【作者】卡兹,P,R.
【内容提要】
Katz demonstrates just how common cases like this are, not just for contemporary Taiwan, but in the Chinese diaspora and in contemporary and premodern China as well. And the case of Miss A, like the dozens of cases Katz analyses, raises a series of intriguing questions: if a formal, reasonably reliable legal system is already in place for dealing with disputes, why should Miss A turn to the gods for a mundane matter that, on the surface, has nothing to do with them? What exactly does she expect the gods to do? And what role in such disputes do temple officials play? In this case, the temple official encouraged Miss A to first file a countersuit for slander and to file a case with the gods only after the legal suit had run its course. But in other cases Katz cites, temple officials actively solicit immediate divine intervention.