This study makes three main contributions to the field of religious studies, and the existing literature on Taiwan's religious history. First is its identification of Taiwan as a site for continued Buddhist-Christian engagement, in the Chinese context, after 1949—a topic that has not received sustained scholarly attention. Second is the importance of how we define “modernity” when discussing religion in the modern world. In this case, I have argued against understanding modernity in a singular or unvaried manner, instead proposing “KMT modernity” as a particular type of modernity to which Buddhists sought adaptation. Third, it has suggested that we need to take the role of interfaith competition into account when thinking about religious identity, along with the context in which this competition takes place. This conclusion will summarize these findings, and suggest directions for future research—specifically how Christianity itself adapted to the context of KMT modernity, and the attitudes of Buddhists beyond the parameters of this particular microhistory.

Religious inter-connectivity

To begin with, this study covers an aspect of Taiwan's religious history that has not been the subject of focused scholarly research. Monographs on Buddhist history in Taiwan, such as those by Jiang Canteng, Yang Huinan, Chen Bing and Deng Zimei, Charles Jones or André Laliberté, focus on the activities of Buddhists themselves, rather than their interactions with members of different faiths.