Date of Award
12-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Publisher
Santa Clara : Santa Clara University, 2025
Degree Name
Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL)
Director
Anh Q. Tran, S.J.
Abstract
This thesis proposes evangelization as God’s visitation as a contextual theological framework capable of renewing the Catholic Church’s missionary practice in contemporary Taiwan. Evangelization understood within the horizon of Missio Dei1 – the mission of God. The study argues that mission, when reduced to programmatic, eventdriven, or institution-centered strategies, fails to embody the relational and incarnational character of evangelization revealed in Scripture and articulated in the Catholic tradition. Drawing on a threefold pastoral cycle—See, Judge, Act—the thesis develops an integrated account of mission that moves from historical interpretation to theological grounding and finally to concrete pastoral application.
Historically (Chapter 1), the thesis rereads four centuries of Christian presence in Taiwan as three major “visitations” of the Gospel (1626–1662; 1859–1949; 1949–present). This hermeneutic highlights recurring patterns: the fragility of missions tied too closely to political powers, the indispensability of linguistic and cultural inculturation, the decisive role of Indigenous leadership, and the Church’s most enduring growth among marginalized and migrant communities. Understanding these historical movements as divine visitations reveals how God’s nearness unfolded through both fruitful encounters and painful interruptions.
Theologically (Chapter 2), the study retrieves the biblical semantics of pāqad, episkeptomai, and episkopē to show that visitation in Scripture encompasses covenantal blessing, corrective judgment, and saving nearness. This culminates in the Incarnation, where Christ’s ministry of presence—healing, teaching, dining with sinners, entering homes, and forming communities—becomes the definitive pattern of evangelization. Vatican II and FABC documents extend this vision by presenting the Church as missionary by nature, called to a dialogical, humble, and discerning presence within Asia’s multireligious contexts. This theological lens exposes contemporary challenges in Taiwan, including relativism, eventism, and the cultural reluctance toward home visitation.
Practically (Chapter 3), the thesis proposes pastoral strategies that embody God’s visitation today: parish-based household encounters, sustained catechumenal and postbaptismal accompaniment, migrant pastoral care shaped by Pope Francis’s four verbs— welcome, protect, promote, integrate—and the UTBAR formation model, which cultivates disciples capable of encounter, teaching, balance, accompaniment, and reflection. These strategies respond to Taiwan's urban anonymity, demographic shifts, and fragmented religious landscape.
By integrating biblical theology, historical insight, and contextual analysis, the thesis contends that evangelization as divine visitation offers a renewed missionary approach for Taiwan--one that privileges presence over programs, relationship over events, and long-term accompaniment over short-term results.
Recommended Citation
Pham, Khanh Linh, "Missio Dei as Visitation: A Contextual Theology of Evangelization for the Catholic Church in Taiwan" (2025). Jesuit School of Theology Dissertations. 179.
https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/jst_dissertations/179
