Shoki Coe (; 20 August 1914 – 28 October 1988) was a minister of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, erstwhile principal of Tainan Theological Seminary (1949–1965) and director of the Theological Education Fund of the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodo ...

. Through the Theological Education Fund, he is widely known for his coinage of the notion of " contextualizing theology," later better known as "contextual theology," which argues for theology's need to respond to the sociopolitical concerns of a local context. He was named by Kosuke Koyama as the latter's spiritual father.

Name

His name reveals several layers of complexity in his own sense of identity. He was given the name Chang Hui Hwang (or C. H. Hwang) at birth, a name he published under in 1968. However, the name he chose to publish under in the 1970s and 1980s was Shoki Coe, the Anglicized version of his name in Japanese, reflecting the context of the Taiwan of his birth under Japanese rule.

Education

Coe studied at Taiwan High School, the former version of

National Taiwan Normal University National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) is a National university, national comprehensive university in Taipei and New Taipei City, Taiwan. The university enrolls approximately 17,000 students each year. Approximately 1,600 students are Intern ...

between 1931 and 1934. It was the only school that could connect to tertiary education during the Japanese colonial period. He pursued a BA in Philosophy at

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

and finished in 1937. In 1938, he obtained a scholarship to study

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

Westminster College, Cambridge Westminster College in Cambridge, England is a theological college of the United Reformed Church. Its principal purpose is training for the ordination of ministers, but is also used more widely for training within the denomination. History T ...

and stayed at the home of a Taiwanese missionary, David Landsborough.

Family

He married Winifred Saunders, a

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native, in 1944 in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Together they had four children – David, Michael, Eileen and Andrew.

Writings

* "In Search of Renewal in Theological Education" in ''Theological Education''. Summer 1973. * "Theological Education—A Worldwide Perspective" in ''Theological Education''. Autumn 1974. * ''Recollections and reflections''. New York: The Rev. Dr. Shoki Coe's Memorial Fund, 1993. * Christian mission in the context of Asian nation building. New Jersey: Princeton Theological Seminary Educational Media, 2011. * ''Human rights in Taiwan today''. New Jersey: Princeton Theological Seminary Educational Media, 2011. * ''Missio Dei''. New Jersey: Princeton Theological Seminary Educational Media, 2011. * ''Text and context in missions''. New Jersey: Princeton Theological Seminary Educational Media, 2011. * ''Christian mission and the test of discipleship : the Princeton lectures'', 1970 (edited and introduced by Michael Nai-Chiu Poon). Singapore: Trinity Theological College, 2012.

Name

Education

Family

Writings

References

Further reading