‘Your Father the Devil’: Relations between Catholic and Protestant Missionaries in Nineteenth Century Taiwan

Abstract

Abstract This article argues that interaction between Dominican and Presbyterian missionaries in nineteenth-century Taiwan had a profound significance for both missions. The Catholics and Protestants contended over the same areas and groups of people, which led to conflicts but also to religiously motivated innovations. Understanding this competitive relationship helps to explain the actions and strategies of both churches, as well as to identify unexpected sources of their power. Finally, the article shows that the missionaries’ slights and criticisms of each other, often performed in front of a Taiwanese audience, help to illustrate the impact that religious competition had on the missionaries’ acculturation to local belief systems.