臺灣民間現在有越來越多人宣稱具有能與神佛直接溝通的能力，這些人散布在社會的各個角落，或是地方公廟，或是私人神壇，或是社團，甚至是私宅裡，為信眾，為朋友，或是為有緣人，提供各種宗教服務。他們有些專門替人治病，有些則為求問者的生命方向或困惑指點迷津。許多傳統乩童為信眾服務的項目，如今他們幾乎都可以囊括。 本文將這些能夠與神佛直接溝通，具有通靈能力的宗教人士，以「通靈人」一詞涵蓋之。有關這些通靈人和傳統民間信仰的乩童有哪些一脈相承之處？有哪些相異的特徵？他們是在怎樣的漢人社會文化與歷史脈絡中，以及如何在變動的臺灣社會裡逐漸躍上民間宗教的舞臺，與哪些臺灣社會歷來的宗教風潮，或新興的宗教群體有所關連，在社會上扮演甚麼樣的角色，本文都將進行概括性的說明，而主要的目的則是點出新興通靈現象所具備的特徵，並耙梳通靈人之所以日益普遍並成為今日臺灣民間宗教顯著現象背後的幾種可能脈絡。

Many religious people in Taiwan tend to claim that they have the ability to communicate with deities or Buddha directly. These people scattered here and there in private temples or shrines private houses, sometime in local temples. They may also organize themselves into a registered or free associations. They offer all sorts of religious service to friends, believers, or whomever they have met. Some of them are specialized in healing people, some provide suggests or advices for dealing with personal affairs or difficulties. We can almost say that they can do more of the things that traditional shamans (Tang-gi) could help to people. Those people who can communicate with deities are addressed as Tongling-ren in this paper. How these Tong-ling-rens differs from traditional shamans (Tang-gi) and how they may share the common cultural root? How they come out on the stage of Han Chinese folk religion and appear to be a conspicuous phenomenon? What sorts of social, cultural, or historical contexts and what kind of social change in current Taiwan are involved with this phenomenon? How may this phenomenon related to the religious tend in the long run or to certain new religious groups? And what kind of roles may these Tong-ling-rens may play in Taiwan society? All these questions will be generally answered based on the field surveys carried out by two authors.