英文摘要 |
This study compares the concepts of soul for traditional Taiwanese folk religion and the concepts of soul for the new religious movement that emerged after 1980 in Taiwan. First, the scholarly works of the first half of 20th century are analyzed and this study figures out the idea of 'three souls' deeply rooted in the mind of traditional Taiwanese people. Next, some new thoughts on souls, appeared after the mid 1970s, are reviewed. Then, the written texts from five new religious groups are analyzed. Also, the Taiwan Social Change Survey in 1999 and the data collected from the believers of these five religious groups are applied to do empirical test. The main findings are: (1) the concept of God as creator in Christian belief or the concept of Brahman in Indian belief are added to form the new soul concept in the new religious movement; (2) the idea of formation of 'one soul' is further solidified, and the belief of reincarnation is greatly emphasized; (3) the scientific words are blended into traditional beliefs in order to rationalize their belief systems, and also to enhance the authority of their beliefs. |