edition

August 15 - 21, 2016

Headline News

Tominun Utof! God Is Knitting Launches A Second Printing

Reported by Chiu Kuo-rong

A second printing of God Is Knitting, a Japanese missionary story at Taiwan's high mountains, was launchedat Taipei's East Gate Church on August 14. This book was originally written by Mr Inoue Inosuke, praised as the father of medical missions at Taiwan's high mountain for aborigines, and revised under a joint effort by Avanguard Taiwan, Historical Archive Center of Taiwan Theological College and Seminary(TTCS) and translator Mrs Ishi Reiko. The first printing was launched by Ren-kwang Printing House under Taiwan Church Press in 1997.

Due to a furious attack by Taiwan's Tayal-Sediq protesting Japan's avaricious grabbing for camphor resources in1906, Mr Inoue Inosuke's father - Inoue Yanosuke - was tragically killed together with the other 35 Japanese victims. Filled with the mood of revenge, though, after learning his father's death, Mr Inoue Inosuke then 24-year-old as a theological student decided to preach the love of Christ into Taiwan's high mountains and lead aborigines to know God's blessing, kindness and love.

Rev. Cheng Yang-en, Professor of Church History at TTCS, suggested the reader to read personal life into thisbook as a reliable framework of modern Taiwan's history and try to locate the critical values worthy to pursuit. "As we are now living under an age of post-colonialism, it would be a very interesting question that how to read these stories happened about 80 years ago? Especially, it was written in the forms as diaries and miscellaneous notes", said Rev. Cheng.

Rev. Supina Nakaisulan, Education Secretary of PCT's Indigenous Mission Committee, affirmed this book is a great helpfor the indigenous to learn their own cultures and the Christian faith. But she also frankly admitted that, when Mr Inoue described some tribal habits of aborigines as "bloody and barbarous", some inner struggles fought severely within her heart. Yet after her personal reflection and discussion with friends, she decided to accept Mr Inoue's sincere and objective historical witness because God's servants are never saint or complete.

Translator Mrs Ishi Reiko, member of Chung-lun Presbyterian Church in Chi-hsin Presbytery, remarked that shewas deeply impressed by Mr Inoue's un-discriminated mentality, especially when he insisted his first child to be delivered in the aboriginal tribe as the aboriginal women did without any assistance of modern medicine. Mr. Inoue Inosuke saw himself and aborigines were equal brothers and not in class confict, said Mrs Ishi.

Translated by Peter Wolfe