Shoki Coe: An Ecumenical Life in Context

Jonah Chang

Foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Translated by Ching-Fen Hsiao

Present at the creation—

“I learned a great deal about leadership [from Shoki Coe] and about the power of gentleness in an abrasive, competitive world. I am a better person for having been touched by Shoki, and I give thanks to God for him.” —Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu

Shoki Coe (1914-1988) was a pastor of the Taiwan Presbyterian Church who grew up in Japanese-occupied Taiwan and went on to become a champion of Taiwanese democracy, a pioneer of Asian theology, and an advocate of Christianity in the global south. This is his story, well researched and engagingly written by Jonah Chang.

Coe was educated under Japanese rule and went to Cambridge for his ministerial education. He was involved in the ecumenical movement from the early 1950s, became a seminary president in Taiwan and developed a contextual approach to ministry and mission. He served from 1965 to 1979 with the Theological Education Fund, where his deep influence helped to change the paradigm for theology and ministry internationally.

Coe’s story documents not only the growth and maturity of the worldwide ecumenical movement and the navigation of East-West and North-South tensions but also the birth and legitimation of a distinctly contextual approach to world Christianity.

“The life and work of Shoki Coe exemplify for us what it means to be honest and faithful—to the gospel of Christ, to one's ethnic and social reality, and also the spirit of ecumenism.... I am confident that this volume will enrich, empower and energize us to ‘take home the good news’ in ever creative and contextual ways.” —Olav Fykse Tveit, General Secretary, World Council of Churches

"One of the most significant contributions of this book is that it captures the great extent to which Coe's local and international commitment as a theological educator was based on his strong sense of "m7-goan7," a Taiwanese Hoklo expression signifying "a sense of what is totally unacceptable." —The Ecumenist, Vol. 50, No. 4, Fall 2013

Jonah Chang, a former student of Shokie Coe, is a retired United Methodist pastor living in California who has served as a district superintendent and on national boards for the UMC and National Council of Churches, U.S.A. He also served as a missionary to the United Church of Christ in Japan.

Specs: 214 pp.; 6 x 9”; paper; perfect; 4-colour cover

ISBN: 978-2-8254-1562-7

Price: CHF 29.90 ; £17.99 ; $19.95

Topic/Shelving: History of Christianity; Asian Studies

Rights: World, all languages except Chinese

Click here to download the table of contents, foreword, tributes and introduction (pdf)

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