作者：梁宗溢 年份：1978

福音是基督亲自带来的救恩讯息，在福音书中，作者把耶稣生活中的言行抽取出来，然后再以描述的方式重复过来，好能成为信仰的根基，和给予宣讲者，教导者及护教者一个稳固的基础。福音书也用于基督徒的礼仪聚会中，藉着聆听、信仰的经验重新活现出来。虽然福音书也具有历史性质，因为是建基于基督的言行及历史事件之上，但它们并非基督的自传或生活日记。根据普遍的意见，现在的福音书形式是玛尔谷订立，他是以耶稣复活后之神学思想去搜集有关耶稣在世时的资料，因而写成一本叙述耶稣教训的书本。路加再把它扩展到初期教会，在圣神影响下加以发展。而若望福音更是作再深入的神学反省，如「复活后期」的基督的角度去回顾基督在世时的言行。这福音的前言－－第一章－－是对基督的本体作出其他作者所没提及的反省。然而若望福音中的「语言」有别于其他的福音书，「若望的基督」(Johanine Christ)在什么程度下与历史中纳匝肋人耶稣相吻合呢？若望怎样去「看」、去解释及明白基督呢？如果作者写作的目的是「这些所记录的，是为叫你们信耶稣是默西亚、天主子、并使你们信的人，赖他的名获得生命。」(若20：31)他透过什么去完成记录呢？所用的文字又怎能使人得到信仰而获得生命呢？本文便试图以「记忆」这观念去瞭解以上的问题。

历史的基督跟若望写作福音的时侯已有一段时间距离。若望怎样去瞭解基督？尤其是他怎样把这些瞭解以福音书的形式传授给当时的教会？从若望福音中所用的文字，如「看见」、「听到」、「从而认识」、「认识」、「作证」及「回忆」等，我们也许可以见到一些端倪。若望以一个「历史家」的眼光去注视着历史基督、而形成若望独特的「视野模式」(ModeofVision),即若望以一个有信仰的「见证人」身份，曾经见过、听过基督(具有与基督相遇的经验)，藉着「回忆」，重新看见纳匝肋的基督。这样基督隐藏着的奥秘活现出来，成为可见的。继之传授给教会，化成一股宣扬福音的动力，为基督作见证。宣讲及见证便是一个不停的回忆过程。在这过程中，过去的基督经验以「现在」的新姿态出现了。如此，受光荣的基督继绩生活于教会内及对信友说话。(1)现在，让我们把重点放在「回忆」这个过程上面。

在没有从圣经的观点看「回忆」之前，我们试从一个诗人的角度去分析「回忆」的现象。海德格(Heidegger)在贺德龄(Holderlin)与诗的本质一文中，提及有关「忆起」(Re-collection)及「回归」(Home Coming)的问题。「忆起」是涉及「过去」与「将来」;「过去」不单是一种静态的已发生的事情或经验。一位诗人想及过去的事，在这思想中，「过去」重新流回，构成诗人思想的经纬线。如此，「过去」投注在诗人目前，「过去」重新临现及作出影晌。但当「想及已经发生的」，诗人会顾及到这个「过去」是个「没有完全显露」的过去。如此，那继续显露的未来是什么呢？就是那个神圣(Holy)－－那不断将临(Advent)的神圣。诗人的任务是去注意那「过去的」和那「将要来的」－－神圣本身便是两者的结合。(2)这种说法对我们瞭解记忆是有帮助的，因为若望并非只是「静止地」想起历史中的基督。在记忆中，基督活现临在于若望恩想中，不断的显露着，因为基督本身便是「过去」及未来的结合：「我是阿耳法」和「敖默加」－元始和终末。(默21：6)

现在，让我们从圣经中去看记忆。「记忆」这观念在圣经中很是普遍。上主记忆起某些人物而把恩宠及怜爱赐予他们(创8：1、19：29、出32：13、撒上1：11等)。上主创造了一个新的境况，就是人在急需中而获得上主的救助。所以当上主记忆的时侯，一个创新的事件便发生了。上主的子民也要记忆上主的作为。申命纪特别发展了一套记忆神学，以色列人要牢记上主在埃及的作为，要作出新的服从与信任。圣咏也很多时找到「记忆」的记述，记念以色列的过去时常写成「看到」上主神圣的作为：「请你们前来观看天主的作为。」(咏66：5)整个天主子民在礼仪中默观天主救赎的历史。在圣咏48：9，我们更看到描述过去和宣布现在两者并存：「我们所见，正如所闻。」咏40：4以新歌的形式，宣讲过去的事情，但为信众来说是一个有影响，活生生的体验和行动：「众人见了起敬起畏，都将全心信赖上主。」(3)在新约里，记忆非单只是一个思想过程，基督的言语更是藉着门徒的记忆，在他们身上产生力量。「主转过身来，看了看伯多禄，就想起了对他说的话来：「今天鸡叫以前，你要三次不认识我。」(路22：61、谷14：72、玛26：75)基督复活后，门徒们也记忆起基督的话，而第一次明白基督的话：「他不在这里了，他已经复活了。你们应当记得，他还在加里肋亚时，怎样告诉过你们，说人子必须被交付于罪人之手，被钉在十字架上，并在第三日复活。」(路24：6-8)他们遂想起了他的话。从以上的讲法看来，「记忆」这个观念并非只是若望福音所独有，而是一个圣经所使用的重要观念。

在若望福音里，「记忆」这个字出现的次数很少。在第二章及十二章中，我们发现了「记忆」这个字。『给卖鸽子的人说：「把这些东西从这里拿出来，不要使我父的殿宇成为商场」』。他的门徒就「想起」了经上记载的：「我对你殿宇所怀的热忱，把我耗尽」的话……这座圣殿建筑了四十六年，你在三天之内就会重建起它来吗？」但耶稣所提的圣所，是指他自己的身体。所以当他从死者中复活以后，他的门徒就「想起」了他曾说过这话，便相信了圣经和耶稣说过的话。』(若2：16-22)『第二天，来过节的群众，听说耶稣来到耶路撒冷，便拿了棕榈枝，出去迎接他，喊说：「贺三纳！因上主之名而来的，以色列的君王，应受赞美！」耶稣找了一匹小驴，就骑上去，正如经上所记载的：「熙雍女子，不要害怕！看，你的君王骑着驴驹来了！」起初他的门徒也没有明白这些事，然而当耶稣受光荣以后，他们才「想起」这些话是指着他而记载的。』(若12：11-16)从这两段记载中，我们可以看到及提到一些问题：

a.门徒们起初不明白耶稣行为的意思。

b.门徒们是在耶稣复活后想起来才了解的。

c.想起及了解什么呢？

d.是若望自己想起而把这「想起」写成门徒也记起，还是宗徒们确实记起来呢？

e.是什么使到若望及门徒想起呢？

f.记起之后又有什么后果呢？

我们相信若望是历史基督的见证人，从他记述事物的细致情形便知道(第五章描述贝特匝达水池的情形)。在路加福音，驱逐商人出圣殿是连接着荣进耶路撒冷(路19：29-46)。但驱逐商人，清理圣殿的记述在若望福音是在耶稣公开活动之先，与荣进耶路撒冷是相距很长时期，因为有些圣经学者怀疑这两件事件在若望原本是否相连(4)。不过，现在若望福音安排这两件事分开，当然有其目的及神学看法。再者，在第二章里，作者加上自己的评语：「耶稣所提的圣所，是指他自己的身体。」(若2：21)由此，我们可看出这位与历史基督交接过的作者，是作出有选择的记忆。不过这种经验非若望所独有，而是与早期的教会，门徒团体分不开的：「论到那从起初就有生命的圣言，就是我们听见过，我们亲眼看见过，瞻仰过，以及我们亲手摸过的生命－－这生命已显示出来，我们着见了，也为他作证。」(若一、1：1)而若望第一章中也说：「我们见了他的光荣。」(若1：14)若从一个人的思维结构来看，所有明显的阐明(目的引申出理解)，在脑海中必先要把握着那些要阐明的。阐明不能缺少先有所假定的资料，阐明一些东西基本是基于一些「先有」(Prepossession)、「先见」(Preview)及先念(Preconception)之上。(5)由此，若望福音作者阐明基督事件也是基于「先有」的共有传统－－宗徒团体对复活基督的瞭解(格前15：3-8)。这样我们也许明白，记忆基督之事是宗徒团体的经验，而若望福音作者是其团体中之一位，分有如此经验，但以他独特的神学看法去写成有关基督的描述－－使信基督的人，赖他的名而获得生命。

若望及宗徒都记起了与基督的经验，不过在上述两章节中，我们看到一个现象，即在基督复活后，藉着记忆，宗徒才明白基督复活前行动的意义。这即是说，在基督复活前，宗徒们是曾经历过那些事情，具有经验，但是不明白。若望福音曾指出与暗示这种情况，「耶稣回答说：斐理伯、这么长久的时候，我和你们一起，而你还不认识我吗？」(若14：9)『于是他门徒中有几个彼此说：「他给我们所说的……究竟有什么意思？我们不明白他讲什么。」』(若16：17-18)「如今在事发生前，我就告诉了你们，为叫你们当事发生时能相信。」(若14：29)其实，事情发生时，门徒也不能相信，而在事情发生后宗徒才藉着「记亿」而明白。

现在，我们进到问题的中心，是什么光景使宗徒们记忆呢？两段福音非常明显地指是在耶稣复活及受光荣之后，「当他从死者中复活以后，」(若2：22)并单指时间的先后问题，还说明门徒记忆起的原因及信息。换句话说，耶稣的复活是门徒记忆起过往的经验，以及信仰基督的言行的主要关键。从很早期的基督徒宣讲中，宗徒便被视作为复活基督的见证人。「这位耶稣，天主使他复活了，我们都是他的见证人。」(宗2：32)基督的复活为宗徒们来说是一件很有深刻意义的救恩事件，他们愿意以信德的眼光去明白这件事情，基督复活并非是从坟墓里走出来，圣经用「死者中复活」，基督被了解为「生命之源」(宗3：15)及「死者中的首生者」(哥1：18)等语句表达。由此，我们可看出基督复活，自早期教会的了解及宣讲使被视作为救恩史的一部份。耶稣在复活前始终未能使门徒了解祂本身的奥秘，虽然门徒看到基督的行动和表样，听过他的教导，甚至非常敬仰他，但他们劫不明白基督是要接受痛苦及死亡，十字架事件使他们四散东西，他们做梦也没想到基督的复活。但与复活的基督相接触后，他们渐渐提高了对基督的信心及了解，这经验慢慢照明了他们的眼目，从一个更深、更新、更全面的角度去看基督的生平事迹，生活与教训，历史的基督被看成是复活基督的延绩。现在，我们可更进一步问一下，究竟根据若望福音那两段章节，宗徒们透过记忆，「看」到和「瞭解」到些什么呢？

第二章第十七节，当耶稣驱逐商人出圣殿的时候，门徒就想起了：「我对你殿宇所怀的热忱，把我耗尽。」(咏69：9)的话，若望是否记述门徒当时的确是如此记起，抑是作者写作手法的描述，而实在是在阐释，我们不得而知，而且也不甚重要。不过作者似乎以预言基督救世活动去了解这句圣咏，「热忱把我耗尽」不是说基督内心充满怒火，而可以有胆量去驱逐商人出圣殿。作者已经从基督复活后的全面性瞭解去回顾这件事，他瞭解基督的热忱是要带给他死亡，所以十七节已是指门徒在复活后的「记起」，更引致更深入的以基督的角度去看旧约。(6)牛羊是旧约圣殿中必要的祭品，耶稣驱散卖牛羊之商人，并非只尊重圣殿的壮严，而更是指出崇拜上主在基督复活后不再是牛羊的祭品，而是基督，一种精神与心灵方面的崇拜。(7)第二十二节更明确地指出这种对基督作深一步的了解，记忆首先把基督在世之言语重现出来，但这些言语的重现非单是记忆的产物，同时也展示出信德。在这章节里，基督回答犹太人时说出一个神迹：「你们拆毁这座圣殿，三天之内我要把它兴建起来。」门徒对这「征兆」另有瞭解，基督的死亡、复活带来普世性的福音，以代替狭窄民族性的犹太宗教，一个新的纪元开始了。门徒在「记忆」中认识到基督复活的身体便是末世救恩时期的「圣殿」，圣经中预言的新圣殿已在基督身上实现了。至少若望福音第一章第14节是如此了解：「圣言成了血肉，寄居在我们中间。」默示录第二十一章22节亦指出：「在城内，我没有看见圣殿，因为上主全能的天主和羔羊，就是她的圣殿。」而早期教会也认为基督便是圣殿：「而基督耶稣自己卸是这建筑物的角石，靠看他，整个建筑物结构紧凑，逐渐扩大，在主内成为一座圣殿。」(弗2：20b-21)

两段章节都提及门徒记忆起古经的记载。由此看来，耶稣复活后，门徒对基督的事获得较完整的看法，他们看到耶稣的言行，与旧约的预许很吻合，因而对旧约作了较广及较深的瞭解。旧约是指向基督，祂的来临及复活，完成了旧约不足，而更使旧约在上主派遣圣子降生的救赎计划中占着一种地位，基督不独超越梅瑟的法律，更道出深一层的教训。(8)除了上述的两段章节外，若望也许藉着回忆(虽然不明显地写出来)，在第十九章也提出基督完成了旧约：『那看见这事的人就作证，而他的见证是真实的，并且「那位」知道他所说的是真实的，为叫你们也相信，这些事发生，正应验了经上的话说：「不可将他的骨头打断。」』(若19：35-36)当然若望瞭解基督「完成」一切的高峰，是在十字架上：『耶稣尝了那醋，便说：「完成了」。就低下头，交付了灵魂。』(若19：28)再者，如果基督「完成了旧约」的意思是把分散在旧约有关救世者的预许聚集起来，使能在基督身上看到完整，而基督他只藉一次奉献，就永远使被圣化的人得以完成(希10：14)。那么，门徒也藉着基督被圣化了，因而能够把他们以前跟基督散乱的经验，通过记忆重新聚集起来，而达到全面的，完整的领悟。

若、12章记述基督荣进耶路撒冷之情况，门徒藉着记忆，想起了这个历史情况。第十四节作者作出了观察：「耶稣找了一匹小驴，就骑上去。」同时跟着一些评语：「不要害怕，看，你的君王骑着驴驹来了。」如上所说，门徒在基督复活后想起了经上的话是指着基督而记载的，同时，他们明白基督便是「要来的君王－－默西亚」，也许门徒已经知道救赎以色列的默西亚是要来的；但复活前与复活后门徒对默西亚的看法完全不同，基督的复活使他们更深入看到「匝加利亚先知」的话，若12：16指出门徒没明白这些事，而匝加利亚先知所说有关默西亚的形像，想是门徒在基督复活后所瞭解的，「他是正义的、胜利的、谦逊的，骑在驴上。他耍由厄辣因铲除战事，从耶路撒冷除掉战马，作战的弓箭也要被消除，他要向万民宣布和平，他的权柄由这海到那海，从大河到地极。」(匝9：9-10)君王的形像并非是一个只具有民族性和政冶性的，而是普世性的及和平的。基督是默西亚的主要义思，在于祂启示天主临到人间，成为以色列的君王，把被遗弃的重新收集起来。以色列民要作出一个选择，为绩延以色列的命脉，他们需要选择武力抑或和乎与谦逊。同时门徒看到基督是君王的意思是在受苦、死亡及复活。他们见到群众迎接耶稣，确是迎接「君王」。所不同的，是在复活以前，他们会觉得只是普通、表面的迎接一位民众心目中有权力的救世者；但在复活后，门徒再记起那时情况，看到了另一意思，他们迎接一位和平，通过受苦，死亡而更克服死亡的君王。(9)

记忆只是一个思想的过程，但门徒怎样藉着回顾而能够去「看见」、「明白」和「瞭解」事件深一层的意义呢？如果我们注意到上述两章节说明了基督的复活及受光荣是门徒记忆的关键，那么，基督的复活及受光荣事件必定在门徒身上产生了效果及力量。若望反省到这是圣神的力量(其实在若望反省的时候，圣神已在他身上工作了。)「我还与你们同在的时候，给你们讲论了这些事，但那护慰者，就是父因我的名所要派遣来的圣神，他必要教训你们一切。」(若14：25-26)「教训」这词在若望福音很多时是有「显示」的意思：「我由我自己不作什么，我所讲论的，都是依照父所教训我的。」(若8：28)「你们就不需要谁教训你们，而是有他的传油教训你们一切。」(若一、2：27)教训显示什么呢？显示出基督复活前给门徒所讲论的事，「教训你们一切」非单只提醒，使对基督的记忆不致丧失，且具有从记忆中去瞭解及阐明的作用。记忆及教训指示出不单把过往的事物及言语机械式重组起来，也是把它们的含意显示给门徒。基督徒团体更确切地说，显示的内容是把历史的基督重新临现于门徒的跟前，基督复活前的言语，藉着圣神的引导，为基督徒团体有着更新、更深的意思。

除了教训之外，圣神也藉见证阐释历史的基督。「当护慰者，就是我从父那里给你们派遣的，那发于父的真理之神来到时，他必要为我作证，并且你们也要作证，因为你们从开始就和我在一起。」(若15：26-27)见证的内容是在世界面前显示基督，这见证是与门徒的见证相连结的，而门徒的见证因与基督的持久联系：「你们从开始就和我在一起，不只是「过去」的，而是在「现在」，「目前」继续着，圣神的见证在若一、5：6b「这位就是经过水及血而来的基督，他不但以水，而且也是以水及血而来的，并且右圣神作证，因为圣神是真理。」真理的圣神所见证的，便是那永恒的基督与历史中被钉死的纳匝肋耶稣的合一。「凡明认基督为默西亚，且在肉身内降世的神，便是出于天主。」(若一、4：2)不过，只有受光荣的基督才会赐与真理之神(若15：26．16：7)；而圣神也只「宣告」属基督的一切，「当那一位真理之神来时，他要把你们引入一切真理，因为他不凭自己讲论，只把他所听到的讲出来，并把未来的事传告给你们，他要光荣我，因为他要把由我所领受的，传告给你们。」(若16：13-15)如此一来，圣神把基督之言行带进另一全面性的看法。所以，在圣神支持下的教会不断宣讲，基督的说话继续延续下来，得到更深刻地去把握，完满地展露出来；而教会亦根据个别情况的需要，把它宣讲出来。(10)于是，圣神真的把宗徒团体及教会引入真理，「我本来还有很多事要告诉你们，然而你们现在不能担负。」(若16：12)真的，待基督复活以后，宗徒们才能担负起，因为他们是以复活基督的整体救赎计划的宏大范围去瞭解。

我们既然说明了圣神推动及引导着门徒，藉着记忆，把基督的经验重新呈现。然而门徒有什么影响及反应呢？「他的门徒就想起了他曾说过这话，便相信了圣经和耶稣说过的话。」就字面来说，门徒相信了圣经及耶稣的话，未知是指概括性的旧约来说？抑或是某些特别章节？例如咏16：10或是如若2：17所提的咏69：9，我们不得而知；但是在门徒的宣讲中，他们常把旧约作为复活的指证：「且照经上记载的，第三天复活了。」(格前15：4)当然相信是包括相当真实的意思，圣神就是把门徒引入真理。不过，真理并非只停留在理智的层面，只是抽象的，而是指基督本身，「我是道路、真理、生命。」(若14：6)指基督所有的言行，因为基督是显示天主救恩的临在，在太初已有的圣言，为人带来「真理」－－(若1：17)，更好说，基督把自己带给了人类，藉着真理之神，人们将被转化－－肖似基督;「可是我们知道：一显明了，我们必要相似他，因为我们要看见他实在怎样。」(若一、3：2)人如果想达到这个目的，必需要接受基督(若1：11-12)，使真理在我们之内(若一1：8)。如此一来，我们属于真理－－真理成为我们的本性－－由此，我们成为真实的崇拜上主的人，也就是这真理之神引导我们从混乱的知识中达到洞见：「你们如果固守我的话，就确是我的门徒，也会认识真理，而真理必会使你们获得自由。」(若8：31-32)从罪恶达到爱。「这爱的因由，就是那存在我们内，并永远与我们同在的真理。」(若二：1-3)如此，人们便生活在真理内(若二：4)，以心神及真理去朝拜(若4：23-24)。所以宗徒相信圣经及耶稣的话，不只是回顾起基督的话而理智上相信，而更是以生活去肖似基督。在基督内作出转化，相信是要具体地表示出来，要去「履行真理」(若3：21)，「如果你们遵守我的命令，便存在我的爱内，正如我遵守了我父的命令而存在他的爱内一样。」(若15：10)这样才能成为基督真正门徒。(11)

若望福音中所谈及的记忆，确是一种新的及真的知识，就是对基督的瞭解。这种新的瞭解产生了动力，以生活去实践出真理。这样，在基督内，基督徒成了新的受造物，成为天主的化工，新的出生是藉着相信基督的言语：「他自愿用真理之言生了我们，使我们成为他所造之物中的初果。」(雅1：18)如此的「记忆」过程，相信在退省方面是可以应用的，例如在依纳爵的神操中便有如此的运用，在五十二号－－三种罪默想。同样地默想第三种罪，便是记忆起罪的严重和凶恶，因为犯罪是相反我等主造物主。(12)把罪的严重和凶恶，藉着记忆重新临现于退省者跟前，因而重新对罪恶的憎恶，归向善源－－天主，达成一种悔改行动的实践。第一○七号－－降生奥迹瞻想：『聆听那世界上的人所说的，便是怎样他们彼此谈话，怎样他们咒骂与亵渎天主。……同样地「聆听」天主三位所说的，便是「我们要救赎人类」……然后「聆听」天神和圣母所说的。末了，反省，为能从一总人的言语中，采取神益。」反省当然含有回亿的意思，但这种回想并非单单记起以前所「听到」的，而是希望从中取得神益，意即指向一个美好的前景－－在神修道路上进步。

以上是若望的「记忆」观念一个小小的运用。当然这观念不可能孤立地看，不过藉着记亿，我们再重新制造出宗教经验，通过实践，获得更新的经验。如此，我们才能渐渐的成全，如天父一般的成全。



参放资料

(1)Bauer： Encyclopedia of Biblical Theology., 1970. Sheed and Ward, London. Vol 1. Faith-IV. Faith in the writings of St. John.

(2)Congar, Yves： The Mystery of the Temple. 1962, Burns & Oates Ltd., London.

(3)Leon-Dufour：editor. Dictionary of Biblical Theology 1967 Geoffrey Chapman Ltd., London.

(4)Heidegger Martin： Beingand Time, 1962, SCM Press Ltd., New York.

(5)Kittel： Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol.IV, Vol.VI.

(6)MarshJ.： St. John he Pelican New Testament Commentaries, 1968, London.

(7)McKenzieJ.： Dictionary of the Bible, 1966, Geoffrey Chap-man Ltd., London.

(8)MussnerF.：The Historical Jesus in the Gospel of St. John, 1967, Palm Publishers, Montreal.

(9)RichardsonW.： Heidegger hrough Phenomenology to Thought, 2nd Edition, 1963, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague.

(10)Ryan, M. Rosalie； Editor： Contemporary New Testament Studies, 1965, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota.

(A) Sint. J.： The Resunection in the Primitive Community.

(B) Barry W.：The Spirit of Truth and of Life in John's Gospel.

(C) Feuillet A.： The Era of the Church in St. John.

(11)The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, Vol.4, 1962, Abingdon Press, New York.

(12)Text of the Spirtual Exercises of St. Ignatius, 5th Edition, 1952, London.

(13)Orr.J.(Ed.)：The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Vol.V.： (Truth )1974 (Reprinted), Eerdmans.(15)The Jerome Biblical Commentary.

(A) No. 63. The Gospel According to John

(B) No.80. Johannine Theology.

(1)Franz Mussner： The Historical Jesus in the Gospel of St. John, 1967, Montreal. P. 45.

(2)Richardson W. Heidegger- Through Phenimenology to Thought, 2nd Ed., 1963, Hague. P.454.

(3)Mussner F. 同前 P.P.48-49.

(4)Brown, R.：The Gospel According to John (The Anchor Bible) P.463.

(5)Heidegger M.： Beingand Time, 1962. New York. P.P.189-191.

(6)Mussner F. 同前 P.40.

(7)Cougar Yves： The Mystery of the Temple, 1962, London. P.124.

(8)Leon-Dufour： Dictionary of Biblical Theology. 1967, London. P.171： FULFILL.

(9)Marsh John：St. John－ The Pelican New Testament Commentaries, 1968, London. P.P.459-460.


(10)Mussner F.同前 P.P.59-64.

(11)The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible. Vol.4. P.P.715-716.

(12)Text of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. 5th Ed., 1952. London. No.52.


(13)同上 No.107.

作者：容若愚 年份：1978



前言

今年三月，英国 Screenpro影业公司推出纪录片「静默的见证」(The Silent Witness)，片长五十三分钟，耗资二百万港元，前后费时三年。内容介绍近年科学界研究着名的基督圣殓布的结果。

严格的科学态度

当代学者处理圣殓布问题的态度可分两种：大部份天主教徒都相信这块长十四呎，阔三呎的麻布也就是当时包扎基督尸首用的殓布，而殓布上的人像确是耶稣的真容。至于如何解释圣容印在布上就意见不一，有用自然现象，如血与香料加氨产生的化学作用；也有用奇迹；更有用基督复活的蜕变所产生的辐射去解释。这类理论以圣经为基础： 相信新经的纪述是历史事实。

另一类学者采取严格的科学态度，不以信仰为出发点，认为福音的记述亦只供参考。他们直接从圣殓布下手，研究其来源及各种现象，学者自始保持开放态度，承认圣殓布可能为艺术膺品。「静」片的导演陆大卫 (David Rolfe) 原来不信神，一直反对女儿入教。接受每日快报(Daily Express) 访问时他说：「我以怀疑的态度开拍这片，那时只相信是个电影的好题材。我已征得各股东同意：到头来若证实圣殓布是伪造的，影片将照样推出。不过目前我只能承认它是真的，因为证据太多了。」今天这位导演已成为基督信徒了。

跟陆氏合作的学者也属同一思路，根据一般科学假设，先设法证明圣殓布及其上的人像是人造的，可能是某位隐名的中世纪艺术家根据福音记述而绘制的，这假说成立吗？

苦痛的痕迹

圣殓布上的血迹自然是医学界研究的对象，解剖学及病理学专家都承认这些伤痕来自其人。最先作这类研究的是位着名的不信神的解剖学教授。法国Sorbonne大学的德拉义(Yves Delage)于一九自○三年向法国科学协会宣布圣殓布确是真的，当时科学界哗然，而德教授险些儿被除名。

三○年代法国的具巴碧医生 (Dr. Pieme Barbet) 继续德拉义的研究。近年来各国着名的医师亦颇有贡献，在英国首推皇家病理学家伯劳期(Dr. D. Barrowcliff) 及已故的韦大卫医生(Dr.D. Willis)。在义国有法医官朱高迪教授(Prof. Judica Cordiglia)。此外是美国洛杉畿的毕罗拔医官(Dr. R. Bucklin) 及纽约的山东尼医生(Dr. Anthony Sara)。

毕罗拔医生是洛杉畿的首席法医官，曾在那全美最繁忙的医疗中心服务二十多年。他根据圣殓布上的血迹鉴定死者的伤势及死况。死者两手腕有钉痕，双足被一枚大钉穿透，全身约有一百二十处鞭伤。罗马宗座大学的李察蒙席(Mgr. Giuglio Ricci) 考据当时罗马兵可能用的两种鞭子，两种的尖端都系上硬物，其中一种的硬物上还有钉子，每组鞭子共三条，而殓布上的鞭伤痕迹亦确是三个一组的。

毕医官又指出死者的肩背会被重物所压，头部满是尖刺留下的伤孔；如果是茨冠，则妳不是传统的环形茨冠 ，而该是帽形的，遮盖全头，还有是死者肋旁的伤痕。

毕医官根据丰富的经验推测死者体高五呎十吋，重约一七五磅，年约卅至卅五岁，他的结论是：「死者是被钉死的，死前受了非人的痛苦。」

医学的证据亦只此而已，可是如何肯定死者就是二千年前的耶稣？

历史溯源

圣殓布的伤痕肯定了死者的死况，但最令科学界称奇的倒是死者的尊容。这庄严而安祥的容貌一直隐藏在血迹后面，一八九八年才由义国摄影师石庇雅(Sesondo Pia) 偶然发现。

然而如何肯定这张虽死犹安的面孔就是主的圣容？ 这当然与圣殓布的历史有关。圣殓布的来历最早只能推溯到十四世纪，首先公开面世时，圣殓布属于法国萨尼家族(Geoffrey de Charny)。当时萨尼骑士刚在英法之役中阵亡，其遗孀把这圣物公开展览，引起当时教会的诽议，认为不可能为主的殓布，因为福音并无记述。

一四五三年，萨尼的孙女把殓布赠与沙和公爵，殓布由利尼镇(Lirey) .转运至山比力 (Chambery)，就在一五三二年险遭大火烧毁 。一五七八年才由法国转到都灵城。至今刚是四百年了。(今年暑假义国将隆重庆祝，除公开展览圣殓布，还于十月七日召开首次国际大会，出席的将有各国的科学家及学者。)

所以最近六百年的历史都有典籍可考，但问题就在十四世纪以前的一段漫长日子。假定圣殓布是真确的，它就必须来自巴肋斯坦。这一段不全的历史一直是圣殓布问题的最大弱点，最近才由学者打破了这个谜： 其中最重要首推瑞士的费麦时博士(Dr.Max Frei) 及牛津大学的威尔逊教授(Dr. Ian Wilson) 的研究。

瑞士福尔摩斯

谁也预料不到，圣殓布的秘史竟由一位罪犯专家揭晓！费麦时出掌苏黎世警署化验室凡二十五年，研究罪案的成绩，驰名国外。他屡次利用疑犯衣服上的尘埃而证实与凶杀现场有关，很像小说里福尔摩斯的手法。

一九七三年，他应邀主持圣殓布辨真的工作，费博士最先从放大了的照片上发现殓布上附有各种尘埃，他要求一些样本。都灵总主教白弥格枢机 (Card. Michele Pellegrino) 有点诧异，到底批准了。

电子显微镜下，他看到各类微粒：矿物，植物，纤维，细菌，还有花粉。他决定集中研究花粉样本。他也是植物学家，很瞭解花粉的特性。原来花粉虽细，外壳却异常坚硬，历千万年而不易碎裂。而且每种植物的花粉都有显着的分别。

东正教的依地沙之像

西方教会在中古时代留下的文件，数量很可观，而中世纪对圣物的热忱亦不乏记戴，然而对现存的圣殓布却只字不提。为甚么？ 其中一个假设是：当时的圣殓布可能并不以殓布的型式存在。这假设不无根据：犹太人一向视殓布为不洁之物，初期教会可能把殓布折起来。

威尔逊就是根据这假设进行研究的。他在东正教的典籍中找。到Mandylion的详细史料：这原是一块布，上面只有基督的圣容，但也是一张模糊不清而带神秘感的面孔。如果把圣捡布对折四次，使圣容向上，再用植架围好，四边用绣线拉成格构花纹，这就与Mandylion外型一样，圣容也呈现在柜架正中。这是否巧合？

威尔逊把东方教会历代的基督正面圣像作一系列比较，发现自公元六世纪以来的艺术作品都跟圣殓布及Mandylion上的圣容十分肖似，几乎同出一辙：长发、闪族面型及鼻子、胡须、神色庄严。最早的作品在叙利亚的熊斯镇发现，是一张刻在银器上的基督圣容。详细比较下，其作者必曾见过圣殓布上的圣容。可是自公元六世纪以前的作品就不同了。不但个别作品的差别悬殊，而且表达基督的型像也没有一定的模式。第四、五世纪的画家爱把基督绘成像希腊的太阳神似的少年，没有胡子，面目英俊。事实上当时圣奥斯定曾指出：那时代的基督肖像种类奇多，汗牛充栋，因为「我们不认识他的外貌，也不认识他母亲的样子。」

因此，自六世纪迄今，东方教会沿用的基督正面像都是以Mandylion上的圣容为蓝本，而他们确信后者乃基督的真容。按东正教记载，这圣物是在第十三世纪早期在拜占庭失传的。而圣殓布首次在西方出现是十四世纪。可见Mandylion与圣殓布之间确有非常的关系。

更重要的是这件东正教的圣物是在第六世纪才发现的－－当时是在土耳其安度纳草原的依地沙(Edessa)，即今日的乌发市(Urfa)。这不但说明第六世纪以后艺术作品上的基督容貌何以同出一辙，也与费麦时博士的花粉研究不谋而合，至此圣殓布的来源已渐露端倪。

威教授详尽的放据，已编撰成书，名为「都灵的殓布」(The Turin Shroud)，于五月面世，其主要论点是证明圣殓布与Mandylion 原为一物。他曾在今年复活主日的泰晤士周刊撰文介绍目己的发现。如果把他的贡献跟费麦时的研究及其他科学家的结论互相对证，我们的确能像英国着名神学家鲁宾逊教授 (Dr.John Robinson) 说：「目前圣殓布问题的研究已跨越一大步，我们可以肯定它不是中世纪的膺品。」

东方教会传统里的Mandylion，其大小只及圣殓布的十六份一。正中只有基督的正面。南斯拉夫格德镇(Gradac) 现存的一幅璧昼，是十二世纪遗物，正是Mandylion的写照。布的四边被线系于框架上，圣容的周围则是格构装饰。这一种装饰已证实是公元初期土耳其一带贵族衣服的设计图案，例如在伊拉克首都巴格达的博物馆里就有一具公元第二世纪的土耳其王的像，其长衣的编绣格式与Mandylion的相同。

为甚么那时要把圣殓布改装成华贵的饰物？可能是故意折起掩饰其本来面目，殓布在近东文化中都不是祥物，何况教外国家仍未能接受耶稣是天主呢﹗(这圣物在六世纪古籍中又名tetradiplon意即封折四次。)

在欧洲出现

如果威尔逊的理论成立，东正教的Mandylion就与都灵的圣殓布实属一物，而圣殓布的大部历史都可以放证了。余下来的只是由十三世纪至十四世纪中叶的空白：即由君士坦丁堡失踪而至在法国利尼镇出现的一个半世纪。这期间圣殓布在那里？ 至今仍是一个谜。

不过威教授也提供了少许线索。他怀疑当时极可能是落在圣殿骑士修会里(Crusader Order of Knights Templars)。十三世纪时，该会的骑士常把圣物作大手笔的买卖。他们习惯举行神秘集会； 十四世纪初叶，民间普遍传闻：骑士集会时朝拜一个有胡子的神秘人头 ，有人说该人头镶在横匾上，也有人说那是个幽灵。

事实上，当时法国的裴利伯亲王(King Philippe) 觊觎骑士会的财产，于是以癖邪为藉口，于一三○七年发难铲除圣殿骑士修会。

我们固然不能肯定骑士朝拜的所谓「幽灵」究为何物，可是由于当时这组织遍布欧洲，这神秘人像的复制品自然也不径而走。在英国南部深马郡的骑士镇(Tempelcombe Somerset) 也曾有一座骑士修会的小堂，一九五一年被拆毁。当时发现了一幅画，也许就是其中一幅「幽灵」的复制品，现存该镇的圣玛利小堂内，它的年代固然可考，但不能肯定就是骑士会恭敬的圣物，可是这「幽灵」却的确与圣殓布上的圣容十分相似！

然而这线索的价值何在？ 圣殓布在法国首次公开时是属于萨尼家族的，萨尼骑士本人固然已在一三五六年九月十九日阵亡，可是他与骑士修会有关吗？ 威教授发现： 一三一四年三月在巴黎最后两名骑士修会的首脑被正法，用火烧死，罪名是异端邪说。其中一位是骑士会的总教头Jacques de Molay，而另一位则是诺曼第骑士分会的教头，他叫甚么名字？ 萨尼﹗(Geoffrey deCharny)

虽然未有足够证据建立前后两位萨尼骑士的关系，不过骑士修会的风云至少可以解释一件事： 当萨尼家族后来被教会指责伪造圣物，他们不能自辩，也没有说出圣殓布的来源，因为无论洗劫君士坦丁堡或朝拜「幽灵」都不是十分名誉的。

总括来说，这一段历史仍有悬疑的地方。

怀疑派神学家的见证

前面提及的鲁宾逊教授是着名的怀疑学者，二十年前他是候活教区的主教，那时他的「向上主摊牌」(Honest to God) 一书轰动英国教会，目前他是剑桥大学神学院主任。他从严格的新经学者立场研究圣殓布真伪。有一点他已深信无疑： 圣殓布绝不会是按福音记载造出来的膺品。

从四部福音，可以肯定原来的殓布只是暂时权充包扎之用，待安息日一过，门徒再妥办后事。若瑟亚利玛第亚显然急于在下午六时以前做妥一切。虽然若望圣史指出耶稣的葬礼全照犹太风俗，但耶稣的尸首大概未加洗涤，于是复活的大清早，妇女们带着香料上坟，一定是要完成安葬的程序。其次尼苛德摩买了这么多香油(一百磅！) 傅擦尸首一定也是为了防止尸首腐烂。

鲁宾逊又指出若望福音提及的墓里的「手帕」，原来是翻译上的误解：这块小布原是为把尸首的口部合拢，避免空气进入身内，犹太人惯常用布把死者的下巴紧缚头部 (即用布沿双耳绕下巴一圈)。这点后来在立体分析器下得到证实。

前言立体影像分折器

美国空军军校两位年青的教授合作研究圣殓布的圣容，最近提供了划时代的资料。杨泽森 (Dr. John Jackson) 是物理学博士，艾增柏 (Dr. Eric Jumper) 是航空导向专家。他们先研究死者身体每一点与殓布的准确距离：发现殓布上的像，其每一微点都有同样的密度，不管这点跟死者身体接触的距离如何不同，事实上，有些地方身体与布的距离竟有四厘米，但影像的密度依然一样！

其后他俩获准借用VP8影像分析器，这仪器原是太空中心用以收发月球及火星拍回的讯号，利用拍好的照片算出星球表面的各种距离。普通的人像照片上的各种密度因光暗而不同，在VP8的立体分离下，各点与实物的距离被还原，于是分析器上呈现的是模糊不清的像！ 可是当他们把圣容的底片(亦即正像) 放进VP8，萤光幕上竟出现一个完整的立体人像，三个向度极之均匀。这张庄严安祥的面孔，比石庇雅在黑房内首次见到的更真实！ 为甚么普通照片没有同样的立体效果？ 为甚么印在平面白布上的竟是一个立体的像？

静默的见证

鲁宾逊特地到美国访问杨艾二人。现在问题已不再是圣殓布的真伪了，而是自然现象如何解释圣容的烙印？出席会议的尚有空军总部的电脑主任唐宁博士 (Dr. Don Lynn)，他曾负责分折由海员二号拍摄回来的照片。

艾博士认为烙印不可能是有机物质，如植物或矿物的反应，因为圣殓布曾遭大火，在高温下有机性的影像都会消失。

唐博士曾利用各种颜色的频率反应来分析烙印的问题，他指出烙印也不可能由人体内的分泌物所导致。反过来说，如果是由于血汗与空气产生作用，则把殓布拉平时，烙印绝不能保留完整的面容。何况现在更发现烙印是立体的呢！

那末到底是甚么作用促成这绝世的尊容？ 唐博士认为唯一可靠的解释是： 一度极短促而极强烈的幅射能！

历来也曾有过学者相信基督往复活的过程中，脱离物质 (dematerialization) 的一刻所产生的辐射能！ 可是这不外是假说 而矣。

杨博士的结论很中肯，他说：「我们身为科学家可以肯定这圣容不是艺术作品，也超越人的创作能力。」至少圣殓布的真确性已没有疑问了，至于自然科学如何解释这现象，还有待学者的努力。

(综合报导，七八年三月二十八日，伦敦大学)

一八九八年，石庇雅首次在圣殓布的底片发现的基督正像。这庄严而安详的尊容一直隐藏在血迹之后凡十九世纪； 今日，祂是否仍向我们做着静默的见证？

圣殓布在VP8 影像分析器下呈现的立体照，注意两行火烧痕迹之间的立体人像，左为正面，右为背部。
杨泽森博士(左)，艾增柏博士(右)
据推测，圣殓布初期曾在中东一带展露，因而带有各种尘埃。
Linum Mucronatum，费麦时在电子显微镜下发现的花粉之一，藉此他把圣殓布的历史追溯至土耳其及中东。
费麦时博士，苏黎世警局的福尔摩斯。
近东一带的纺织机，其历史可推至基督年代，至今仍沿用。
以「向上帝摊牌」一书驰名的怀疑派神学家鲁宾逊博士； 他宣布圣殓布绝非膺品，其真确性无可置疑。



(1)Franz Mussner： The Historical Jesus in the Gospel of St. John, 1967, Montreal. P. 45.

(2)Richardson W. Heidegger- Through Phenimenology to Thought, 2nd Ed., 1963, Hague. P.454.

(3)Mussner F. 同前 P.P.48-49.

(4)Brown, R.：The Gospel According to John (The Anchor Bible) P.463.

(5)Heidegger M.： Beingand Time, 1962. New York. P.P.189-191.

(6)Mussner F. 同前 P.40.

(7)Cougar Yves： The Mystery of the Temple, 1962, London. P.124.

(8)Leon-Dufour： Dictionary of Biblical Theology. 1967, London. P.171： FULFILL.

(9)Marsh John：St. John－ The Pelican New Testament Commentaries, 1968, London. P.P.459-460.

(10)Mussner F.同前 P.P.59-64.

(11)The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible. Vol.4. P.P.715-716.

(12)Text of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. 5th Ed., 1952. London. No.52.

(13)同上 No.107.

作者：刘富根 年代：1978

前言

(甲)巴勒斯坦的地，形势及政治背景

(一)名称：一般信徒称巴勒斯坦为圣地，以纪念救恩史上所发生的重大事迹。在此之前，曾有许多世纪，被称为客纳罕地、阿摩黎人地区、以色列或犹太地。自公元五世纪始，由于希腊文化的影响，巴勒斯坦一名后来居上，流传至今。原来只是培肋舍特地，按字源巴勒斯坦即来自培肋舍特。1

(二)地理形势：在苏伊士运河北面，是一条较长的地带，面积约二万七千○二十七平方公里。其地势占有极重要的地位，是中东的门户，控制运河进入地中海的最近处，位于欧、亚、非三大洲的中心点，更是自美索不达米亚至埃及和阿拉伯半岛，自叙利亚至腓尼基必经之地。向来在历史土是各大强国－－亚述、埃及、巴比伦及波斯等必争之地。

(三)政冶背景：自以民进巴地之后，在数千年的历史中，除了大卫王和撤落满时代，以及阿斯摩乃王朝，巴勒斯坦获得真正统一和完全的独立外，在其他时代中，大都过着受人统治而不能自主独立。原因是与它的地理形势有密切的关系。二千多年之前，犹太人虽欲复国而多次的起义，但始终被罗马帝国所败，且终于灭亡。巴勒斯坦被罗马帝国征服后，一部份虔诚的正统犹太教徒，仍然志愿生活于圣地，老死于圣地；另一绝大部份犹太人则流散至世界各地，阿拉伯人渐次成了当地居民的多数。后来犹太人在他国受到迫害，相继地逃回圣地。如一八八○年代，由于俄国发生反闪族(犹太)运动，故有许多犹太人因而来至巴勒斯坦定居；殊不知，这却在无形中造成了当代史上最大的不幸：犹太人的民族主义与阿拉伯民族主义互相抗衡，前者为了达成其目的，除了挤入现属于阿拉伯世界的一个最重要地区外，更和后者作殊死斗。

一八九七年犹太民族极力想在巴勒斯坦地区复国，遂有世界性的「熙雍主义」(Zionism) 出现。在第一次世界大战期间，英国占领了属于奥图曼帝国叙利亚省的巴勒斯坦；一九二二年战后经国际联盟委托英国正式代管。由于各国的犹太人在经济上相当富有。故此，大战期间，各国需要他们财经上的支持，因而促成了他们也都赞助犹太民族的复国运动。于一九一七年十一月二日，由巴尔福勋爵发表了宣言，声称:「英国政府赞成，在巴勒斯坦为犹太人建立民族之家，并将尽最大力量促其实现。……」2但另一方面在一九一五－－一六年初春之间，为争取阿拉伯人的响应，协约国方面确也曾予以政治性的许诺，就是建立一个大阿拉伯王国，新的王国包括巴勒斯坦在内。后来阿拉伯人的期望落空。一九二○年被分割为现今不同的阿拉伯国家，在此期间他们的地方被协约国所托营。

第二次世界大战期间，欧洲犹太人受到纳粹的血腥迫害及屠杀，粉纷逃入巴勒斯坦，人数剧增。他们又利用各国犹太人捐助的款项，大景收买当地的肥田沃土，据为移民的公产，因而迫使贫困的阿拉伯人陷于不利之境；而愤怒的巴勒斯坦人更以暴乱和大罢工来抗拒犹太人的经济侵略。此行动延续至二次大战将发生时才告一段落。英国政府曾派了一个委员会往调查巴勒斯坦冲突的起因，而提出以下结论：既然犹太人与阿拉伯人，各有利害，不能共存于一国，那么唯一解决之道就是将巴勒斯坦一分为二，一个阿拉伯国和一个犹太国。这使到巴勒斯坦境内阿拉伯人的武装暴动，越来越激烈；阿拉伯人有两个基本要求：一是犹太人停止移民；二是在原整的巴勒斯坦土地上给予占大多数的阿拉伯民族独立主权。这更造成了犹太人和阿拉伯人之间的关系日趋紧张

第二次世界大战后，英国在中东的地位为美国取代。美国为了在中东和东非扩张，掠夺中东和北非的石油资源，乃进一步扶植犹太复国主义，要在阿拉伯世界当中，制造一个欧洲人的共和国，作为它向中东进行侵略的工具。一九四七年十一月廿九日，第二届联合国大会在美国操纵下，通过巴勒斯坦「分治」决议，规定在巴勒斯坦地区建立两个国家。全世界回教徒和犹太教徒的圣地耶路撒冷则由联合国管理。一九四八年五月十四日，犹太人在巴勒斯坦宣布成立「以色列国」。五月十五日，英军自巴勒斯坦撤退。

以色列建国第二年，阿拉伯国家即向以色列宣战。战争于四九年结东，阿国战败，以国分别同埃及、约旦、叙利亚、黎巴嫩订停战协定。以国占领了若干阿国家的土地，并且占领了耶路撒冷新城的大部份。以色列对于丢掉产业和流亡在外的阿拉伯的难民，既坚拒他们归去，又不予以赔偿，因而激起巴勒斯坦人报复之念，推动排犹运动。故伊拉克宣布犹太人一年内要离开该国。军事上失利的阿拉伯国家，想从经济上置对方于死地。故此，阿拉伯国家与以色列国便形成了多次冲突的出现；直至到了今天，问题仍存在着，武装仇杀仍没有止息。

在一九七三年阿拉伯世界高峰会议上，阿拉伯各国都承认巴解组织是巴勒斯坦人民的唯一合法代表。由阿拉法特任主席的巴解组织及属下的游击队和「抗拒阵线」的游击队，联合签署了一份政策宣言。文件重申巴勒斯坦人民将继续「为争取重返家园的合法权利，争取自决及建立独立的巴勒斯坦民族国家奋斗」。建国将「不必借助和乎协定，不必以色列承认，不必经由谈判」。因阿拉法特急于要建立一个众所承认的巴勒斯坦国，故此在形势所迫下，也不得不赞成出席日内瓦和会；这举动使到属下游击队愤然退出该组织，另组抗拒阵线。这阵线认为在列强的赞成下建立小巴勒斯坦国即是放弃消灭犹太复国主义的斗争。建国后，巴国人民将在国际压力下被迫和以色列共存，在以色列国内的巴勒斯坦人亦将永远得不到解放。

由此种种历代积存恩怨，不但得不到云开见月明的解决，反而日渐加深与恶化，形成中东爆发第五次战争的可能性。

(乙)以色列与巴勒斯坦武装仇杀的因由

从以上之政冶概况描述可见巴勒斯坦境况的混乱以及斗争的日趋激烈，形成了巴解组织的恐怖活动频现，甚至乎威胁到世界各地，以求达到他们解放整个巴勒斯坦返回故土之决心。然而，以色列亦恐防巴解在其附近建国而威胁日后的安全，所以极力阻止其在邻近建国，并扩展领土，尤其对于巴解组织的恐怖手段，给与极大的报复行动。因此更促成二者间的武装仇杀的对抗现象。例如，最近的一次恐怖活动出现，其因由是埃及总统沙达欲打破中东问题的僵局，亲自到以色列访问，寻求公正和全面的和平解决办法，提出多项建议与以国会谈，并欲促成重开日内瓦和会。这次访以，是近代外交史上一次少有的冒险行动。可谓成则为英雄，败则身败名裂。由于南黎巴嫩的事件迫使沙达在没有先照会其他阿拉伯国家的情况下，公开宣布愿意到以色列去，因此使到其他国家对他极度反感。巴解组织更是愤怒填胸。正当以色列在南黎巴嫩屠杀巴勒斯坦人的时候，埃及却向以伸出了和平之手，这对巴人来说不能不是一个沉重的打击。虽然沙达向以国会发表演说时，重申巴勒斯坦人民有立国的权利，但他也表示欢迎与以色列共存，亦即是无条件地承认，犹太复国主义有权利在巴勒斯坦人的国土土建立国家。同时他也在演说中避免提及巴解组织。其后宣布邀请各方参加开罗会议时，也没有提及他们。后来，埃及官方发言才说明他们也在被邀请之列。当巴解组织拒绝出席开罗会议后，埃及却另外邀请在西岸的一些巴勒斯坦人到开罗。这期间，在开罗的巴解电台因攻击沙达而被政府下令关闭。埃及还驱逐了一些巴解人仕离境。

在目前之形势下，中东问题的政治解决，只不过意味着巴勒斯坦人的民族利益将被搁置一旁而已。在这生死存亡的关头下，巴解组织只好采取激进的政策，一方面是宣称不再相信政冶解决，以恢复巴解游击队的团结；另方面则四面游说，希望能进一步孤立埃及，使其不敢和以色列单独签和约。更采取了一次恐怖活动，以求阻止没有巴解参加的中东和平谈判。这次恐怖活动，阿拉法特(一向温和的巴解领柚) 明知以国大举报复，仍不惜冒险，致折损百多名游击队。巴解一位发言人说出他们的目的:「我们得以行动证明，巴勒斯坦人如果没有得到他们的权利，中东就没有和平。3他又表示 :「巴解赞成和平谈判，但是如果产生了不让我们参加的企图，我们别无抉择，只好采取军事行动。我们人民知道以色列强大，预料将会接受到报复，但是即便他们报复，也显示出我们不会被粉碎的」。4由他的语气，可知巴解坚定不移的立场，更以行动去证实。一九七八年三月十一日，巴勒斯坦的敢死队在海法到台拉维夫的高速公路上，演出了惊心动魄的一幕。他们在安息日的下午，偷偷地在地中海那边的岸上登陆，然后劫持了两部满载游客的巴士，一直向台拉维夫驶去，并在沿途把任何目击的途人射杀，最后还毁坏巴士及造成多人死亡。据估计，在行动中约有四十人死亡(其中包括四名恐怖分子)及超过八十人受伤。在以色列历史中，这是最严重的一次恐怖分子袭击行动。

在以色列方面，为报复巴勒斯坦游击队的屠杀，从海陆空三方面进军，扫荡在黎巴嫩南部的巴游据点。以色列这次扫荡的行动，显得其部署的精密，行动的迅速，但是并非一次「危险的进军」，因为他们知道巴游无论在数量或装备士都比不上自己的。 这次报复行动，是以国朝野群情激愤的反应；国会更正式通过决议，要求予巴游以无情的打击。其规模之大，远超出了过去所习见的那种突击性报复行动的范围，致殃及很多无辜的乎民。整个中东冲突也因而升级。在如此情况下，埃及总统沙达的和平行动，以及美国的调停努力，暂时无法继续。

(丙)反省及批判

这事件的发生，引起各国的关注及舆论界的批评。现试从伦理角度作一反省及批判，并分述如下:

(一)巴勒斯坦人民是阿拉伯民族之一，早期因住于此地而得此称号。当时来说，他们并未有组织建立国家的能力与渴求迹象；但到了后来，一方面，眼见其他阿拉伯民族相继独立，分冶成为现今的沙地阿拉伯、约旦、伊拉克、叙利亚、埃及、黎巴嫩等国家;而以色列也据种种因素，在北区复国至今更具卅年的历史。另一面，由于此区长年战争的影响，使到大量巴勒斯坦的阿拉伯人，成为流徒的难民，分散各地，但是却相当团结。一部份原因是由于以色列的敌视；其次，阿拉伯国家支持他们的组织，主要是为了反对以色列，并非真正喜欢他们；最主要的，还是英国托管巴勒斯坦卅年中，使他们成为在这一地区受过最多教育的人，他们所产生的医生、律师、教师及科学家，比其他任何阿拉伯国家为多，他们的妇女也较其他阿拉伯国家自由。故此在无形中，使其民族意识加强，需要成立国家，维护民族性尊严。根据物权 (Dominion)，即直接支配财物的主权，包括使用权、收益权、处分权三种权力，物主对于自己的财物，在道德及法律范围内，可以自由使用，收益，处分。5故巴人有权享用。但另一方面，早在地球上有国家与政府之前，民族就已存在。以色列民散居各地，在任何国家都有居住与生存权利。故以民无权在巴土地上居住，这说法绝对不通。在这些地方有国家与政府之前，早就有以色列人住在那里了。故他们亦有生存与居住权利。至于以国之建立，强占用地，使到很多巴人流亡，而他们又拒绝此等人回归原有土地。这亦是违反社会正义。因为若果物主( 巴人)蒙受损失，以色列政府应给予相当的补偿才对。无偿强占强用是不合理的。6故第一，消极方面，以色列应准许巴人立国，并且给与他们应有的土地建国，不应惧怕被侵略而违反巴勒斯坦人居住立国的权利。第二，积极方面，如果真正发扬自由、平等、博爱的精神，彼此宜合群共存。因为世界人权宣言第一及五条所说:「世人皆生来享有自由、尊严及权利；各赋有理性、良知，应该和睦相处，情同手足。任何人不应被施以酷刑、不人道、侮辱或处罚。」又教宗若望廿三世在「和平于世」通牒谓:「凡志在抑制民族的生命力和发展者，都构成违反正义原则的重大罪行。如果这种恶毒的措施目的，在于灭绝一个种族，那么，那个罪行更加重大了。」7

(二)从巴勒斯坦的历史背境分析，责任大部份落在于英、美两国身上。如当初在政冶思潮未有今天那么激烈的情现下，处理得当，事件必不会弄到如此难于收拾的地步。可惜他们只顾私人利益以致偏袒以色列；联国又在美国的操纵下，发挥不到本身功能，使巴人被排挤，致造成今日武装仇杀事件的发生。站在公义立场上，英、美两国都难辞其咎。

(三)埃及总统沙达访问以色列时，被一些激进的阿拉伯国家及巴解组织攻击为投降派。但他却得到国内大多数人民支持他的和平主动。他重申了阿拉伯主和派的一贯立场，包括：一、要求以国交回占领阿拉伯领土，二、强调巴勒斯坦建国的权利。回国后更强调不会单独和以签和约。这显示了他并没有出卖阿拉伯人民的利益。亦非否定了以国的权利。沙达欲筹备开罗会议，再商讨研究重开日内瓦会议。他这次突破性的访问，牺牲自我顾全大局的果敢精神，值得钦敬与赞许。但沙达疏忽了巴解组织的完全参与会议的主权，却是一个缺失。这也可以说是间接造成今次仇杀的成因之一，使到整个和谈搁置起来。

无疑，这次访问总算加速双方谋求和平。因为这是阿拉伯国家第一次承认犹太复国主义在巴地建国的权利，同时以、埃两国保证今后不再诉诸战争来解决纷争。从此以、埃直接谈判的门打开了。以国必给与埃及回报或愿退让西奈半岛给埃及，自己也减少了与埃及再作战的可能性。

至于远景问题，则有待联合国的继续努力。希望和谈重开时，美国和阿拉伯分别运用影响力，促使问题早日获得合理的解决。因为要建立和平，首先要彻底根除民族间所有纷争的成因，促进他们对人权的尊重；其次，需要有组织良好的国际团体，促使各国互相合作，以克服或事先预防这些不幸，并制止这些无羁的暴力，并须致力于创建专门促进和平的团体。8这也是联合国安全理事会补偿过往对巴勒斯坦人民的不公义的好机会了。

(四)舆论界对于巴游恐怖份子这次的行动，虽然是有所谴责，但少不免却寄以同情和谅解。相反，对于以色列的报复行动却猛烈抨击，甚至转载各国公开声明的指责。但我总觉得舆论界的这种指责，有欠公允。他们并不完全了解，巴解游击组织，正以新的方式，即以阴谋颠覆的手段，做着长期明枪暗箭的战争。在许多情况下( 如巴游在以境内袭击无辜者等)，将恐怖政策视作战争的新方法。9这种手段完全违反了神学上所谓「合理战争」的范围，不单威胁以色列的安危，且影响全世界的和平。

(五)得不到参与自决中东问题的巴解组织，对筹备会议诸国有疑问，故感不满。这次激愤地以用「敢死队」的行动，企图阻止会议的召开。虽然其行动之目的，未可厚非，但所采取之手段，殃及无辜，有违人类自由生存的伦理法则。

同样，以色列的报复行动，也犯了同样错误，使到许多难民营的人死亡与受苦。故教宗保禄六世，也谴责以色列的报复，伤害到各黎巴嫩城镇及难民营内无武装的平民，并对这次轰炸伤亡人数之多深感悲痛。其实，「武力雄厚，并不能使其在军事及政冶方面的运用都成为合法的。如不幸爆发战争，作战的双方并不因此可以为所欲为。」10

总之，以、巴相方以暴易暴的手段，同出一辙，不但违反伦理精神，也把和谈之门关闭。

(六)以、巴双方所存的问题，若得不到妥善解决，民族间武装仇杀就永远不会止息，甚至有爆发中东第五次大战的趋势。他们应该在非暴力下大团结，为修和作出艰苦的努力。战争永不能解决问题，只表现了弱肉强食的态度。同时从暴力中，人类永远无法找到和平的果实。

事实证明，袭击巴士事件后，以沿岸城市的居民，纷纷抢购枪械。他们认为自己已经「处于前栈」，有受到巴游击队登陆攻击的危险。这种在恐惧中的生活，不但不会得到长久安宁，且会增加民族之间的仇恨。

(七)「交谈」的重要性。两个民族的恶性连锁反应，皆因缺少交谈。这使人联想起，今日世界各国所产生的冲突和社会的混乱，皆因有关双方缺乏以和平的态度去处理纠纷。各执己见，只会形成更不良的效果。「聆听」与「忍让」确实重要;「忍让」并不表示让步的一方是弱者，因为只有那些肯宽恕，敢于信任和不怕为建设一个更健康、更有人情味的世界而受苦的人，才有资格去缔造和平。因为「和平并不只是不作战，亦不只敌对双方之间建立武力的平衡，更不在于独裁镇压，而是名符其实的正义的伟业。"……故此，和平决非一劳永逸之事，而应经常由人类去建树。此外，由于人类意志薄弱，而又为罪恶所重创，故欲获致和平，需要人人恒心控制其私欲，并需要合法权力的督导。……除非人权利益获得保障，除非人们互相信任，自动与他人交换其心灵与天才的财富，则世界不可能获得和平。决心尊重他人及各民族的尊严，实行并致力于博爱，是建树和平的必要因素。故和平亦是爱德的成果，爱德远超过正义所能贡献的。」11


1 圣经辞典，思高圣经学会，一九七五年版，一一七至一一九页。

2 胡为著，今日中东，自由出版社刊行，民国四十五年版。

3 转自七八年三月廿五日星岛晚报(暸望台)。

4 同上。

5 张希贤著，伦理神学纲要，光启出版社，一九六五年再版，一九一页。

6 同上。

7 天主教会训导文献选集，施安堂译，一九七五年，一○四九页。

8 大公会议文献(梵二)，中国主教团秘书处出版，一九七五年。论教会在现 代世界牧职宪章 (简称「现代」)，83号，三○七页。

9「现代」，79号，三○一 －－ 三○三页。

10「现代」，79号，三○一 －－ 三○三页。

11「现代」，78号，三○○－－ 三○一页。

作者：宋兰友 年份：1978

景教就是五世纪由叙利亚人纳斯释领导，并于厄弗所大公会议上被判定为异端的纳斯释主义 (Nestorianism)，传入中国后称为景教或大秦景教(The Luminous Religion of Ta-chin)。根据景教碑，景教一名的来源，实因「真常之道，妙而难名，功用昭彰，强称景教。」唐贞观九年(六三五)，「大秦国有上德日阿罗本(Alopen) 占青云而载真经，望风律以驰艰险，贞观九祀，至于长安，帝使宰臣房公玄龄总仗西郊，宾迎入内，翻经书殿，问道禁闱，深知正真，特令传授。」之后，公元六三八年唐太宗下诏日：「详其教旨……济物利人，宜行天下，所司即于京义零坊，造大秦寺一所，度僧二十一人。」公元六九八年至七○○年间，因为武则天偏袒佛教，压抑其他宗教，景教遭受第一次打击。不过在玄宗时，景教开始进入佳境，公元七三二年有教士名及烈和一个波斯特使团到长安朝贡，十二年后又有一个景教士佶和到长安传教，玄宗还为景教的寺院封号。公元七八一年德宗在位时竖立景教碑。

从武则天以后到公元八四五年间，是景教在中国最兴盛的时期。根据旧唐书卷十八上武宗本纪，「会昌五年(八四五) 秋七月庚子，敕并省天下佛寺。……其大秦，穆护等祠，释教既已厘革，邪法不可独存，其人并勒还俗，递归本贯，充税户；如外国人，送还本处收管。」「八月制……其天下所拆寺四千六百所，还俗僧尼二十六万五百人，收充两税户；拆招提兰若四万余所；收膏瞍上田数千万顷，收奴婢为两税十五万人，隶僧尼属主客。显明外国之教，勒大秦，穆护，祓三千余人还俗 ，不杂中华之风。」

景教到了宋代已经衰落了。不过，宋人宋敏求着长安志还记载说：「义宁坊街东之北，波斯胡寺，贞观十二年太宗为大秦一胡僧阿罗斯立。」可见此时景教仍未改名，寺院也未被毁。不过，我们从苏东坡的一首「五郡」诗( 约作于一○六二年) 看来，宋代景教在盩屋的大秦寺已易主。到南宋国宁宗庆元五年(一一九九) 与嘉秦元年(一二○一)间，金杨云翼任陕西东路兵马总管注长安时，曾赴盩屋参谒大秦寺，发现寺院已完全变成废墟了。直到十三世纪元朝兴起后，在边疆地区的景教徒蒙朝廷之助，再度进入中国本土活动，一直到明朝为止。

十七世纪中，利玛窦也曾在中国找到几个景教徒，但他们对自己的宗教，除了十字记号外，一无所知。

综观景教在中国，从盛行到衰落，也不过短短四、五百年。我们不禁要问 ，以景教备受唐代几朝皇帝的保护，既为它建寺院，题字甚至立碑以资久远，为什么竟在四、五百年后就销声匿迹，几乎完全从中国的历史中消失。照方豪神父的看法，其中主要的原因是因为景教依附政治的关系。所谓「赵孟之所贵，赵孟能贱之」。它的命运，完全操纵在帝王手上。

固然，依附政冶，是景教衰败的主要原因，不过我个人以为，景教过份汉化，以至失去它自己宗教的本色，也是它在中国失败的主因之一。我们知道，景教的传教士，不但彻底吸收儒家的思想，更大量采用佛教和道教的成语，翻译基督宗教的经典。他们的做法，其实是相当冒险的，尤其在中国，儒释道合流的风气一向很盛，试看唐太宗的诏书，不正是这种各种宗教合流的观点表露无遗吗？诏日:「道无常名，圣无常体，随方设教，密济群生，大秦国大德阿罗本，远将经像，来献上京，详其教旨，玄妙无为，观其元宗，生成立要，词无繁说，理有忘筌，济物利人，宜行天下。」(见龚天民着唐朝基督教之研究附录二)景教过度本地化的结果是完全丧失它自己的特色，变成三不像的宗教了，不但不能吸引中国知识份子反而遭到他们的遗弃，这是意料中的事了。

现在，正当我们教区高唱宗教本色化，大力提倡宗教使用本地语言之际，我们看看唐代景教的传教士，如何运用当时的语言文字，翻译基督宗教的经典，又如何在翻译基督宗教思想时，如何被儒释道思想所腐蚀，相信是很有意义的。不过因为篇幅所限， 本文只就景教碑和汉文的八种景教经典，分析景教教士对Theos或God的中文译名，以作为神学本色化和神学使用本地语言这两方面的工作的初步而且十分幼稚的探讨。我不敢奢望能找出什么结论，只想藉这个小小的研究，提出一些问题，作为我们今后思索的方向而已。我只选「天主」一词来分析，固然是因为篇幅和个人学力所限，不能对这些文献的翻译问题，作全面的分析研究；但主要还是因为这是基督宗教最基本的概念，一切的神学思考，无不以这概念为始，最后市无不以它为依归。

不过，即使范围已缩小至只分析Theos或God的中文译名，在这篇文章里，我也只选其中几个比较有趣的译名来谈谈，因为本文只是志在分享的趣味文字，不是志在发表学术见解的学术论文。

景教的汉文经典，就我们现在所知，有景教碑文、序听迷诗所经第一、一神论、大秦景教三成蒙度赞、尊经、志玄安乐经、宣元本经、大秦景教宣元至本经、大圣通真归法赞等九篇。以下有关「天主」的中文译名，就是从这些经典中抽取出来的。

A 、天尊

这一词，主要出于序听迷诗所经(以下简称序经)。此经为日人高楠顺次郎博士所藏。全经共一百七十行，每行约十七、八字，是所有景教经典中最古的一篇，大约在景教入唐后不久，奉唐太宗之命写成的。经文文字晦涩难解。根揍东洋史权威羽田亨的说法，此经的题名「迷诗所」的「所」字为「诃」字的误字，所以「迷诗所」应为「迷诗诃」，即景教惯用的「弥师诃」，是默西亚的音译。「序听」的「听」字可能是「数」或「鼠」字的误字，全名应为「序鼠弥师诃」即「耶稣默西亚」( 序鼠或序数即经文中的移鼠，Jesus的音译)。全经的主要内容是从新旧约圣经讲解基督宗教的教义。

经文的第一句「弥师诃说天尊序娑法云」意即弥赛亚( 默西亚 ) 讲述「天尊序娑」。根据羽田亨博士，「娑」字应作「婆」即耶和华之意，可见「天尊」是用以代表天主的词汇。

「一神论」的第三篇「世尊布施论第三」( 其余两篇为：喻第二、一天论第一 )，世尊是指耶稣基督。在这篇经文内，「天尊」和「一神」都是指天主的意思。这两个词交替运用，似乎没有什么特别的区分，也许作者有意用「天尊」和「世尊」来寓意天主与耶稣地位之别，因为照佛教的说法，世尊是释迦牟尼的尊称，表示释迦牟尼是世人所尊敬者。耶稣，从他的身份地位上说，只是世人所尊崇的，而天主却统领一切，祂才是整个天地所尊崇的。如果这个分法是对的话，则这也反映纳斯铎主义的基督学观点。值得注意的是，虽然在世尊布施论第三一文内，天尊和一神混合并用，但在一天论第一里，「天尊」一词从来未出现过。在序听迷诗所经内，「一神」这词也不曾出现。我们很难肯定景教的传教士，在应用这三个词有什么特别的含意，不过从这三篇经文来看 ，似乎「一神」是用来强调天主的一致性 ，而「天尊」却用来表示天主的超越性。

此外，我们知道，「天尊」本来是道教尊称神的名词。景教作者写汉文经典时，随手借用道家名词，是在传播三教同源的思想，以为「天尊即神」？抑是因为基督宗教初初传到中国，要表达教义，苦无适当的词汇名称，只好就地取材，或用「天尊」，或用「佛」来代替希腊文Theos或英文God的意思？我们不得而知。不过，他们这样不经修饰的用另一语言的名词，借用另一种文化思想，无疑会使基督宗教与道教与儒家的思想，混淆不清。

他们不但在天尊一词的运用上，造成一种混淆不清的现象，就是在表达Theos的涵义上，也沾上不少释道思想的色彩。例如:

「天尊身在明乐静度。安居在天，皆诸佛为此风流转世间，风流无处不到，天尊常在静度快乐之处，果报无处不到。」(见龚着附录二序听迷诗所经)

这里，不但有道家的清静无为的思想，同时也有佛家的因果循环，善恶偿报的观念。又如：「众生无人敢近天尊，善福善缘众生……然不堕恶道地狱即得天(道)，得如有恶业，家(生)堕落恶道，不见明果，亦不得天道。……天尊受许辛苦，始立众生，众生理佛不远，立人身自尊，善有善福，恶有恶缘。」

以上这些片断，如果不标明是景教经典，有谁读了不会以为这是某些和尚在说因缘的文字。这和基督宗教原来的天主或Theos的概念，实在相差很远了。龚天民在唐朝基督教之研究中指出，序经中这些名词如「恶业、果报、缘业种果」等，显然是佛教的思想，他说:「虽然基督宗教不像佛教一样，主张三世因果说，但也说有某种因果，例如全人类现在所受的苦(果)，原由亚当犯罪而来(因)，又如保禄也说过类似佛教所说的现世业的道理，『顺看情欲撒种的 ，必从情欲收败坏 ；顺着圣灵撒种的，必从圣灵收永生，我们行善不可丧志；若不灰心，到了时候就要收成』(迦6 ：8,9)。」他认为「景教宣教师在序经中所用的恶业、果报等术语，大概在指基督教的原罪说和保禄的现世果报观，不过，景教士用这些名词，只在简单说明人间如信神便能得天道，如行恶便入恶道地狱，众生必须事前多多思想由业所缘而结的果子。」不过我个人以为，报应的概念，不算是基督宗教伦理学的要点。如果我们过份重视这种「报应」的伦理观，就不能充份表现天主的仁慈和对人无条件的救恩和爱了。现在，报应的伦理观又渗杂佛教的轮回思想，怎么还能算是基督宗教的伦理神学呢？我以为这点在我们力求基督宗教本色化的过程中，应该特注意，本色化或语言本地化并不等于不经思索和不经修饰的采用本地语言与文化。

B、诸佛 、佛

序经在不少地方都用「佛」或「诸佛」这两个名词，例如:「诸佛及非人平章天阿罗漠(汉)，谁见天尊在于众生。」「诸佛为此风流转」，「人急之时每称佛名」，「谁报佛慈恩」，「天尊受许辛苦，始立众生，众生理佛不远 。」「此人及一依佛法，不成受戒之所。」「先遣众生礼诸天，佛为佛受苦置立。」「圣上宫殿，于诸佛求得」等等。羽田亨博士和佐伯好郎博士都以为这些「佛」和「诸佛」，都是指基督宗教的God的意思。但龚天民先生则以为序经中的「佛」和「诸佛」的意义不同。他以为单数的「佛」是指上帝。但「诸佛」却不是，他以为诸佛是指旧约中的诸神或天使而言。例如圣咏:「主啊，诸神之中没有可比你的。」(咏86:8)「我要一心称谢你 ，在诸神面前歌颂你。」(咏138:1) (见龚着)

用佛和诸佛代旧约中的「上主」「雅威」和「诸神」的意思，也许可以说得通，但我以为我们很难说「佛」可以代替新约中天主，尤其是「天父」的概念。因为佛原是觉者的意思，是了悟无明十二因缘起论，知生死之由来，在心灵上获得解脱生死之苦者。佛的本质和基督仁慈之父，时时以人类之救赎为念的天主，实在完全不同，我们又怎能以这个字来译新约的Theos呢?

再说，从佛的本质上看，佛只是觉者，并不是神或一个超越的存在。这种佛即神的思想，大概是因为汉朝佛教传入中国时，中国人用道教的神仙思想接受佛教的结果。所以说佛即神，已经是对佛教思想的一种误解了，如果更以佛代天主的概念，更是错上加错。

C、一神

一神这个词，主要见于「一神论」。一神论是景教最古的经典，由京都帝国大学讲师富冈谦藏氏所藏。全经总存四百O五行。首部虽残缺，但根据卷尾所题一神论第三之名看来，一神论实为全帙之题名。此经大约是景教入唐后不久写成，包括喻第二，一天论第一，世尊布施论第三等三篇短文。很明显，一神这个词，是用来表示天主的至一性 。从现代白话文的文法观点来说，这一词在运用土是很有问题的，例如「一神论」这一篇经文的第一句:「万物见一神，一切万物，既是一神。」这「一神」到底是一个神还是至一无上的神？换句话说 :「一」是用作数量形容词还是同性形容词 ?

「一神」这一词，除了「一」字会造成文法上的问题外，还有一个问题值得考虑的是：以神为Theos或God的中文译名是否恰当？这是一个很复杂的问题，它所牵涉的，不但是语言文字，同时也是思想的诠译问题。基督教在十九世纪初在中国着手翻译圣经时，神学家就为了用「神」还是用「上帝」作为Theos的译名而相持不下，双方争执了几十年，最后只好取折衷办法，自由使用「神」或「上帝」作为Theos的译名。这个复杂的问题，我不想在此讨论。不过，我以为对于神学本色化，这无疑是一个值得思考的问题。

D 、父

以父代「天主」一词，以表示天主的仁慈，而不是以「父」作为Theos或God的中文译名，这也是我们现在常用的办法。景教经典的作者，除了讲述圣三的道理时用「父」这个字眼外，共在世尊布施论第三这篇经文内，单独用「父」一字来表示天主的仁慈。它的用法也和现代的用法相同。例如作者讲到祈祷求恩时，教人「向父」祈求，又说:「从汝等父边索饼即得。」

但是景教讲圣三的道理所用的中文词汇，以我们现代的眼光来看，是相当奇特的，从这些词汇中，我们也可见到景教受佛教与道教思想影响的情况。例如:「人来向水字于父、子、净风，处分具足。」以净风表示Holy Spirit，从意义上说，似比我们现在所用的「圣神」更贴切。不过，「净」字很明显是道教常用的字，「风」也是。不过风字却很能表示圣神这一概念的旧约根源。如创世纪讲到天主的「风」从水面运行。而且，「风」不有道德的意味，如「风化」。所以，风字也可表示圣神的力量，不过连着「净」字，它给我们的印象是这力量比较偏于静态的，这和现代注重圣神力的动态的一面不同。大体上说，「父、子、净风」这一个描述，和圣三的涵意相去不远。

我们从「三威蒙度赞」这篇经文中，却可看到圣三的另一种写法:「慈父、明子、净风王」。这很明显是受道教思想的影响。最奇怪的是，作者景净居然称圣神为净风王而又不称父，子为王。虽然道教对神的尊称，一向喜欢用王或帝，而景净写三威蒙度赞时，得到佛道两教人士之助，他用道教尊称神的字眼尊称基督徒的神，本来不足为怪，但为什么只用于圣神而不同时也尊称父、子为王，这实在令人费解。

圣三这个中文译名(慈父、明子、净风王)只能表示圣三原意中的父、子、爱的关系。至于经文的其他意象和对圣父、圣子的颂赞，就完全是释道术语了。例如形容天主的词句:「无上诸天、三才慈父、师帝。」「大师(即父) 是，我等圣主，大师是我等法王，大师能为普救度，大师慧力助诸赢，我叹慈父海藏慈」等等，从这些字句中，我们何尝能找到一丝基督宗教的意味?

其实就这篇经的名称:「三威蒙度赞」也大有研究的价值。根据明干那(A. Mingana)考证的结果，经文实为景教徒，亦即东叙利亚教会所用的荣归主颂。佐伯好郎博士以为「三」即三位一体，「威蒙度」是叙利亚文imudu (浸礼之意) 的音译。三威蒙度意即奉父子圣神三位一体的名在受洗者头上浇水三次。不过龚天民先生以为把「蒙度」看为借用佛教语「蒙度彼岸」，靠三位一体之名的威力蒙度得救也说得通(见龚着30-31页)。无论如何，像这种非道非景，亦道亦景的圣三译名，实在不能算是最好的翻译。

另一组圣三译名是:「妙身皇父阿罗诃，应身皇子弥施诃，证身卢诃宁俱沙。这个描述出自尊经。从尊经的内容看来，它应该是教会礼拜仪式中的祈祷文。照剑桥大学中国文学教授摩鲁的解释，「尊经」可能就是「可尊敬者和圣经」的意思。从经文中充满佛道两教的色彩及佛道两教术语运用之纯熟程度来看，此经文好像是直接用中文写成而不是由外文翻译过来的。不过，经文虽然是直接用中文写出，但思想还是翻译过来的。圣三的神学思想，佛、道两教根本没有，所以尊经有关圣三的描写，借用佛道的术语，结果只是写出一些既不是佛、道恩想，又不是景教思想的东西。不过虽然如此，我们还是不能不佩服作者的创作力。试看「妙身皇父阿罗诃，应身皇子弥施诃，证身卢诃宁俱沙」这三种身份对得多工整。这其中只有「应身」一词是直接从佛典借用的，「妙身」在佛学字典中找不到，可能是景教作者自创的。

照佛学的说法，不可思议之谓妙。妙身即不可思议身，这可能是指人证得无上正觉之佛陀身体，也就是说，这可能是指佛身。佛学有所谓佛具十身。当然并不是说佛有十个身体，而是指佛所处的十种不同的境界。从二至十，每一种不同的境界，又可按其数目而分别每一种境界的不同情况。例如二身有六种情况：真身，应身之二身；常身、无常身之二身；生身，法身之二身；实色身、化色身之二身；真身、化身之二身；实相身，为物身之二身。但这其中并不见有妙身或证身，可能这两个名词都是作者景净自创的，大概妙身就是佛身，用来代替圣三中的圣父，取佛身之不可思议的最高境界。应身，证身都是最高境界的两种不同的情况，证身寓意圣神为父、子作证。如果这解释是对的话，我们真不能不佩服景净用心的良苦。但，像这样以基督宗教的基本概念和佛教的思想融会、适应的结果，基督宗教的根本思想还能保存多少，实在很令人怀疑。

最后，让我们看看景教碑文上所写的圣三译名，那就是:「三一妙身，三一分身，三一净风」。「三一」表示三位一体的意思，大概不会错吧。分身，应该是指妙身的另一种情况。这一个圣三的描述，虽然不如尊经所写的那个含有这样浓厚的佛教色彩，其涵意和「圣三」神学的差异也不这样大(至少它能表示三位一体的意思)，但就整体来看，还是不很妥当。

以上我就景教经典，分析过景教传教士在过份热切求取基督宗教地方化的情形之下，对Theos或God所作的各种亦景亦佛，非景非佛，亦景亦道，非景非道的翻译，以及这种翻译所引起的问题。现在，让我来谈谈我个人对景教士翻译Theos或God一词的感想:

首先是翻译的问题。我以为翻译可有三种不同的方式，那就是音译、字译和意译。所谓音译，顾名思义，就是用音或近似同音的中文字把一个外文字翻译过来。这种译法普通都用以译人名、地名和国名，不过有时也译一些术语式概念或一些本国没有的物品。例如：雅威，耶路撒冷，哀的美敦书，德律风根等都是。

音译最大的缺点就是，如果两种对译的语文的发音系统很不相同的话，音译的名词读起来就非常不顺口。而且音译只是一些发音与原字相同的单字的组合，这些单字可能是完全没有意义，例如哀的美敦书，不懂英文的人，怎能猜想得到这是什么意思的呢?又如景教士把耶稣音译成「移鼠、翳数、序听、夷数」等，我们现在看起来，更觉得既没有意义又不雅听。

不过，音译也有它的好处，如果我们所要翻译的，是一种全新的观念，音译又比勉强找意思相近的词汇来代替好，因为这样译出来的字句完全没有意义，读者在接受有关这些字句的新意义时，可以不受该字句原来的意义所影响，Jesus的音译耶稣就是一 个很好的例子，因为「耶稣」这两个中文字不能构成意义，读者对耶稣的了解，就只好完全依靠原作者的解释和说明，这样作者的原意就不容易被歪曲或误解。

以此类推，我们也许要问，Theos或God是否也是音译比我们现在的意译更好呢?这真是一个很困难的问题。就从基督宗教的发展来看，我们发现，无论是希腊文的Theos，拉丁文的Deus违还是英文的God，都不是希伯来文的Elohim的音译。中文的神、上帝、天主，当然都不是希伯来文Elohim的音译。就我所知，天主一词，在中文古书上找不到，我很怀疑这一词可能是利玛窦时期才开始用的(也许就是利氏自己创造的也不一定 )。上帝和神，都是中国原有的对超越者的称谓，用这两个词代表希伯来文的Elohim或希腊文的Theos的利弊，我在前面已指出，基督教争辩了几十年，到现在还找不到最令人满意的答案。

所谓字译，我的意思是在自己的文字中，找一个意义相同的字代替，如以桌子代替table。这是最简单的办法。当然，有时因为两种文字文法的不同，在字句的组合上免不了要更动或改变，但这都是翻译工作上最容易解决的问题。

最后是意译。我所谓的意译是指思想的翻译。这是翻译工作中最具挑战性的步骤。当然，这种方式，如果能不受文字的限制，只是把别人的思想，用自己的文字写出来例如用中文介绍康德的哲学思想，这是比较容易的。但即使是这样，康德哲学的专有名词或他自己独创的术语，就不容易翻译了。例如翻译Elohim或Theos或God ；又如翻译海德格的Throwness，沙特的Nothingness，Being等。我们不但要找出自己文化中类似的思想，同时还得比较这两种思想，找出其异同，即便是最细微的异同(其实这种工作做得越精细越好)，才能把这种外国思想翻译过来。这种工作，是学术研究的工作，不是单靠经验和文字技巧所能做得到。有时一些词语，表面看来意义相同，其实不然，譬如「上帝」和「神」这两个词，与Elohim的涵意，就很不同了，它们与新约的Theos的涵意相差更远。希伯来人的超越者的概念，最重要的是至一性位格；但「神」这个概念，就不包涵这两个意思了。中国人的上帝也相当人格化，但中国人的上帝虽然在众神诸帝之上，但他并不排斥他们，他可以和他们共存，也不禁止他的信民崇拜众神诸帝。最重要的是，在中国，国家的统治者也可称帝。有功德的皇帝死后，还可以被尊为圣帝，更可以接受子民的香火供奉。

中国历史悠久，文化内容丰富，文字的涵意复杂，组合的变化也大，所以在翻译思想的工作上，尤觉困难，更加上中国字是单音字，在作词造句时，必须组合三数个字才能表达一个意思，这无形中又增加不少的变化和带来不少的困难。因此，在未对中文和中国文化思想下过一番苦功以前，我们怎能轻言神学本色化呢?景教士的翻译，难道还不足以使我们对本色化的问题，提高警惕吗?

作者：汤汉 Tong, John 年份：1978

有关多玛斯与康德论证的观点


书名：Our Knowledge of God

译名：人怎样认识神

著者：John Baillie (约翰．贝利)

译者：谢秉德

出版：香港道声出版社(一九六五年初版)

　

(甲)前言

道声出版社编译处颜路裔指出：本书作者是名震全球的神学家，最近被选派为苏格兰教会的主席。年轻时原为爱丁堡大学的哲学教授。一九一九年往美洲讲学，首先在奥柏伦学院(Auburn Theological Seminary)教书；继而执教鞭于加拿大多伦多以马内利大学(Emmanuel College, Toronto)；以后又多年讲学于纽约协和神学院(Union Theological Seminary in N.Y) ；最后重返爱丁堡大学，任神学教授。

由于作者是有名的神哲学家，而该书也是一本知名的神学著作，内容上引证了许多神哲学家的观点。故此，虽然该书的初版是在一九三九年，但至今仍旧版数甚多，销售甚广，为神学界所欢迎。所以值得探讨它的内容和观点。

(乙)关于论点的基础

该书的论点基础有「破」有「立」。在「破」的方面，作者指出：传统的推理论证法，源自希腊的柏拉图。因为古时希腊，当诡辩学派未兴之前，神或诸神之存在，并不需要论证。迨至诡辩学派起来后，不只是怀疑神的存在，而且很多青年人的教师们，倡立教义来否认神的存在。正在这种情形下，柏拉图起来挽救，柏氏挽救之道，就成了二千余年来，西方哲学与神学思想上的立论标准。柏氏以无神论者自己的立场，来对付无神论者。柏拉图说，除了科学之外，没有别的方法能确定神的存在。特别是凭动力学与天文物理学，这两种特别科学证明神之存在。这一传统，由柏拉图而传于他所创的学园(Academy)，更由其弟子亚理斯多德传于他所创立的来钖亚 (Lyceum) 学院；最后更由这两学院传予基督教的哲学和神学思想界，一直至今，仍被视为正统思想，少有更改。

在「立」的方面，作者指出：在新约和旧约中，人是凭神与人之心灵接近而直接认识祂。神对人不是一种推论，而是祂的临在。神的临在，既是迫切，同时也是恩赐。因为圣经的时代，人的危险不是不信神，而是信得太多。当时的问题，不是「什么神存在?」而是「什么神我当崇拜?」故此，全部旧约圣经中，关于神的认识，都不凭宇宙论的论证，而以西乃山耶和华自己的启示，给予摩西的十诫与律法，及神藉历代先知所说的话为依据。到了新约时代，「信」这个字，其概念显占重要地位，一切邪恶，皆以不信为根基。耶稣在世时所深切惋惜的不信者，并非是人心中或思想上否认神存在的人，而是那些在思想的表面对神之存在毫无疑问，而在生活上却好像视神不存在一般的人。

(丙)关于多玛斯的论证

在介绍西方传统的推理论证法时，作者举列中世纪的基督教思想界的权威多玛斯为例，以资说明。依据多玛斯的意见，人除了凭着五官体认自然世界外，对任何存在事物，没有别的直接知识。神既是人的五官所不能感受的，故祂不能为人直接认知；我们只能凭着神在自然世界所发生的影响，凭祂所造之物去认知祂。多玛斯又进而提出人对神的认识，所能达到的限度。他的结论是，人对神的存在，能有积极的认识，但对神的本性之知识，只是属于消极方面。人确知神的真实后，就只有凭消极的反证法，来确定神的性格。例如我们能证明神非众数，神没有一个物质的身体，祂不存在于空间，祂不是无知，祂也不是人见中的善良。至于积极方面是什么？因神的本体广大无量，则超乎一切人智所能知识和领略。作者又指出：多玛斯与古时希腊哲学及文艺复兴后西方近世哲学显然有不同之处，因为他相信除凭自然途径认识神之外，还有一个超自然的途径，那即是圣经中所启示的信仰之路。作者更注意到：多玛斯在他的「反外邦总论」上，与不信的人辩证时，认为所采用的论证具有逻辑的确识，叫一切具有理性的心智不得不信；可是在别的着作中，与信徒讨论信仰的性质时，就立刻表现他的立场，不完全是如此，认为信心不只是一件理智的事，更是一件属于意志的事。多玛斯的这种观点有点像后期佛兰西斯培根的说法:「逻辑的外在凭证，只为要折服无神论，而不是阐明宗教．」。最后，作者认为：多玛斯采用希腊及圣经二者并列的方法，想作调和－－即所谓综合的井列方法，故他的「神学总论」的前边是希腊式的论证，而后来则进而看重圣经的启示；毕竟这种方法，只是机械式的论列，对历史的背景与连绩性，缺乏了解，因为二者是对立的，不能一并接收。

(丁)关于康德的论证

作者举列和评论了多玛斯的论证后，立即谈到康德的论证。他认为：十八世纪的下半时期以后，对神之存在的传统论证的方法，乃遭受严厉的挑战；这传统的方法，遭受到近代大恩想家的严格批评，尤其是康德的批评。他的批评约分三种。第一种批评针对自然神学所依据的特别论证，认为它们一经细察后，都归无效；第二种批评来自康德所提供的另一种论证，他的论证是不凭官感的事物，而凭良心，他不想自然世界去论证神，而是凭道德生活中的各种真实性，去证明神性或神之存在；第三种批评比第二种批评更完满和更接近圣经的启示，它是在康德死后，在他书桌上所发现的一本遗着内所提及的。在该书中，康德自己亦见到，神不只是由人的道德生活的经验，推论而认识，而神自己亦在这些经验中向人直接显现。最后，作者认为：康德的批判哲学所恢复的基本真理，是极有贡献的；康德所称的「实践理性为首」，也是十分重大的发现；甚至康德相信，人在意志领域，感觉「善」的绝对要求时，就在这实际的人生中，人乃真正与绝对的客观真实接触，而这最后真实，不是在那些引起人的思考之事物形态上与人接触，而是在那要求人向它服从的至高命令之下与人接触。就在这点上，康德具有基督教中最宝贵的真知灼见。但是作者又同时指出：康德受十八世纪「尊敬法律」的思想影响太大，以致将人类丰富的灵性生活，删减到只剩下一种接受方式，敬重法律，自我抑逊；此外他又将那道德命令(义务)，与那发命令者分开，光剩下一个「义务」，与宗教所最基本关切的「恩赐」，实有很大的距离。这就是康德论证的缺限。

(戊)批评

让我们依照上述约次序，给与该书一些反省，分析和建议如下:

(一)关于论点的基础－－该书作者深切瞭解到，欲探求「神的存在」，这个每一世代都出现的问题，就必须采取返本归源的办法，先看一看新旧约的启示采用什么方式的论证？又古代希腊的哲学运用什么方式的论证？以资取舍。这确是作者的洞见。可是，作者对新旧约内容的基本瞭解是不完整的。因为，新旧约的启示虽已终止，但人类对启示的回应，仍一直不断的在历史中出现。对现代基督徒非常重要的问题，往往是圣经作者和初期教会人士所未曾拟思的问题。因此，要想直接从圣经找这些问题的答案，或光是断章取义的引用几段圣经作为答案，是绝对不可能的。所以圣经的信仰，为现代基督徒只是一个开始，提供借镜和启发，并不统御我们，却要求每个时代的人自己对历史及当代问题负责，寻求合乎时宜的答案。故此，笔者赞同作者的意见，要返本归源，参考圣经所提供有关认识神存在的方法；但不赞同作者视圣经如同固定不变的量尺，衡度一切不同时代的同一问题。因为圣经毕竟也是一本生活的历史，而不是一堆抽象法则；况且同一问题在不同时代，就有不同意义和要求，需要我们单独去面对和寻求解答。这是该书在「立」方面的一个大缺点。

在「破」的一方面，该书对于一个很重要的问题，不但没有交代，且写法也易导人陷入混乱，致误以为希腊哲学家所否定的「神」，与圣经中所肯定的「神」在意义上完全一致。其实，希腊哲学家固然很早就否定神的存在。例如布达哥拉斯(Protagoras) 在纪元前五世纪就已宣称「人是一切事物的度量衡」，同时伊壁鸠鲁派哲学家陆克度(Lucretius) 以为「自然一旦摆脱自大的暴君，就能凭着它自己的力量，成就任何事，一切都是自发自动的，完全不依靠神。」(De Rerun Natura 1093)这都是从基本上否定神存在的例子。在第一个例子里，否定神是为了人的好处，把人看作世界最终的意义。第二个例子是因为属意自然而否定神，把自然看成一切的依归。简单的说，希腊哲学家所否定的「神」，和圣经中所肯定的「神」在意义上并不一样。他们所否定的，其实是那些以神的形式出现的，控制世界及管制人的命运的原则和力量。而且他们否定这些神，为的是强调人与自然的自主。而圣经中所肯定的神却赐人恩典及自由。

(二)关于多玛斯的论证－－该书作者亦在批判多玛斯的论证前，没有交代清楚多玛斯当日所面对的时代背景。原来由初世纪至十三世纪，以信仰为基础的基督教义一直是促成西方文化成长及发展的一个主流。但是到了十三世纪初叶，先后因着两位阿拉伯哲学家阿味齐纳(Avicenna) 与阿未洛厄斯(Averroes)， 及两位犹太籍哲学家亚味齐布朗 (Avicebron) 与马意末尼弟斯(Maimonides) 的介绍，西方受到亚里斯多德以理性为主的科学思想的冲击，顿时感到信仰与理性无法取得协调。面对这个伤脑筋的重大问题，当时的学者分成两大派：第一派可称为「保守派」，他们认为宁可使人的理性受损，也不愿放弃信仰，因而把亚氏与那些介绍及接受亚氏思想的人都视为罪犯 ，加以口诛笔伐，甚至欲将他们蝇之于法；另一派则可称为「进步派」，他们高呼理性至上，任何不能受理性严格考验或不能提出充份证据的信仰，都不能予以接受。面对看这针锋相对约两大学派，多玛斯遂把当日圣经新传统、亚里斯多德哲学新探讨以及回教与犹太教哲学，综合成一个有系统的整体，使人相信理性与信仰仍有相通的地方。而多玛斯的综合哲学确实为当日及后代带来了两点良好的结果。一方面使「保守派」人士接纳自然科学，承认这是神所赐给人的美物，蔑视自然科学就等于蔑视神及神的造化。另一方面，也使「进步派」人士接纳信仰，承认神不断以祂自己的存在和活动，直接而密切地临在于万物中。所以多玛斯的综合哲举并非像一般人所以为的那末简单，因为它的重点不在于提供一些由果到因的推理论证，而在于引领人接纳自然科学及意识到神在万物中的活泼临在。这不但是一项惊人的新尝试和成就，也开创了今日神学所提倡的「俗化过程」(Secularization)。只可惜后来多玛斯的追随者大多数未能按照他的方向，发展他的综合神学的工作，更失去了由他这种工作所引发的强大内在张力。

无可讳言，多玛斯的论证方法含有很大的弱点。那就是他所采自亚里斯多德的「运动」问题，与历史中真正的亚里斯多德学说有天渊之别。原来历史中亚里斯多德所关注的「运动」只是广义性质的运动，亦即「变化」。亚氏问的问题是：东西是什么？它们怎样成为现在这样的东西？而多玛斯则把亚里斯多德的思想更改，以利于基督教信仰的解释。因而多氏所说的「运动」变成了特殊意思的运动，亦即「造化」。多氏所问的问题便成为：为什么东西会存在？为什么有一些东西，而不是一点东西也没有？所以亚、多二氏的问题及哲学思想有极大的不同，亚氏所谈的是「逻辑哲学」，而多氏所讲的却是「形上哲学」。硬把「逻辑哲学」变成「形上哲学」，便成了多玛斯论证方法的致命伤，也变成了日后康德宣布多氏论证无效的主要因素。

(三)关于康德的论证－－同样地，该书作者亦在批判康德的论证前，没有交代清楚康德当日所面对的问题。原来，在圣经和中世纪时代，科学还未发达，当人们从自然中取得各种物资时，神就很自然地被看成一切美好事物的施予者；当自然残暴地打击他们时，他们就投奔神求取保护与救援；当自然盲目的暴力无情地毁灭他们的生命时，他们就问：疾病、痛苦与死亡的意义是什么？难道我们注定要向盲目命运屈服吗？于是那时候的信仰的答覆是：人该把他的生命托付于神，因为神是自然的创造及统御者，祂是自然之主。而当日的神学也随着这点信仰给与解释，发挥和运用。但到了十八世纪以后，科学逐渐发达，尤其是西方人在控制自然方面渐有巨大成就；因而不再把自然看成是一种既丰富又残暴的力量，而只视之为一种无限的、富有可塑性的东西；也因而认为自然并不再反映神的存在，却只能反映人自己和人的能力而已。不过，就在近代人深信科学的无上威能时，却又不断地受到另一种经验的打击。这就是深深地因着人对他的兄弟的伤害，他的罪行、战争、逼害以及他们不能和平共处的事实而忧虑。尤其是令人伤心和丧气的，就是人类的历史无一不是人类自己一手造成的灾祸，自取灭亡以及他们种种惨痛的失败。这种对人生活环境的破坏，也是康德当日应该面对的新课题。所以当康德从知识的研究，发觉了我们追求形上学的界限后，便转从道德方面来追求那些形上学问题 ( 特别指灵魂不灭和神的存在而言)。这样，我们才能瞭解：为什么康德把自己哲学的重心安放在道德学说上。

笔者同意该书作者的批评，认为康德的论证受十八世纪重法的思想的影响甚大，以致会造成人类丰富的灵性生活的抑减。可惜作者未提供某种实际方法，以作补充。笔者认为，康德的论证尚有丰富的发展机会，尤其是可以通过中国哲学的照明，将会显得活泼、有情感和充实。因为中国哲学有三大主流，即儒家、道家和释家。儒家引导我们超脱人我的樊篱，道家帮助我们超脱物我的樊篱，而释家却引领我们超脱坐死的樊篱。这三家的哲学不但道出了崇高的道德哲学，也同时表达了真切的感情和悦乐。儒家的悦乐导源于好学、行仁和人群的和谐；道家的悦乐乃由于逍遥自在，无拘无东，心灵的和谐;禅宗的悦乐则来自明心见性，还我本来面目，促进入世与出世的和谐。这三家的哲学都视人生是从小我到真我的历程，以道德为本务，以感情悦乐为发现真我时的意外收获。它们仍不断熏陶着我们自发地修炼「破」与「立」两点功夫，透过「破」去澈梧生命之道，解除一切桎桔；透过「立」去体认出真我，让有限与无限会合。所以笔者相信，康德哲学与中国哲学的互相照明，必可使康德的论证更为活泼充实和富溢情感。

(四)关于多玛斯与康德论证的异同－－现代心理学家威廉．詹姆士(William James) 指出，每个人的思想成长及发展，都会经过一段「认同危机」(Crisis of Identity) 阶段，才能建立起自己的「认同感」(Sense of Identity)。笔者相信多玛斯和康德也分别在不同时代里遭遇过类似的心理历程，他们面对着不同时代的问题所引起的冲击，必然产生一番思想上的波动；但经过一段挣扎路程后，突然他们找出了自己的新路钱，使他们的信仰更形坚强。这情形有如俗语所谓；「踏破铁鞋无处觅，得来全不费功夫」，又似辛弃疾在「青玉案 」所说的 :「众里寻他千百度，蓦然回首，那人却在，灯火阑珊处!」这里，笔者对多玛斯及康德的开放态度和创新精神，深感钦佩。

此外，现代历史学家柏林(Isaiah Berlin) 也指出，世界上有两大类人：一类人知识很广博，知道很多东西；另一类人知识很深远，只知道一件大事；而这两类人就像希腊Archilochus夫文所载的，前者似狐狸，后者像刺猬。笔者以为，世界上像狐狸或刺猬的单纯类型不多，而属于混合类型的却不少。多玛斯与康德都兼有这两类型的气质。前者的思想较为沉潜广阔，是带有刺猬气质的狐狸；后者的思想较为高明深远，是带有狐狸气质的刺猬。故此，多玛斯的思想系统宜于中古世纪初学神学的人；而康德的思想系统则适合于近代老练的哲学家。

除上述的相同及相异点外，笔者以为，多玛斯与康德对「神之存在」的不同论证的过程，其实是相反相成的。前者生于十三世纪科学不发达时代，尚未明瞭人类知识的限度，故提倡用类比法(知) 作媒介，把科学与宗教调和起来；后者生于十八世纪科学开始发达的时代，深切明白人类知识的限度，故提倡用道德(行) 作媒介，把科学与宗教调和起来。前者想透过「知」而达「信」；而后者却欲透过「行」而达「信」。所以如果后人认为多玛斯或康德的思想「离经叛道」，这样的批评完全忽视了他们两人所处的历史背景和立论重点，也确是十分肤浅和错误的见解。

最后，如果我们有注意近代中国儒家知识主义(Intellectualism) 的兴起，则不难发现清代考证学与宋明理学之间有其内在的发展线索，亦即是儒学从「尊德性」的层次转入「道问学」的层次的明显趋势。首先，张横渠正蒙「大心篇」强调「见闻之知乃物交而知，非德性所知。德性所知，不萌于见闻。」这表示张子重「尊德性」而轻「道问学」。但是到了后来，朱熹劫主张「涵养须用敬，进学在致知」。「敬」属道德范围，「学」属知识范围。虽然朱子谈「敬」在「学」先，以「尊德性」为第一义，而以「道问学」为第二义；但这里我们已可窥出，朱子要在「尊德性」与「道问学」之间维持一种平衡。及至到了十七世纪的王船山时代，又产生进一步的变化。船山本人虽承认人的德性之知得之于天，是先验的，但却认为「多闻而择，多见而识，乃以启发其心思而会归于一……。」这表示船山对「道问学」的重视已超乎「尊德性」。最后到了十八世纪，晚年的戴震却坚决地说:「义理即考窍、文章二者之源也，义理又何源哉？熟乎义理，而后能考窍、能文章。」意思是：一方面，义理固然是考证之源，而另一方面，名物训诂却是证实义理是非的唯一标准。从此，戴氏遂把「尊德性」与「道问学」融合在一起，对「道问学」更形重视，认为我们必须透过「道问学」以达于「尊德性」。

中国近代儒家知识主义这种融合「道问学」与「尊德性」的趋势，又正好与近代西方神哲学那种区分「道问学」与「尊德性」的趋势分道扬镖。因为中古世纪的多玛斯欲在「尊德性」与「道问学」之间维持一种联系和平衡，希望以知识论为初阶，导向形上学，探求神的存在，然后又由形上学走向伦理学，把握人生，发挥具体的道德实践。但是到了近代，康德却欲把「尊德性」与「道问学」区分高低，在两者之间安放一条界线。故康氏先透过他的「纯粹理性批评」一书去说明纯粹理性的限度，指出人无法知识神的存在；但另一方面他又透过他的「实践理性批评」一书，说明知的极限可由行的实践补充，认为除了理性知识外，人还另有更高一层的伦理道德层次，是与生俱来的一种要求。如此，这两位在西方神哲学界举足轻重的人物的思想之不同，恰好把西方神哲学在「道问学」与「尊德性」两者从融合迈向区分的趋势表达了出来。

(己)结语

总括说来，「人怎样认识神」这本书，在有关多玛斯与康德的论证上，确有不少洞见和建树，也有不少关键性的重大弱点，而最大的弱点是欠缺了突破性的探索和对中国哲学的开展。

作者：神学年刊编辑委员会 年份：1978

序

今年四月十六日至二十三日，本港举办了一个「教会语言本地化研讨会」。参加人数大约有卅人。大家均认为过份重视英文，会使不懂英文的人产生自卑感，权利受剥削。大多数人有崇洋心态，对自己身份感到混淆。中国文化受忽视；西学不能在中土生根。以英文为教学媒介妨碍学生的心智发展。

参加者有一些共同的信念：（一）中国人应以母语为沟通工具；（二）发扬中国文化，尊重其他文化；（三）关心本地人的需要及发展；（四）香港教会应肯定中文为主要的传意工具；（五）应以母语为主要教学语言。

参加者针对教会现状，提出以下的建议，期望有关方面，能加以考虑：

（一）教会英文学校应探讨以英文为教学语言的不良影晌及所付出的代价，看能否考虑转为中文学校；

（二）教会中文学校应改进语文的教学法，证明以中文为教学语言并无损于英文的水准；

（三）教会机构、议会、通告、记录、档案等要以中文为主；

（四）长期居留香港的修院讲师应学习以中文讲授。修生留以中文写论文及讨论。并在修院中增加研究中国文化的课程；

（五）外国传教士要不断学习中文并加以运用，更应尊重中国文化及生活方式；

（六）教友不应以学习英语为目的而组织或参加善会。教友更应鼓动及帮助外籍傅教士学习中文；

（七）基督徒基层团体应留意及推动教会语言本地化。

参加者提出以下的实际行动：

（一）与各方面人士交谈，以推广语言本地化运动。交谈的对象有国籍神父、修生、修女、教会中英文学校、教区议会及机构、外籍传教士等；

（二）举办巡回讲座，以推广语言本地化运动；

（三）邀请教会学校的学生协助举办展览。

兹将研讨会内的一些演讲摘要，公诸同好。


目次  
英语教学与教育宗旨 陈佐舜
教学语言本地化 陆鸿基
梵二前教会语言的演变　 陈振威
传教士对教会语言本地化的影响 杜逸文
传教士对教会语言本地化的影响 骆铿祥
传教士对教会语言本地化的影响 郑生来
本地人何促进教会语言本地化 关俊棠
语言本地化与基督徒的信仰 汤汉

作者：Subramaniam, Stephen 年份：1978

"But vastness blurs and time beats level. Enough! the Resurrection,
A heart's clarion! Away grief 's gasping, joyless days, dejection.
Across my foundering deck shone
A beacon, an eternal beam. Flesh fade, and mortal trash
Fall to the residuary worm; world's wildfire, le39e but ash:
In a flash, at a trumpet crash,
I am all at once what Christ is, since he was what I am, and
This Jack, joke, poor potsherd, patch, matchwood, immortal diamond,
Is immortal diamond."
　
Extract from "That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire and of the comfort of the Resurrection” by Gerard Manley Hopkins S.J. [ in Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins , Third Edition by W.H. Gardner, London : Oxford University Press,] p.112
　
CHAPTER I
The Descent As Condition Of Possibility For Man's Salvation
This study is primarily intended as an effort in biblical spirituality for use during retreats. It is an approach at under-standing how the johannine Christ speaks to our "joys, hopes, griefs, and anxieties" (1) in a way that is both timely and timeless.
As such, this study is offered as just one contribution to the broader field of the relationship between Theology and Ministerial Consciousness. In concrete, how does johannine Christology illuminate or deepen one's sense of mission or apostolic 39ail-ability?
The Gospel is fundamentally a faith-experience: something to be shared about Someone. It is an offer, an invitation to believe (20/3). Though the mystery of Jesus is precisely the simultaneous affirmation of his divinity and humanity, the greater paradox does not lie in affirming the divine aspect but in affirming the human aspect. "For the essential question that God presents is not that God should be God, that is to say, transcendent, but that God should be man, that is, clothed in human nature. . . .We are only s39ed if the Word of God really did assume human nature. And so his human nature is supremely important to us." (2)
The Word begins in he39en (I/I), descends and is immersed in the world (1/10), is seen or beheld (1/14) in the process of being lifted up (1/18). Central to this perspective is that the Son comes into the world (1/9) and reveals the Father (1/18) to s39e all men. The Son knows that he is sent. He also knows where he is going.
"The hint half guessed, the gift
half understood, is Incarnation.
Here the impossible union
Of spheres of existence is actual,
Here the past and future Are conquered, and reconciled." (3)
Since practically all these notions are implicit in [1/4], we could take it as the axis that orientates this study. Two questions arise: What life' does Christ communicate? How is the johannine Christ light' to men? They can best be examined from the stand-point of Existential Phenomenology. To re-express it in terms of an extended question: What is given to man's facticity that makes him restless even when he appears to be at spatiotemporal rest? As James Joyce describes the enigma: "Every life is many days, day after day. We walk through ourselves meeting robbers, ghosts, giants, old men, young men, wives, widows, brothers-in- law. But always meeting ourselves." (4)
The common denominator is man's need to regain or return to his wholeness, the need to come home. How does man come home with the Son?
Jesus receives from the Father and gives what he receives (5/26, 12/49, 17/2, 17/8, 17/11, 17/22, 17/24). The Son receives and gives through love (5/20), (3/35). While the Baptist was the lamp (5/32) thus denoting a temporary presence, Jesus is the light (5/36), a permanent presence. Jesus is what he brings (11/25). He is giver of life (6/33, 10/10): his words are spirit and life (6/63), the words of eternal life (6/68).
In the light of 17/24 whatever the Son does is a sign which is related to man. The work that Jesus does is the work of the Father. The Father listens to His Son (9/31, 11/41f) through whom the prayer of the Christian is always tran56itted. God's power is the power of persuasive love, not of dominating force.
John's theology is the outcome of a prolonged meditation on his experience of the man Jesus in the light of the Resurrection (2/22, 12/16, cf. 19/35 too). Christ is, to transpose a phrase of Plato, the moving image of eternity. What the johannine Christ says and does are
"outpourings of eternal harmony
in the medium of created sound;
they are echoes from our Home." (5)
　
CHAPTER II
Immersion As Affirmation Of Man
[1] Christ As Self-Gift
No one has ever seen the Father except Jesus (1/18). Jesus tells us what he saw in the Father's presence (8/38) and he makes men the children of God whom they can then call Father (20/17). Jesus is the way because he is the truth and life (14/6). Life comes through the truth. Those who believe in Jesus as the incarnate revelation of the Father (and that is what truth means) receive the gift of life, so that the words of Jesus are the source of life (cf. 6/63, 5/24). (6)
John sets all those who claim to be guides to God (10/8, 5/43) in contrast with the one who is the way, the truth, and the life. In seeing Jesus one sees God. When men know him, they know the Father (14/7). When men see him, they see the Father (14/8). This is the significance of belonging to the truth (18/37). As the Messiah Jesus is the Revealer of God who in revealing grants life (17/3).
In his faithfulness to the love that unites him to the Father (15/10) Jesus achieves the complete gift of himself (cf. 3/16, 1/14). Love is what God is, and Christ reveals what God is: love (3/16, cf. 1 Jn. 4/9-10). So too the grace of Christ induces us to offer our life also for our brothers (1 Jn. 3/16, 15/13, 6/45). Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Him. Jesus promises that he will never cast out anyone who comes to him (6/37). This promise is given an immanent aspect in I Jn. 5/14f: "Man is so united with Christ that he not only receives from the Father but also shares the privilege of the Son, that the Father hears him." (7) Fellowship with God is disclosed and made possible in the earthly Jesus (14/7-11).
Jesus was so completely the one sent that it has been possible to describe his existence as a 'subsistent relation' －－ an existence that is . . . the actuality of being-from-the-Father and being-for-us. (8)
Jesus is commissioned by the Father (5/43). The Father's will is what Christ does to s39e all men (6/46, 8/29, 3/17). What makes us good is proximity to God (10/32f).
Christ's self-giving can also be approached from another aspect. His immersion provides the human context for the sending of the Paraclete. "The coming of the Paraclete implies an unbroken continuity of the coming of Jesus. Three times Jesus raised the point that men cannot of themselves come to him, twice to the Jews (7/34, 36; 8/2 If) and once to his disciples (13/33). (9) This inability makes the sending of the Spirit an absolute necessity for the disciples. We can say that the Paraclete is in effect the memory (looking-back or hindsight) and the intentionality (looking-ahead or foresight) of Christ.
In his dwelling with men (1/14) Christ extends to them fellowship with himself and thus with God, a fellowship that is continued in the apostolic ministry of the Word. It is in this way that the Word become flesh remains the revelation of life ([1 Jn. 1/1]). (10) Man organises his past around the direction of his future. The future proceeds as the past recedes.
[2] The Other As Co-Affirmed
(A) Attractive Aspect:
The fundamental understanding of the person as spirit in the world opens us to a universal vision of humanity. John Cameli reiterates that the movement beyond oneself shared universally and expressed diversely puts us in touch with all men of goodwill who share that movement. (11) One's here and now experiences are not only subjective but intersubjective. They can be related to all men. The relationship deepens because the experiences h39e a transcendent referent. Even though the complete story always escapes, we can and do experience the unrestricted character of our intending and hence the desire for complete intelligibility.
The johannine Christ attracts people: the Baptist's disciples (1/39), Nathaniel (1/48), Nicodemus (3/lf), Samaritans (4/30, 40), a large crowd follow him up the hills near the Sea of Tiberias (6/5), and many come to him across the Jordan (10/41). Their coming is an expression of their openness to God. Their openness is already an act of faith (7/35). It is a reflection of light in their lives (cf. 3/19).
Those who reject this coming place themselves in a situation of sin (3/20, 5/40). Such a rejection may spring from a situation of complacency. Gabriel Marcel contends that there is an intimate connection between complacency and death. In every sphere, but above all in the sphere of the spirit, a satisfied being, a being who declares that he has everything he needs, is already on the path of decomposition.
An open disposition to receive the truth is most important in John since everyone can be "taught by God" (6/44-5) and can be drawn by the Father to Christ. This is reflected in Jesus' invitation to the Samaritan woman in 4/10. In 5/6 he asks the paralytic at Bethzada: "Do you want to be healed?" In 9/35 Jesus asks the blind man whom he has healed: "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" The man replies: "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?" (9/36)
The latter question expresses a basic readiness or open disposition to Promise. Grace is identical with the man's willingness to accept the cure and to attribute it to God's activity (9/35-38).
In 11/40 Jesus reassures Martha: "Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the gloiy of God?" He earlier describes the quality of the personal relationship which he offers: "I know mine and mine know me" (10/14) (cf. 4/23). Just as Wisdom fills the universe and holds all things united (Wisdom 1/7), Christ draws all things to himself (12/32). In 20/2 If Christ also formally restores the fellowship with Himself which had been broken by the unfaithfulness of the disciples. (12)
(B) Restorative Aspect:
Jesus cures and restores life almost as if he could not tolerate the presence of death (13). Already during his ministry he is described as giving resurrection life in the present to those who believe in him as "the resurrection and the life" (Chapter 11), and who come to him as the bread of life (Chapter 6), or recognise him as the source of living water (Chapter 4). The johannine Gospel is written so that believing we may h39e life in his name (20/31, cf. 5/24).
Throughout John the theme of 'Coming' to Jesus will be used to describe faith (3/21, 5/40, 6/35, 37; 45, 7/39). In 5/40, 6/40, 6/47 eternal life is promised respectively to those who come to Jesus, those who look on him, and to those who believe in him. All three are different ways of describing the same action (14).
Christ needs no one to testify about human nature for he is aware of what is in man's heart. (2/25) This is reflected in the first ten verses of Chapter 4 when he opens up to a stranger, the Samaritan woman. He wants to enter her life, but her fear of intimacy acts as a counter-pull. It is only after she hears and sees that she is touched (4/29). Similarly in Chapter 5 Jesus makes the first move when he asks the paralytic: "Do you want to be healed?" (5/6). But the paralytic does not listen (5/7).
Discipleship begins with a question in 1/38 leading to an acceptance of Christ in 1/39. This acceptance is confirmed in 2/11 when his glory is seen and he is believed. Brown is perceptive when he notes that 1/39 anticipates 12/26: "If anyone would serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, my servant will be." (15)
Christ brings out what is most implicit in those who are drawn to him. He makes explicit what they h39e been waiting to receive and thus restores them to wholeness. Time is formative and salvific.
At the second Cana miracle Christ accepts the inadequate faith of the Capernaum official (4/48) and heals his son (4/51). The significant phrase is 4/50: "The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went his way". The Word is both life (5/21) and judgment (5/22). It invites men to see what the Son does rather than on what the Baptist said (5/36). The Father began the work of creation and salvation. He has now handed it over to the Son that he might bring it to completion (5/36b).
Christ cares for others because he is aware of the depthdimension of their interiority (2/5, cf. 16/30 too). That is why he is able to listen to them. He says no word to the woman caught in adultery until the end (8/1-11). He hears the need for forgiveness which contrasts with the inner guilt of her accusers (8/7-8). He affirms her as a person: "Neither do I condemn you" (8/11). This affirmation is also a liberation since it sends the person on mission. He tells her: "Go and sin no more" (8/11) which echoes his call to the paralytic in 5/14. The imperative is not negative but positive: it orients one's perceptions and beh39iour to the light. As Henri Nouwen remarks, "We all need to discover and recognise in ourselves our own potential. But it needs to lie affirmed by others from outside." (16)
The restoration to wholeness is a gift. But its appreciation and consequent significance involves an ongoing process. The Christian needs to complete himself as a task. This pattern is implicitly known and affirmed as the 'pre-established dignity of man' (17) since man is led to mould himself in this attraction. "It only unveils itself completely in the knowing－－believing－－loving dialogue of man with God, and hence can never be given simply in the manner of object-like objectivity." (18) One has to immerse oneself in this whole process of discovering this pattern and actualizing it in one's everyday living. Or as Rahner puts it, the use of one's freedom necessarily poses man with the choice of degrading his dignity or preserving it by the grace of God and converting it into achieved dignity. (19)
The restoration to wholeness is a task for each one. The Samaritan woman who invites her friends to "come, see a man who told me all that I ever did" (4/29) can also ask herself: "Can this be the Christ?" (4/29). Initial assent does not necessarily exclude subsequent unrest. However, Jesus as prior gift accompanies us as we move. He is the moving, image of eternity. Accompaniment transforms unrest. To put it in the words of Philip MeShane, "Each of us is definable as an incarnate aspiration for total interpersonal understanding, an aspiration which is fulfilled only in the Mystery of Divine Affection." (20)
(C) Advocative Aspect:
Since we must begin from the performance if we are to h39e the experience necessary for understanding what the performance is (21), the advocative aspect of Christ discloses two apparent poles of Christ's performance. He attacks and he defends. No one "ever spoke like this man" (7/46) who "did works which no one else did." (15/24).
His glory (1/14) is also the judgment (3/16-21). Those who believe already possess life (5/24) and there is a continuity between the 'already' and the 'not-yet' (14/19, 11/25-26, 14/2-6, 17/24). Light is sweet and it is good for the eyes to see the sun (Qoheleth 11/7). Jesus reveals himself as light by what he says and does (1/4, 1/9, 8/12, 9/5, 12/46, 1 Jn. 1/5). We need to walk in the light to be in union with God who is light (I Jn. l/5f). Fraternal love is the criterion for judging whether we are in the darkness or in the light (2/8-11). (22)
The light of Christ has a transforming effect (12/36). He is the eternal shepherd who gives of his fullness (1/16) like God, who does not give by measure (3/34, 10/10). In 11/27 Martha knows that Christ's prayers h39e power with God: her confession of faith anticipates what Jesus later says to his disciples about prayer (14/16, 16/23). If light is rejected, blindness results (12/40) just as hatred leads to rejection of brotherly love (1 Jn. 2/11).
When the light comes it is refused (5/39). Jesus' appeal to four witnesses: the Baptist (5/33-35), his works (5/36), the Father (5/37-38), and Scripture (5/39)－－which are all acces- sible to the Jews－－ is rejected by them because they believe that their distorted Torah-conditioned mindset cannot go wrong. In effect, they reject God's love for man (5/38) because they do not h39e love of God in their hearts (5/42). They fail to recognise that the scope of Jesus is not restricted to any particular Scripture text since he is the total context of Scripture (5/39, 17/12, 19/24,19/28, 19/36).
Jesus cures a paralyzed man on the official jewish day of rest, even though he could easily h39e done so on another day for the man had been at Bethzada pool for thirty-eight years (5/5). The johannine Jesus cures on the Sabbath in order to reveal the continuity between God's creative activity at the beginning of the world and his salvific activity in Jesus (5/17).
Perhaps the best instance of his advocative role is in Chapter 9/1-41. Christ rejects as a norm the cyclic causality of sin and suffering (9/3) but draws attention to the good works of God that will follow (9/3f). In this connection I find Lonergan's view of history and subjectivity h39ing added significance: "The challenge of history is for man progressively to restrict the realm of chance or fate or destiny and progressively to enlarge the realm of conscious grasp and deliberate choice." (23)
The blind man sees and is touched. He ridicules the theoretical ignorance of the experts (9/30) in contrast with his concrete experience of being healed. The Jews react negatively to the person of Christ (9/16, 9/24) because of their pre-selective attention, based on their biased Torah-conditioned presuppositions. They see the good work but say it cannot come from God since the work is that of a sinner (9/24). But God does not listen to sinners (9/31 cf. Is. 1/15) unless they are penitent. Since no one could h39e performed this unparalleled cure unless God had listened to him, Jesus cannot be a sinner in spite of his breaking the Sabbath law. The man confesses his faith in 9/33: Christ is from God (cf. 3/21). Reinforcive texts in this direction include 8/12, 12/45, and 12/46.
Jesus' immediate appeal is not to external authority but to one's total religious experience (9/3, cf. 7/24). It is interesting to note that Peter's messianic confession is linked with his call. John stresses that the name (Peter = Rock) came from Christ's insight into Simon: "Jesus looked at him" (1/42). (24) From one's self-appropriation of life (I Jn. I/I) one is able to bring others to the experience of Christ. John 15/16 serves as a constant source of support to the believer: "You h39e not chosen me: I h39e chosen you." Christ not only chooses but also intercedes for us (10/11, 12/32, 17/19). (25)
Earlier in 8/12-38 the Jews considered themselves free because of their filiation from Abraham. Their liberty was the consequence of God's choice of them as His own people. But John attacks this point. He opposes Jesus to Moses, the Eucharist to the manna, the true liberty which Jesus as the Son and Revealer of the Father brings to the suppressed liberty of the Jews. Jesus alone can give true liberty and a necessary consequence of this liberty is faith in him and perseverance in this faith. This is the truth of Christ which makes men free. (26)
The life-giving function of Christ is also reflected when Christ is "troubled" (14/1). The johannine use of the verb "tarassein" is used to describe Christ's emotions when confronted with Lazarus' death in 11/33 and with his own betrayal by Judas in 13/21. It refers to the broader context of the dualistic struggle between Jesus and Satan. In an extended sense, the disciples' faith conquers the world (1 Jn. 5/4) by uniting them to Jesus who has conquered the world (16/33) (cf. 14/1). (27)
The believer "will perform. (works) far greater than these" (14/12) after the glorification of Christ (17/1, 5) when the Father will perform. in the Son's name works capable of manifesting the Son's glory. The "greater" is eschatological and corresponds to Paul's conviction: "I planted, Apollos watered, but God g39e the growth." (1 Cor. 3/6). John 14/12 also reinforces the Teilhardian view that the depths we attribute to matter are no more than the reflection of the heights of the spirit.
[3] The Christologteal Difference: Human Questions Transposed
Jesus' first words in the Fourth Gospel are a question put to the Baptist's two disciples: "What are you looking for?" (1/38). It is also addressed to all men since it touches on the basic need that causes them to turn to God. (28)
The two disciples respond to Christ's invitation and stay with him (1/39), thus indicating that their central need has been touched. On the other hand, Nicodemus represents perhaps the type whose questions spring more from his peripheral-self than his central-self. He is one of those mentioned in 2/23-25 who believe merely because of external signs. Jesus reacts unf39ourably towards them in 2/24-25 and greets Nicodemus with the same reaction (3/3f).
Jesus has not come from God in the sense that Nicodemus thought (a man approved by God), but in the unique sense of h39ing descended from God's presence to raise men to God. Nicodemus misunderstands Christ on the theme of begetting (3/4, 3/9), while Christ stresses the he39enly origin of the begetting of the Spirit (3/5). The johannine tactic is "to transpose the
topic to a higher level; the questioner (Nicodemus) is on the level of the sensible, but he must be raised to the level of the spiritual." (29) Brown contends that Nicodemus' questioning is an instance of a wider failure to accept the testimony of Christ. (30)
The Samaritan woman in Chapter 4 provides an interesting study too. Her first question reveals a fear of intimacy (4/9). Her request for the place of living water (4/11) situates her major interest in "where" rather than "who". Through the johannine technique of misunderstanding, Christ turns the dialogue into a deeper level where the questioner is drawn as a 'who' into a relationship with him. For the first time her need is specified: "Sir, give me this water." (4/15)
There is a shift from the spatial to the interpersonal. She becomes progressively involved as a 'who' in the dialogue (v. 17, 19, 25), leading to her explicit acknowledgment of Christ's significance in her life (4/29). He makes a difference to her life. In spite of her misunderstanding, Christ's invitation (to all men too) continues as an open-ended process. The other-self is able to take over from the prior gift of the Christ-self. Conversion is, as Lonergan reiterates, a prolonged process though its explicit acknowledgment may be concentrated in a few momentous judgments or decisions. (31)
When the Baptist's disciples represent to him that crowds are flocking to Jesus instead (3/26), John's reply transposes their expectation to a higher level: "He must increase, but I must decrease" (3/30). Human activity becomes a leading signal of God's transcendence. What began as John's ceaseless but isolated activity (1/23) now ends as a prolonged but unifying contemplative stance (3/30).
In 6/34 the people ask Christ for the bread of God which igves life to the world. But neither ordinary bread (6/27) nor manna (that is, neither Moses nor the Torah) provides the answer (cf. 6/31, 6/49). Man's central hunger is not for transitory food but for permanent existential meaning (6/35, 6/68). The answer is in Jesus who offers himself for the whole world just as 17/3 fulfills Wisdom 15/3. It is also interesting to note that thrice in the Gospel Jesus is tempted by his own people to do a different kind of good that is not in accordance with the mind of God (6/15, 6/31, 7/3). In 7/3 he is tempted to take back his divine power which he surrendered through his self-emptying to become man.
As he journeys to the Father there is a corresponding movement of departure from him by his disciples (6/66). When they should come closer to him, they distance themselves from him apparently on account of fear or insecurity. It provides the occasion for him to ask the Twelve: "Will you also go away?" (6/67). The question becomes a challenge for him to continue journeying to the Father as well as a challenge for the Twelve to remain with him. Context becomes problematic.
Jesus would h39e nothing to do with a kingdom of this world (18/36, cf. 12/31, 14/30, 16/11, 1 Jn. 5/19). In 12/12-16 when the crowd goes out with palm branches to hail the King of Israel (reminiscent of the political Maccabean celebrations in 1 Mc. 13/50-52 and 2 Mc. 10/7) Jesus finds a young ass to ride upon. He transposes popular jewish messianic expectations by reminding them of Zechariah's promise (Zech. 9/9). The king of Israel is to be primarily one of peace and salvation, rather than of political power. (32)
In the Footwashing account Peter's question in 13/6 is taken up by Christ in the following verse. Jesus is doing more than giving a lesson in humility. The footwashing can only be understood after the 'hour' is over (cf. 2/22, 12/16). (33)
Jesus has a constant sense of the fleeting hours (of the 'now'). He prepares his disciples for the great tribulation (13/19, 14/29, 16/1, 16/4). For the disciples this preparation is still a period of incompleteness in discipleship (13/36f), in prayer (16/24), and in understanding (16/12, 16/25).
This incompleteness is but a reflection of the tension between the 'now' and 'not-yet'. In 6/17 the disciples expect Jesus, but he only comes later (6/19). The degree of expectation is heightened in 11/30 when Jesus "had not yet come to the village." These two instances contrast with the complete affirmation of the Baptist: my joy is now full (3/29). However, 16/12 supplies a kind of linkage: since Christ transcends time (7/33, 12/35, 13/33, 14/19), we too should keep our expectations open-ended.
This future-orientation is specified in the relationship between Christ's divinity and humanity. Fr. Thomas Corbishley describes it as follows: "In his divine nature, Jesus expresses the Father's self-transcendence, since he is the expression of the Father's own self-transcendent utterance.
"In his human nature, in his eucharistic self-giving, in his death-transcending resurrection, he is the expression of man's refusal to be totally restricted to the here and now, to the limitations of his individual, earth-bound, death-interrupted experience." (34)
In other words, the human witnesses to the divine. Human nature not only has but is a signal of transcendence. In the light of the Christ-event, man is not only on the way to God. Man is the only way to God.
　
CHAPTER III
Convergence As Goal Of Man's Journey
Eternal life is the life by which God lives, and which the Son possesses from the Fath (5/26, 6/57). The Son, though turned towards the Father (1/18, 6/46, 9/4), is also oriented towards men. He is God's Word spoken with the purpose of giving eternal life to men (1/4, 10/10, 1 Jn. 1/1-2, 1 Jn. 4/9). That is why a challenge remains: "We must work the works of him who sent me" (9/4).
Thomas' question in 14/5 serves to involve the disciples in the journey of Jesus. Brown cities the Augustinian text: "He prepares the dwelling places by preparing those who are to dwell in them." (35) But Philip is more concerned with the product rather than the process of the journey. He tells Jesus: "Show us the Father, and satisfy us" (14/8). Here Philip probably expects a mystical vision of God along the lines of Sinai theophany. (36)
This direction of thought is also rejection in 10/24 when the Jews ask: "How long will you keep us in suspense?" They want instant answers but the real answer can only come from one's reflective interiority. Jesus refers to His Word which only faith perceives and which is concealed from unbelief (10/25). Earlier he appeals to his sending by the Father, whom the Jews do not know (7/28f). He is in fact the hidden Messiah (cf. 2/24) since His true origin is concealed in his earthly descent. This true origin is the basis of his power and it characterizes the work he performs. Christ offers himself, not an idea (12/25).
Christ is attested to through the Scriptures (5/39), through the Baptist (1/7f, 3/26, 5/33), through God (5/32, 5/37, 8/18), through the works which the Father invites him to do (5/36, 10/25), through the Son himself (5/31, 8/13f, 8/18), and through the Spirit of Truth (15/26, 1 Jn. 5/6). Finally the witness is given by the disciples themselves (15/27, 1 Jn 5/6). Christ is the fullest revelation of God 39ailable to man (cf. 1/18). He is the image of God, as Paul says (2 Cor. 4/4) who is otherwise invisible (Col. 1/15, Heb. 1/3).
If we may re-echo Augustine: "Because Christ himself is the Word of God, the very deed of the Word is a word to us." (37) That is why Christ's exhortation to "put your faith in these works so that you may come to know (and understand) that the Father is in me and I am in the Father" is already an invitation to possess eternal life. Eternal life is to know the Father and Son (17/3).The Son has revealed what is to know the Father and Son. It is a loving knowing. Knowledge and love grow together. Loge intensifies as knowledge deepens (cf. 1 Jn. 4/7-8, Eph. 3/17-18).
This is the focal point of the new commandment (13/34-35). It springs from the New Covenant at the Last Supper (cf. Lk. 22/20). It is interiorized; it is the gift of God's love directed to men who are sinners and unworthy of love. The generosity of God's love could not be fully known until He had given His Son. In this sense 17/23 links God's love in Christ with the disciples. (38) This salvific role of the disciples can also be seen in 12/20-33 when the Greek world asks after Jesus. Bultmann contends that since the Greeks must turn to the disciples in order to reach Jesus this could indicate that the access of the Greek world to Jesus is mediated through the Twelve. (39)
"In him was life, and the life was the light of men" (1/4). Jesus is recognised as the one who answers human needs and longings. This recognition is shared by Andrew (1/41), the Baptist (3/28), the Samaritan woman (4/28), some of the hearers in Jerusalem (7/31, 41), and Martha (11/27). As Jesus goes across the Jordan to the place where John first baptised, many come to him and proclaim: "Everything that John said about this man was true" (10/41). Sight beckons, leading to a confession of faith. The visual provides the context for a faith-experience. Already he is drawing all men to himself (12/32). Similarly, the works of Christ bring the Sanhedrin officials, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus closer to him (19/38-39).
The visual provides the context for a faith-experience because the context itself is a structural linkage or a point of conjunction between man's inner need for wholeness and Christ's response to that need. For instance, the Samaritan woman's confession in 4/39 is made possible because she has received light from her encounter with Christ. We are told that "because of her testimony" (that is, her concrete experience and conviction), "many Samaritans from that city believed in him" (4/39).
If we take 4/10 and 4/14 together, it can be said that h39ing received prior light we too are a derived source of living water. Christ's prior act of knowing and loving the Father sets in motion his own service of others and generates in turn the disciples' subsequent service of others. In other words, the Gospel rests on the disciples' experience and appropriation of Christ's love for them. The whole process is seen as theoteleological－－going up to the Father (13/lf).
Another situation is when Christ heals the Bethzada paralytic. Note how the latter responds to his directive (5/8, 5/11). He tells his questioners who protest that it is not lawful for him to carry his pallet on the Sabbath: "the man who healed me said to me: 'Take up your pallet, and walk' " (5/11). The tone is that of a counter-reply uttered from a conviction that has been generated through empirical events.
Christ's critical stance is also reflected in Chapter 8 when the Scribes and Pharisees question him: "According to this law Moses commanded us to stone such women to death ..." (8/4). But the incarnate eyes look in a different direction. "Jesus bent down and began to write with his finger on the ground" (8/6). The law was given through Moses, but truth through Jesus (1/17). Jesus goes beyond Judai56. The criterion is not external conformity but one's inner need for salvation. Bruce Vawter takes up this point: "The Christ-event has revealed the inadequacy of Judai56 to give a final answer to what is truth－－an inadequacy shared by the Gentile world, for Pilate too is ignorant of truth" (18/38). (40)
When people meet Christ and are healed they go back (that is, they are sent in some way) to their own community to share their joy with others. The going back itself expresses a deep need to proclaim to others the goodness of His work (3/12, 5/15, 6/14, 9/1 If, 12/3).
However, in spite of Christ's many signs "many did not believe in him" (12/37). He appears a failure (6/66, 7/5). The disciples' lack of understanding is also a severe burden to him (14/9). Yet he remains patient with them and continues to make their salvation his concern in sayings like 16/12; 17/lf and in acts like those in 13/lf and 18/8. If we view 12/37 in the light of 14/lf there is no abandonment by God but a co-presence. The Father accompanies His Son's journey. So too will the Son accompany His disciples (cf. 15/9).
The case of Judas serves as a kind of contrast insofar as he abandons Jesus. 13/26 indicates Christ's last visible attempt to s39e him but this offer is not received (13/27). In the johannine Passion key elements converge: giving (18/11), caring (10/17), obeying (10/17f), and glorifying (13/31-14/13, 17/lf) by which all men are given access to the Father.
The humanity of Christ in 12/27-33 is very striking. He is "troubled because he fears the threat of Satan's victory. But his endurance shows how every man ought in such an 'hour' to make such a decision. His endurance confirms that he is "above all the Revealer, whose decision alone makes possible in such an hour the human decision for God (cf. 16/33). (41)
The johannine crucifixion is less concerned with the fate of Jesus than its significance for his followers. Jesus dies as the model shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep (10/11, 10/14-15). These are those who hear his voice and know him. (42) His death is not only kingly but priestly: "It is for them that I consecrate myself' (17/19). This intensity of inferiority cannot be adequately thematised. Fr. Malatesta holds that one of the sufferings of life in this world is precisely the impossibility of total mutual transparency and therefore of perfect communica- tion between those who love one another. (43)
Christ's death marks the completion of all that the Father had given him to do (19/28-30). His last words as man: "It is finished" (19/30) are a victory cry over Satan (44) insofar as he has finished his work and obediently fulfilled the Father's will. His lifting up from the earth on the cross will draw all men to him (12/32). When Jesus dies he hands over the Spirit which seems to indicate that his own Spirit will now take up his work (16/7).
Incidentally, William Johnston discloses that the Church Fathers loved to quote John 16/7: "It is to your advantage that I go away". His understanding of the patristic exegesis was that Jesus himself wanted to liberate his disciples from an excessive and possessive attachment to him. "They might well h39e added that in all friendship separation plays an important role in leading friends away from absorption to an ever greater universality." (45)
A pull-to the future is made possible because of a push-from the past. The human heart remains basically restless until it experiences a gr39itational pull to, and arrives, at its still point. The Spirit not only touches the personal centre of the believer but becomes part of that self-transcending movement and experience of restlessness. Union with Christ in the Spirit means being in relationship with and movement to the Father.
The apparent moment of sorrow is transformed by the higher subsequent moment of joy. Mystery transposes and elevates problem. We see the convergence of promise and fulfillment as 19/30 illuminates 12/32. In John there is a triple movement of "being lifted up": when Jesus is lifted up on the Cross, when he is raised up from death, and when he is lifted up to he39en.(46) This triple movement reconciles the tension between initial sorrrow and subsequent joy (14/1, 14/27).
The blind man in Chapter 9 derived his sight from God when he was sent "to wash in the pool of Siloam" and came back seeing (9/7). With his explicit affirmation in 9/38 he found his still point. He arrived home (cf. 3/30 too). The sign is secondary to the referent.
When the Risen Lord calls Mary by her name in 20/16 the calling is itself a sign. But what gives it significance is its referent: the fact that the Lord has come home (20/18). Though the johannine account emphasizes continuity (20/16) and transformation (20/14, 20/17), it certainly reiterates that Christ does not call us apart from the familiar but in terms of the familiar (20/16, 20/20, 20/27, 21/5, 21/10, 21/12, 21/25). Life is not interrupted (14/19).
The Beloved Disciple "saw and he believed" in 20/8. He believes because he has become very sensitive to Jesus through love. (47) When one is touched by love one becomes a poet. In 21/4 when Jesus stands on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias, the Beloved Disciple is the first to recognise him, and it is he who informs Peter: "It is the Lord" (21/7).
John's Great Beatitude is in 20/29 when Jesus praises the majority of the people of the New Covenant who, though they h39e not seen him, through the Spirit proclaim him as Lord and God. He assures these followers of all times and places that he foresees their situation and counts them as sharing in the joy heralded by his resurrection". (48)
Eternal life and divine sonship are gifts already in the possession of the Christian. However, there is room for future perfection even when physical death is no more (5/28-29).Bultmann takes up this point and holds that "the believer already enjoys in the present what apocalyptic speculation had expected from a future transformation of the co56os." (49)
　
CHAPTER IV
Depth-Subjectivity As Convergence Of God And Man
Light invites, heals and transforms (4/29, 8/11, 8/12f, 21/17). Though Nicodemus' acceptance of Christ's message is more passive than active on account of the former's Torah-conditioned mindst (3/4) he reaches out to CHRIST as a person (19/39). On the other hand, the blind man's instant healing (9/7) brings him closer to Christ (9/25f) with an increasing critical negativity towards his persistent questioners (9/30-33). His growth in awareness of Christ could be viewed as a growing approximation of his centre.
This movement is a growth in depth-subjectivity. This could be defined as a dynamic process in which one's personal centre is gradually touched, where a personal core decision is reached or is in the making. Other instances of depth-subjectivity include 1/39, 4/29, 8/10-11, 9/39, 10/41-42, 11/27, 19/30, 20/16,21/7, and 21/17.
Depth arises from an awareness of who one is. Depth springs from one's centre. The centre is an explicit awareness or acknowledgment of one's goal, Ultimate Meaning. Only in the journey can one find one's centre. Even if there is no clear-cut way to go one makes a way by going. In the 'making' one comes to know what home is. The centre is the point where God's call and man's response, where intrapersonal and inter-personal states of consciousness coincide, where aspiration and fulfillment, departure and arrival converge. Ultimately the journey of the Self is not merely individual but social. The Father accompanies the Son, and the Son accompanies His disciples as they accompany each other through the Spirit.
Christ's descent and man's ascent are inextricably connected. Christ came to make the human heart a temple, the soul an altar, and the mind a priest. (50) One's centre is first received before it can respond, (cf. 17/11). Others are a constitutive part of Selfhood. One can receive others because of the Father's prior self-gift in His Son (15/17). The Paraclete is invisible to the world because he is within the disciple (14/17). God is the sphere whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere (cf. Mt. 24/23, Mt. 24/27). He is, in Augustine's phrase intimius intimo meo, altius altissimo meo. The centre is both personal and universal.
In Giordano Bruno's view, the soul is a centre because "this pace of divine dwelling is ... the convergence of all co56ic phenomena" (51). Fr. Thomas Clarke develops this point and treats this centre as "both my own human self, the image of God that I am, and the Self of God, the holy Spirit, given precisely to be the selfing of myself, bestowed in order to give me (back) to myself by being given to me as the Self of Father and Son." (52)
This is where the action is: where data-collection leads to praxis and internalization, where theology is given flesh and blood to generate ministerial consciousness, and where history is taken up and once more offered as a Hymn to Eternity. As Mencius observed:
"He who goes to the bottom of his heart
Knows his nature as man.
To know his nature as man
Is to know He39en." (53)  
It is at the Centre that one knows, insofar as one can know. One can only reach out if one first reaches down.
If contemporary man is homo quaerens seipsum, he is also homo quaerens Deum. God is the good news that humanity is possible. And Christ demonstrates that friendship is both desir-able and necessary. By his descent Christ reveals God's way of love to man. By his ascent he becomes man's way to God. Here is the 'place' where a double recognition takes place. One is recognised as being loved by Father and Son. One also recognises others－－in the light of the glorified Christ－－through the Spirit (2 Cor. 13/14, Phil. 2/1), since the Father of Jesus is our Father because Jesus is our brother. We are back to where we started.
The humanity of Christ continues to speak to man's immersion in the finitude of spatiotemporal worlds. Descent invites Ascent. The Risen Christ calls men and women to greater heights, to possibility, to Promise. His enduring presence and support (14/1) accompany us home and give added significance to that infinite horizon of meaning underlying Peter Berger's words:
"Over the memories of pain looms
The solitary figures of the
Virgin of Consolations,
Ever wiping the brows of
The Quixotes of this world." (54)　
　
REFERENCES:
(1) Gaudium et Spes, N.7.
(2) Jean Danielou, Christ and Us, (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1961), p. 21. cf. "The full content of divine nature lives in Christ, in his humanity, and you h39e been given full life in union with him." (Col. 2/9: Breviary text for Eastertide, Week 2, Monday).
(3)T.S. Eliot, The Dry Salvages, Four Quartets, (New York: Faber, 1959).
(4)James Joyce, Ulysses, (London 1958), p. 273.
(5)J.H. Newman, Fifteen Sermons, Oxford, (London 1872), p. 347 quoted in Philip McShane, Music That Is Soundless, (Dublin: Milltown, 1969), p. 19.
(6)Raymond Brown, The Gospel According To John, The Anchor Bible Volume 2, (New York: Doubleday, 1970), p. 631.
(7) Scan O Cearbhallain, All Who H39e This Hope in Him－－1 Jn. 3:3－－A Contribution To A Johannine Theology Of Hope, (Rome: Gregorian University, 1975), p. 27.
(8)See Joseph Ratzinger, Priestly Ministry, (New York: Sentinel Press, 1971), p. 12.
(9)See Kittel, TDNT, Vol. 2, p. 673f.
(10)See Bruce Vawter, "Johannine Theology" in JBC, Vol. 2, p.832, n. 24.
(11)See John Cameli, "Spirit, Holy Spirit, Spiritual Life" in Chicago Studies, (Chicago: Spring .1976), p. 72.
(12)See Kittel, TDNT Vol. 9, p. 644-5.
(13)Leon-Dufour (ed.), Dictionary Of Biblical Theology, (London: Chapman, 1973), p. 315.
(14)Brown, Vol. I, p. 79.
(15)Brown, ibid.
(16)Henn Nouwen, Out Of Solitude, (Notre Dame: 1974), p. 36.
(17)Karl Rahner, "The Dignity Of Man" in Theological Investigations II, p. 238-9.
(18)ibid.
(19)See Do You Believe In God, (New York: Paulist Press, 1969), p. 38-41.
(20)Philip McShane, God, Man, Mystery, (Dublin: Milltown Park), p. 14.
(21)Bernard Lonergan, "Christ As Subject" in Collection (London, New York, 1967), p. 186.
(22)Dufour, DBT, p. 318-9.
(23)Bernard Lonergan, insight, (London: 1961), p. 228.
(24)Brown, Vol. 1, p. 79f.
(25)See TDNT, Vol. 4, p. 623f.
(26)See TDNT, Vol. 2, pp. 487-502.
(27)See Brown, Vol. 2, p. 618, 624.
(28)Brown, Vol. 1, p. 78.
(29)Brown, Vol. I, p. 138.
(30)ibid.
(31)See Bernard Lonergan, Method In Theology, (London: 1971), p. 130.
(32)See Raymond Brown, New Testament Essays, (Milwaukee, 1965), p. 205f.
(33)Brown, Vol. 2, p. 565.
(34)Foreword to G. Martelet, The Risen Christ And The Eucharistic World, (London: Collins 1976), p. 7.
(35)Brown, Vol. 2, p. 627.
(36)Brown, Vol. 2, p. 632.
(37)Quoted in 39ery Dulles, Revelation Theology, (New York: Herder, 1969), p. 28.
(38)See Brown, Vol. 2, p. 614.
(39)Bultmann, The Gospel of John, p. 423.
(40)See JBC, p. 831.
(41)Bultmann, The Gospel of John, A Commentary (Oxford: Blackwell, 1971), p. 428.
(42)See Brown, Vol. 2, p. 912.
(43)Edward Malatesta, "Jesus And Loneliness", The Way, (London: October 1976), p. 251.
(44)See Brown, Vol. 2, p. 931.
(45)William Johnston, Silent Music, (New York: [1974] ), p.160-5.
(46)Brown, Vol. 1, p. 146.
(47)See Brown, Vol. 2, p. 1005.
(48)Brown, Vol. 2, pp. 1048-9.
(49)Bultmann, p. 357.
(50)See Kahlil Gibran, Secrets Of The Heart, (New York: 1964), p. 103.
(51)Quoted in Thomas Clarke, "Finding Grace At The Centre", The Way (January 1977) p. 14.
(52)ibid.
(53)Quoted in Supplement To Progressio, (Rome: CLC), p. 20.
(54)Peter Berger, Pyramids Of Sacrifice (New York: Basic Books, 1974), p. 232.

作者：Chu, Mei Fen 年份：1978

"Religion"
Religion can be understood as a "stepping out" of oneself to look at things－－including oneself－－from the standpoint of a whole. "Stepping out," of course, is metaphorically used. For it is possible only because the self and the whole of reality are understood to be related. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the whole of reality is understood to be the fullness of being in which the person participates. In the Buddhist tradition, it is understood to be the opposite, that is, non-reality or non-being. Even then, the self can choose non-being only because non-being is already part of selfhood. Apart from the content of the "whole of reality," then, religion is a passage from the self into a greater whole, a passage which can be called transcendence.

The distance gained through such a passage is not that between two points of relativity, but that between an assumed absolute and all points of relativity. From the viewpoint of the absolute and the ultimate, all parts fall into context and all concerns appear preliminary. A preliminary concern is not a lesser concern. On the contrary, the standpoint of the ultimate tends to make one or another of the preliminary concerns assume a character of ultimate importance. But that element of ultimacy coming from a meaning greater than oneself is not identical with the importance given by common-sense perspectives. A decision of faith is still a decision. While it affirms some things, it negates others. All concerns being put in the context of the ultimate concern, however, even that which is affirmed is not in itself ultimately important. Transcendence can be metaphorically expressed as vertical transcendence.

*(Extract from the doctoral dissertation submitted by the author to The University of Chicago Divinity School.)

Religion can be involved when the peasant watches the grains grow, when the poet writes poetry, or when the philosopher philosophizes. Religion is involved if, for the person concerned, the work is more than a task to be accomplished, and the product is more than a commodity. For, by viewing oneself, one's product, and the working process with all the relations they involve from the standpoint of a whole, the fragmentariness of commodities is overcome in one way or another. It is by stepping into the whole and viewing life from thence that religion enters into play. A manifestation of reality is involved which grasps and changes the life of the individual and perhaps also changes society. If the meaning that faith provides is of a transcendental character that is superadded to the everyday reality, both on the individual and on the societal levels, then religion easily falls into the category of metaphysics and of idealism such as described by Mao. This has to do with the content of religion. Formally, religion is vertical transcendence regardless of its content.

Religion thus understood is not limited to institutional religions. Both institutional religions and religion in the generic sense involve the use of the language of symbols. Whereas institutional religions are characterized by their use of sacred symbols, religion in the broad sense may use secular symbols to express a reality which is for that reason not less sacred to the people concerned. In either case, symbols point to an ultimate meaning which everyday language cannot express. As Mircea Eliade says: "If the mind makes use of images to grasp the ultimate reality of things, it is just because reality manifests itself in contradictory ways and therefore cannot be expressed in concepts." 1

Formally speaking, then, religion is the interpretability and the acceptability of everyday realities on the one hand, and the meaningful relatedness of those realities on the other. According to C. Geertz, religion with its system of symbols acts to make the world view and the ethos of a people a closely knitted whole. The world view is the way, according to a given people, "things in sheer actuality are," and "a people's ethos is the tone, character, and quality of their life, its moral and aesthetic style and mood; it is the underlying attitude towards themselves and their world that life reflects." 2 P. Tillich similarly describes religion as "an attitude of the spirit in which practical, theoretical, and emotional elements are united to form a complex whole." 3

The religious dimension in Mao Tsetung Thought
With the above undersanding of religion, a religious dimension can be viewed as underlying Mao Tsetung Thought. The following paragraphs will explain what we mean by this.

The idea of social development
In July 1955, Mao describes his dissatisfactions with the way economic development was unfolding itself, and the Great Leap Forward policy began to be formulated. By the time of the Third Five Year Plan, the principle motivating the GLF was consolidated and priority was given to the lessening of the gap between industry and agriculture, between the urban and the rural areas, and between the intellectual and the manual work. From the decision he then made, a religious dimension seems to have been present in his thought. We do not mean to identify the GLF policy and the values he then affirmed with religion. Neither are we suggesting that the opponents of that policy have no religious dimension implicit in their thought. The difference might have been in the content of the religious dimension. In Mao's case, it seems that the fear he expresses, namely, that the work-peasant alliance might break up, indicates a "stepping out" of the situation and a viewing of the same from the standpoint of an ultimate concern.

China was then high in international rankings of economic growth. 4 That Mao should have been dissatisfied and afraid precisely at such a moment indicates that the understanding of reality underlying his thought makes economic growth into a preliminary concern. Given Mao's numerous statements revealing his wish and his effort to speed up the process of industrialization, the ultimacy of his central concern stands out even more clearly. The imperative to alter the trend of development seems to arise from the standpoint of the whole of reality. From such a viewpoint, life is no longer seen in quantitative terms, but quality becomes more important. From the same viewpoint, one is not satisfied with structures only, that is, with reason providing maximum progress in high technology and development ad infinitum.

Mao's way of dealing with the issue of social development may appear to be idiosyncracy to some and political romanticism to others. To us, Mao's position in this issue as in others clearly presupposes a totality of view, a sense of mutual dependence of structure and meaning, and an ultimate concern which transcends all other concerns. The whole that is presupposed is unified, teleological, and sacred. We will clarify what we mean by these categories.

A metaphysical whole is also a whole, but it is not a unified whole. Its static character repels parts. Mao's sense of totality and interrelatedness locates security neither in a static whole nor in parts. It unites both the whole and the part. The unified whole indicates that Mao relates himself to a reality beneath appearances, a reality which is the ground beneath the surface where the whole and the part compete, an abysmal reality which unites and transcends opposites and which we call "depth."

The whole that is presupposed in Mao's thought is a teleological whole. It does not locate meaning at the end of history or beyond history in a realm different from the historical, but it tends towards integral meaning at every point in history. The telos is always near at hand; yet it is not totally reached. The process assumes thus primary importance. The expectation of fulfillment challenges from within each given situation for new forms, for greater meaning, for more relatedness. Yet, the teleological whole does not reject the old as such. On the contrary, the historical process appears dotted with moments where the same telos had become manifest. Only a teleological whole can in its process creatively unite opposites such as the old and the

new. But it can do so because it is related to the depth of history, to that reality beneath the historical process which sustains the latter by giving it meaning. The teleological whole can unite and hold opposites together because it is related to a reality in the light of which the aim of history appears to be so sublime that the warring opposites within the current of history are relativized and therefore reconciled albeit momentarily.

The whole presupposed in Mao's thought is a sacred whole. Its symbols are purely secular, yet implicitly they speak of an ultimate concern, and only a sacred whole can be the object of an ultimate concern. Nationalism, communism, socialist revolution, socialist construction, development, and humanity all have great significance for Mao. Interpreted in certain ways, these policy goals can become opposites; that is, nationalism can militate against communism, socialist revolution against socialist construction, and economic development against the mass line approach to development. In Mao's thought, however, these sets of opposites are held together. These sets of categories, it seems, would bcome irreconcilables if they were taken in their literal sense. Mao holds them together because implicitly they are symbols for him as well as policy goals. They are symbols for him because: (1) They are not abstract ideas but part of the concrete reality in which the Chinese people including Mao parti- cipate; (2) They are related to their own depth－－nationalism to a vocational consciousness, communism to the communal dimension of the socio-political realities as they are given, development to human relations, humanity to the needs of the poor and blank; and (3) Their own depth points to a sacred whole which is the object of Mao's ultimate concern. Short of a relation to the sacred whole, it seems that the elusive depth of these symbols could easily disappear. The ultimate concern which focuses on depth not only holds the opposites in tension, but also it sustains the symbols in their humanizing function.

Thus the need for technology is keenly felt by Mao. But he must needs ask the question of the why of technology. The demand to turn the course of development towards greater inter- relatedness was unconditional. From this, we infer that his understanding of reality is underpinned by a depth. The totality that Mao's thought presupposes is able to unite the opposites because it is a unified, teleological, and sacred whole, and a whole that is related to the depth of reality which in turn gives depth to Mao's thought. From the depth of reality, an imperative emerges causing structure to seek meaning. A vision of the good is implied in the move, a vision according to which technological progress must be subordinate to human purposes, and modernization must start from the given Chinese situation interpreted as a whole.

For Mao, the growth of the Gross National Product is seen in the context of the welfare of the peasant masses, of the growth and the transformation of the person, and of the interdependence among different sectors in society. While the conditions of under- development tend to subordinate all else to modernization and industrialization, China under Mao stands for a notion of social development that is the total development of the human person. Technologization and humanization constitute mutually competing opposites. To hold both together in a creative way is an impossible task unless both are transcended in the light of the depth of reality. It seems that Mao's thought has a religious dimension freeing it from the pressures of life and of history because it is related to the depth in which there is space to view problems from a distance. From the viewpoint of depth, what capitalist society considers important is secondary in importance to Mao, and what constitutes the core of alienation in capitalist societies is truly resisted. Mao's statement to the effect that the contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie constitutes the major contradiction during the socialist stage is perhaps the best illustration of the depth in his thought.

The viewpoint of depth does not mean a heteronomous approach to suppress the human needs for economic development, for modernization, and for technology. Heteronomy implies an alien power working against the claims of reason and of structure. If the approach to social development through depth were heteronomous, Mao might have taken a more moralistic approach and advocated certain attitudes, norms, and styles as blueprints to be modeled. Mao's attitude is more than this. It involves a basic directedness that is not the sum total of a number of behavioral practices. It is a spirit that can only result from a state of being grasped by an ultimate concern, an ultimate concern which does not suppress structure, but one that seeks its fulfillment.

Mao's approach through depth may have resulted in the preference of elementary technology for certain areas that are beginning to modernize, and through intermediate technology to let it develop towards high technology. But this gradual process of development at a different pace in different localities is not anti-technology. Mao's slogan "Walking on two legs" that describes the process implies a balance and a unity. Technology united with meaning seems more likely to be an instrument of peace although in the course of its implementation, struggles in the superstructure may be involved. Technology according to the First Five Year Plan model minimizes struggle. But it may bring in its wake a widening gap between different social groups, and this gap might become the basis of future cataclysmic strifes.

Thus the centrality of Mao's theory on struggle paradoxically combines with a long range vision of relative peace. In unveiling the reality of present contradictions, future antagonistic contradictions can be avoided. Mao's fear lest the worker-peasant alliance be broken speaks volumes. It results from a sensitivity that prefers reality to appearance. Perhaps his self-identification with the poor and the lower-middle peasants explains in part this preference. But such a self-identification itself seems to point to a prior experience of being grasped by an ultimate concern.

The means of social change

If religion is viewing reality from the standpoint of depth, a standpoint which locates all socio-political structures, and structures of meaning in the context of ultimate meaning, then Mao's class theory and his theory of the state both point to a religious dimension in his thought.

Mao's class theory affirms the class nature of revolutionary struggles. The complex nature of classes in China, however, prevents him from assigning the role of dictatorship in an exclusive sense to any one of the existing classes, not even to the industrial proletariat. Strictly speaking, social change is not the prerogative of any one social class since both interdependence and conflict characterize the relationship between any two of the classes existing in Chinese society. Belongingness to the industrial proletariat does not automatically make the person in question an agent for social change.

The same happens in the case of the Chinese Communist Party as the vanguard. The latter is the most important means for social change. But social change depends on much more than the vanguard. The "much more" can be thought of in terms of "the stand, viewpoint, and method of Marxism-Leninism." This stand, viewpoint or method seems to be something that grasps and changes the person. Once the person is so grasped, he or she is freed from servile dependence on dogma, from arrogance in holding a position of authority, and from confinement to his/her self-interest.

What Mao means by the Marxist-Leninist stand, viewpoint, or method seems to imply a religious dimension which we have called self-transcendence, dimension of depth, standpoint of the whole of reality, directedness towards the unconditional, or ultimate concern. When Mao speaks of the need for the cadre to take the Marxist-Leninist viewpoint he seems to describe a transition into a larger whole within which one finds an anchorage so unshakable that it dispels all fear of disclosing oneself and one's mistakes. The viewpoint of the whole results in an intern- alization of the criterion between right and wrong, good and evil. It does not safeguard from mistakes, but it provides one with the ability to see one's mistakes and the courage to criticize oneself as well as to accept criticism.

Thus the means of social change as understood by Mao seems to involve both the person and a reality that is not alien to the person but beyond the person. The proletariat, the vanguard, and the state are all subordinate to such a reality. From the Marxist-Leninist standpoint, a higher principle or criterion emerges. This principle is not an object of rational knowledge, and it does not result from heredity. It can only be thought of as a gift. One can lay conditions for the emergence of such a principle or criterion, but education alone cannot inculcate it. The "airing of views" within the Party is an important way to enable the emergence of such a criterion. But ultimately, the process does not guarantee such an emergence. Mao's democratic centralism seems to indicate that neither the democratic process nor the centralist form is sufficient to ensure the presence of the higher principle or criterion in the Party, but that both process and form ought to be transcended and united with import and meaning.

From the standpoint of the whole of reality, the self-abnegation that is expected of the vanguard is at the same time the cause of its fulfillment. For, to have structure united with meaning is to invest the vanguard's power with the basis of that power, namely, justice. Such a unity links socialist construction and socialist revolution directly with the origin and the first experiences of the Communist movement in China. In the beginning, the sense of justice provided the driving force for the revolution. If Mao shifted from a reformist position to a revolutionary one, it is only because violence was considered inevitable given the existing structures with all the violence they implied. The revolution was justified, in Mao's view, because of the need of the oppressed masses for liberation. In the unity of power and justice, a proletarian being had emerged.

According to Mao, the same foundation of the power then seized must be the foundation of the power that the vanguard exercises later on. From his viewpoint, it is not only reasonable that the vanguard subordinate itself under a higher principle, but also it is in such a subordination that the vanguard finds its own fulfillment by finding its own reason to be. Moreover, there is greater possibility for the vanguard to reach its strategic and tactical goals upon the basis of the proletarian being since the majority of the nation will then more easily recognize themselves in the vanguard.

The nature of dialectics
In Mao's view of history, freedom as decision, that is, freedom that goes towards the shaping of history is different from a notion of self-sufficiency. The communal decisions for self- reliance as experienced in the Border Region during the War of Resistance involves the notion of responsibility for oneself and for one another. That experience speaks of the need for all involved－－the army, the Party, the people－－to meet survival needs together as a community. It also speaks of the awareness of a people that they had nothing more to lose. This double aspect seems to involve the gaining of a distance from the everyday realities, a distance and an inner freedom which indicate the presence of a religious dimension. Along with the concrete outcome of the communal decision－－increased production, improved technology, better organization, victory in war, etc.－－an answer as to the question of the meaning of life seems to have been experienced, an answer which provides Mao with a vision of the good. Later on, in spite of changed circumstances, his thought remains directed towards the same principle of interdependence.

Self-reliance involving the principle of mass mobilization implies an understanding of reality as a whole. For, different from an atomistic notion of self-sufficiency, self-reliance involves a communal dimension. The 'self ' of the social unit is constituted by different sectors in society relating to one another and bearing the responsibility for one another. The Yenan experience is not designed to fit a preconceived idea of a whole. Circumstances led to it. However, it seems to correspond to Mao's understanding of reality according to which the inter-relatedness of being is an essential element. The experience provides him with an answer as to the question of the meaning of life. In this sense, it has a lasting impact on his thought.

We do not mean to say that henceforth Mao made Yenan into a structural blueprint to be modeled on all levels of society. Rather, the experience seems to confirm in Mao the understanding of meaning or of wholeness as inseparable from structure. Social structure must embody interdependence in a realistic, not in an abstract or a dogmatic way. This involves a transcendence of self-sufficiency. When this happens, freedom as decision overcomes destiny but destiny is at the same time regarded as the context providing the possibility for freedom to overcome it. The unity of mutually repelling opposites must involve, we assume, a religious dimension. For, what we mean by transcendence is not a shift from freedom to destiny or vice versa. It is the understanding of both as representing but partial meaning that a tending towards integral meaning transcends both while uniting them.

According to Mao, the same law of the unity of opposites between quantitative and qualitative changes applies to both nature and history, though with a difference in the two cases. Three propositions seem to be affirmed by Mao in his view of history. From all three of them, one might infer that a religious dimension is present: (1) Becoming is better than being; (2) Being and becoming are dialectically related; (3) There is no definitive synthesis between being and becoming in history.

Mao's argument regarding the superiority of becoming to being can be formulated as follows: contradictoriness within being leads to becoming and history is propelled forward by becoming. This happens in nature also. If it happens in nature, Mao's argument seems to imply, it must be an objective law. Therefore, it is normal that it should also happen in history. This argument makes it understandable why the qualitative leap which is identified with revolutionary change in history is also used to describe the evolutionary process in nature.

Upon closer examination, however, "qualitative change" or becoming in nature does not cover the same content as when it is used in relation to history. Whereas in nature, the evolutionary process moves on in an infinite succession of forms one higher than the other, in history, the process of becoming follows a more tortuous path. It is partly on account of this difference that Mao offers the model in nature to be followed by the makers of history; that is to say, nature presents a challenge to history to move towards true progress. But 'progress' in the true sense is a prerogative of history although ultimately, that is, from the viewpoint of the unconditional, the two notions of history and of nature seem to merge into one same whole.

As we have discussed above, becoming in history involves a process both similar to and different from natural selection. It is similar to natural selection in that the strong overcome the weak when two forces confront each other in revolutionary wars. It differs from natural selection in that the whole notion of class struggle places the hope and the faith in victory on the side of the proletariat which is the weak, the powerless, and the exploited vis-a-vis the bourgeoisie. Needless to say, the proletariat must organize themselves and build up their power before they can overcome the bourgeoisie. But deep within the Marxist faith and hope is the affirmation that it is the weak that represent the true and the good. A meaning dimension is thus given to becoming in history, a dimension that is lacking in the process of natural selection. Faith and hope imply, it seems, a stance from an ultimate concern directed towards the unconditional making it possible for those grasped by such a faith and such a hope to see what the lay people's eyes do not see.

Characteristic of Mao's thought, one pole is never emphasized to the exclusion of the other. Thus in emphasizing becoming, he makes a strong point that being is not to be neglected. Being and becoming must be held in tension in such a way that both gradualism and adventurism can be overcome. From this, we again infer that a religious dimension is present in his thought allowing him the space and the freedom in which to reconcile the two opposites. Mao does not hesitate to deny a definitive synthesis in history that would abolish all contradictions. His statement to the effect that capitalist ideological influence will definitively be eliminated one day is to be understood, it seems, along with other statements which confirm his belief that there will still be qualitative changes in Communist societies. Given his understanding that qualitative change comes from contradictoriness within, one might conclude that the contradiction in Communist societies, according to him, may not be that between capitalism and socialism, between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, but new ones the nature of which no one can predict.

At this point, history and nature seem to join together in Mao's theory of the dialectics between being and becoming. Without a definitive synthesis in history. Communism is hoped for, not guaranteed, and from Mao's optimism in nature, we might infer that his hope is grounded where nature and history meet. Such a meeting point cannot but be there where both are transcended. The locus of meaning for Mao being both within history－－the superiority of becoming over being sufficiently shows his emphasis on history－－and beyond it is a strong indication of a religious dimension in his thought.

The notion of fulfillment
The Chinese Revolution according to Mao struggled on two fronts. First of all, it opposes the feudal structures in the socio-economic, the political, and the cultural realms. To do this, it relies on reason as the critical principle. The land reform is organized on the basis of a rationale and under efficient leadership. It differs in quality from primitive revolts. The peasants especially are taught to transcend personal interest and clan spirit. The process designed to lead the peasants, the workers, and the masses from a class in itself to a class for itself is an educational process based on revolutionary reason, that is, on a critical principle which, by its function, affirms that the principle of justice begins with justice in the economic realm. Social injustices, such as existed with regard to the young, to women, and to the lumpen- proletariat, are also directly or indirectly fought against, and mass participation in class struggle extends the principle of justice into the political arena.

Secondly, the Chinese Revolution according to Mao fights against technical rationality in all its manifestations. Thus class struggle is more than a redistribution of wealth or a reversal of power. A qualitative difference is manifest in that all parts involved participate in the struggle as parts of a whole. The women's liberation is put in the context of responsibility; military work in the context of political work, economic production and scientific experimentation in that of class struggle. The organic view of the whole unites survival needs with meaning needs. The critical principle of rationality gains distance from itself as technical reason in order to criticize itself. This, it seems, is done because in Mao's thought, there is a higher principle which transcends reason, on the one hand, and which resists the emergence of a new feudal power, on the other.

In the light of this higher principle, the depth of tradition is united with the depth of reason through an understanding of justice as the basis of authority. Claims for justice in the form of popular revolts have been numerous in Chinese history. Thus, Mao's thought, because it is directed towards the unconditional, unites the critical principle with the root of the Chinese tradition. Mao's statement to the effect that the Chinese substance－－like his general line is something that cannot be changed supports our interpretation. Elsewhere Mao speaks of the Chinese substance differently. He says:

We must learn many things from foreign countries and master them. We must especially master fundamental theory. Some people advocate 'Chinese learning as the substance, Western learning for practical application.' Is this idea right or wrong? It is wrong. The word learning' in fact refers to fundamental theory. Fundamental theory should be the same in China as in foreign countries. There should be no distinction between Chinese and Western things in fundamental theory.

Marxism is a fundamental theory which was produced in the West .... Marxism is a general truth which has universal application. We must accept it. . . . It was only because the Chinese people accepted Marxism and combined it with the practice of the Chinese revolution that they won victory in the Chinese revolution. 5

In our view, the two statements do not contradict each other. The 'Chinese substance' is given new expression through a Marxist revolution; in the Marxian perspective, Mao finds something that corresponds to the way the Chinese people understand reality and know how they ought to relate to it. Mao seems to be able to unite the Western and the Chinese because both are seen as conditional in the light of an unconditional demand. In this, he shows a religious dimension in his thought.

The availability of truth
In epistemology, Mao's materialistic position puts the emphasis on practice so that reason may be freed from its conditioning factors. But Mao's materialism is dialectical. The revolutionary practice transforming the productive forces does not lead automatically to truth in the superstructure. Practice is both guided by theory and it reflects back on theory. If the step leading from theory to practice is a deepening movement according to Mao, the step from practice back to theory also involves courage and willingness to rectify oneself and one's theory. For, theory and practice as a unity of opposites are not only mutually interdependent, but also mutually conflictual. 6

The fact that Mao's epistemology holds theory and practice in tension implies a transcendence of both in the direction of the unconditional. For, in spite of Mao's understanding of truth as open towards infinite possibilities, there is a fundamental perspective－－that of Marxism-Leninism－－to which he continues to refer, a perspective which continues to grasp him and to change him. At the same time, a good seems to be present that urges him to undertake some of the decisions in spite of the great risks involved. This fundamental perspective with the good it points to in a given situation provide Mao's epistemology with an anchorage in which theory and practice could be united because they are both transcended. And this point of anchorage from which arise unconditional imperatives indicates the presence of the religious dimension. For, unless this point of unity in depth has an opening on the unconditional, it seems that Mao's epistemology would either make Marxism-Leninism into a dogma or relinquish it in favor of an activism in response to some immediate needs thus disregarding the initial concern which had launched theory into practice.

Soteriology
The epistemological principle and the normative question related to it constitute perhaps the most important issue that can be raised about Mao's thought. Mao's own answer to this issue can be summed up under the category of 'the mass line.' However, this answer would not seem to be satisfactory because the mass line has many concrete manifestations in the economic, the political, and the cultural realms none of which exhausts the answer to the question: Who decides what is the good?

Basically, Mao seems to understand reality to manifest itself in such contradictory ways that the answer cannot be an either/or in issues such as redness versus expertise, democracy versus centralism, raising the standard in art and literature versus popularization. No structure guarantees the correctness of decisions. The mass line as an answer that holds both poles would not seem to be a real answer.

If, however, the mass line is viewed as holding more than principles for ad hoc policy-making and more than abstract ideas deduced from previous decisions made, then the answer it provides to the normative question can be real. The answer contained in the notion of the mass line is a religious answer. For, nowhere else as in this notion does Mao's thought better indicate the presence of a religious dimension.

The mass line draws parts together in the different realms of political life as well as in between the realms. The direction it points to is clearly one of the belongingness and the inter-relatedness of being as over against exclusive self-relatedness. Its integrating tendency in the public realm shows that a faith is involved, a faith that has an opening on ultimate meaning. Without such an opening, it seems that some fragments would have been taken as the whole. It is from the viewpoint of a whole without boundary, metaphorically speaking, that fragments can remain being recognized as fragments, on the one hand, and that each fragment can be seen as vitally important in the light of the boundless whole, on the other. Once again, we hold that Mao's thought as shown in the mass line principle reveals a fundamental assumption as to the unconditional.

The vision of the good that is implied in the mass line－－and for that matter, also implied in the broader category of the Marxist-Leninist perspective－－is an outcome of faith. As Mao himself puts it, the Marxist world view is a matter of belief and to be a real Communist, one must be "reborn." It is clear that individual transformation, according to Mao, involves such a faith, and that social transformation in the sense of an all-round humanization depends much on a vanguard that has such a faith. One might infer from this that even the individual cannot force transformation to come about himself or herself. However, it is important to lay the conditioning factors that would favor such a transformation. For, although structure and process do not guarantee faith, faith must needs be embodied in structure and it often emerges in process.

With the faith dimension of the mass line in view, the answer to the normative question that the mass line provides can perhaps be summarized as follows: (1) In matters of government, the "better" is preferable to the "best"; (2) The ones who make the decision ought to be rooted in the Marxist perspective; (3) The good decision is based on the presupposition that parts of a whole are organically related; (4) "Democracy in full measure" with its ethos of openness, vigor, and liveliness is the environmental requisite of the good; (5) There is no decision-maker so absolute that his or her authority cannot be questioned and severely so. Mao's thought, in teaching these principles to the Party and to the people at large, has the potential, it seems, of creating a people that is conscious of its dignity, unafraid of political participation, and a people who know that they must stay together for their own sakes as well as for the sake of the whole.

In short, the normative question is answered by the mass line principle through its double aspect as a constitutive principle and as a corrective. The fact that it involves a dimension of spirit indicates its 'religious' character. For, to live by the mass line, one must have the ability to step out of the situation, and with a sense of freedom from it take the necessary risks. The mass line is thus indicative of the religious dimension in Mao's thought.　

1.Mircea Eliade, Images and Symbols (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1969), p. 15.

2.C. Geertz, The interpretation of Cultures (New York: Basic Books, 1973), pp. 126- 27.

3.P. Tillich, What Is Religion? ed. and introduction by James L. Adams (New York: Harper and Row, 1973), p. 160.

4.Ta-chung Liu, "Economic Development of the Chinese Mainland, 1949-1965," in Ping-ti Ho and Tang Tsou, eds., China in Crisis (1968) 1, bk. 2: 625.

5.Mao, "Chairman Mao's Talk to Music Workers" (August 24, 1956), pp. 85-86.

6.P. Tillich says in this respect: "Practice resists theory, . . . it demands an activism which cuts off every theoretical investigation before it has come to its end. In practice, one cannot do otherwise, for one must act before one has finished thinking. On the other hand, the infinite horizons of thinking cannot supply the basis for any concrete decision with certainty" (Systematic Theology 1: 93).


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prepared by: Holy Spirit Seminary College  

作者：施惠淳 Shield, Bernard J. 年份：1978

Recently I met a priest who does pastoral work in a busy Kowloon parish. He told me that some of his young parishioners are eager to learn more about the Bible, especially about the life of Christ in the Gospels, and he asked me what was available in Chinese. The present article can be seen as an answer to his question.

It is always more important to read the Bible than to read about the Bible. However, since the Bible was written so long ago and so far away and often deals with profound and com-plicated matters, the ordinary reader needs additional help to understand the written word of God. If he only reads the biblical text, there will not infrequently be times when he is in doubt about what the words mean.

Fortunately such assistance is easily available today. This article attempts to introduce to the reader such books published by Catholics in Chinese about the Bible. It has a deliberately limited objective. It does not list translations of the Bible, many of which provide commentaries and other helps, cf. the article on that subject in Theology Annual 1 (1977), pages 90-100. It concentrates on more serious writings, without completely neglecting popular booklets. It attempts to deal with books currently available from publishers or bookshops in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

To draw the line between books on the Bible and those on theology, spirituality, catechetics or preaching is not always easy; but for the sake of brevity, only works that deal manly with the Bible are listed here. For obvious reasons I make no comments on the Chinese style of the works mentioned.

Our Protestant and Anglican brethren have written or translated many Chinese books about the Bible, our common heritage, but to keep the present article within manageable proportions, only works published by Catholics are included.

Part I : Books about the Bible as a whole
1) 思高聖經學會編著，「聖經辭典」，思高聖經學會，1975
This is a major work of biblical scholarship which should be placed beside the Chinese Franciscan Bible. It provides information on every aspect of the Bible: each book of the Bible, important biblical persons and theological concepts, history, geography--all have articles devoted to them. Well illustrated and indexed, it is also splendidly printed and solidly bound, though the price is high. It possesses many of the good qualities and also some of the drawbacks noted in the monumental Chinese Franciscan Bible, cf. Theology Annual 1 (1977), page 96. This important dictionary is reviewed in 神學論集, No. 25 (1975), pages 457-467.

2) 陳真譯，「聖經研究簡介」，華明，1977
Fr. Luis Alonso Schokel is an internationally known Old Testament scholar and a professor at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, where almost all Catholic professors of Sacred Scripture receive their professional training. In this book he gives an enlightening account of how Catholics have approached the Bible since the sixteenth century Reformation up to Vatican Council II.

3) 李紹崑著，「聖經概論」，香港公教真理學會，1968
This work, introduced by the famous Chinese Catholic scholar Dr. John Wu Ching-hsiung, gives a general introduction to the Bible. Being an original work by Dr. Cyrus Lee Shao-k' un, its special feature is that it stresses the Chinese approach to the sacred writings.

4 ) 王敬弘著，「聖經是怎樣的一部書？」，光啟 1972
Fr. Richard Wang of Fujen University, Taiwan, wrote this short introduction to answer readers' questions about inspiration, revelation, the canon of the Bible and such-like matters, ending up with some practical advice on reading the Bible.

5 ) 趙雅博譯，「怎樣讀聖經」，光啟，1965
This is a translation of What is the Bible? written by the well-known French scholar Henri Daniel-Rops of the Academic Francaise for the 150-volume Faith and Fact series. It is probably the most comprehensive work of general introduction available in Chinese and is written in non-technical language.

6 ) 房志榮著，「聖經與聖經學」，光啟，1968
The author of this booklet is Fr. Mark Fang, Old Testament professor at Fujen University and editor of 「神學論集」 for a number of years, who has written-extensively on the Bible. This is one of his shorter writings, with four brief chapters on the Holy Land and the Bible; the Catholic Church and the Bible; reading and studying the Bible; and the historical value of the Bible. These were originally a series of lectures.

7 ) 盛常在譯，「聖經－－主愛的盟約」，光啟，1968
Some of the customary introductory questions are dealt with in this translated booklet (the original author's name is omitted for some reason). It has a section on biblical problems and ends with advice on how to read the Bible with profit.

8 ) 王敬弘，劉賽眉合著，「聖經十講」，十冊，光啟，1973
This set of ten attractively produced booklets covers the usual ground of biblical introduction. It has the advantage of being the most recently written work of its kind in Chinese. It gives helpful advice on such things as how to set up a Bible study group and how the Bible can help us to pray better. There are also pamphlets in the set providing necessary information on the historical background of both Old and New Testaments.

9 ) 房志榮著，「聖經與人生」，聞道，1971
Fr. Mark Fang deals in this booklet with such questions as: Now that we have the New Testament, do we need the Old Testament? What has the Bible to say to modem man? Wisdom in the Bible and in Chinese culture--what have they in common?

10) 房志榮著，「天主教與基督教聖經的異同」，聞道，1970
Is the Catholic Bible identical with the Bible read by the Protestants? Fr. Fang explains the differences and how and why they arose. He adds in an appendix a useful list of the Catholic and the Protestant names in Chinese for the books of the Bible and their abbreviated titles.

11) 房志榮著，王敬弘合著，「聖經信箱」，光啟，1974
These 163 questions and answers originally appeared in a regular column conducted by Frs. Fang and Wang in the periodical「聖化」over several years. They deal with a great variety of questions that readers asked about the Bible, about half of them concerning the New Testament.

12) 徐牧民譯，「關於聖經的問題」，光啟，1964
A similar but much shorter pamphlet written by Fr. Francis McCool of the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, which answers questions commonly asked, e.g. what does the Bible teach about the origin of man and of the universe?

13) 周湛華譯，「天主的證人」，香港公教真理學會，1967
A series of eighteen sketches by the English biblical writer Fr. Leonard Johnston of prominent biblical personalities, mostly from the Old Testament, such as Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, John the Baptist.

14) 韓承良編著，「聖地朝聖指南」，思高聖經學會，1977
One of the only books I have seen in Chinese written to help the pilgrim to the Holy Land. It gives an outline of the general history of Palestine and then information on what one can see at the many places that figure in the Bible. The illustrations are somewhat disappointing.

In Chinese, then, there exists a good variety of popular works to introduce people to the Bible, but nothing as yet by a Catholic scholar dealing thoroughly with the more profound questions in a scientific, up-to-date, technical way, to compare for example with A. Wikenhauser's New Testament Introduction or Robert-Feuillet's two-volume Introduction to the Bible.

Part II : Books about the Old Testament
1 ) 周士良譯，「舊約以色列民族史」，光啟，1967
This rather detailed history of the Jewish people in biblical times was written by Henri Daniel-Rops, mentioned above.

2) 房志榮著，「梅瑟五書批判小史」，聞道，1968
Fr. Mark Fang attempts in this short pamphlet to introduce his readers to the new approach to the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, especially since the time of Julius Wellhausen. He summarizes the official Catholic teaching on these complex questions.

3 ) 房志榮編譯，「梅瑟五書的寫成－－兼論舊約的其他諸書」，聞道，1968
Fr. Fang briefly deals with how the Pentateuch reached its present form and also with the completion of the whole Old Testament. He acknowledges his debt to Fr. Norbert Lohfink, the German Old Testament specialist.

4 ) 房志榮著，「梅瑟五書的作者與特徵」，聞道，1971
This booklet discusses the sources of the Pentateuch as commonly accepted today and also the place of the Law and the Covenant in the Pentateuch.

5 ) 房志榮著，「創世紀研究」，光啟，1972
This is a full-length 200-page work in which Fr. Fang provides a detailed, full-scale treatment of the text of the book of Genesis, concentrating on the much discussed first eleven chapters.

6 ) 王敬弘譯，「開天闢地」，光啟，1972
Cardinal Jean Danielou, who was more a patrologist than a scripture scholar, selects some major theological issues raised by the first three chapters of Genesis, such as the creation of the universe; the mystery of sin; and Adam and Christ.

7) 房志榮著，「走向自由的路－－出谷紀」，聞道，1970
Here Fr. Fang discusses the book of Exodus and in a densely written booklet explains how the book was written and what place it holds in the New Testament.

8) 胡安德譯，「以色列人的良心－－充軍期前的先知」，華明，1977
The Conscience of Israel is a very successful work of the respected U.S. scholar Fr. Bruce Vawter and provides an excellent, well-informed and non-technical introduction to the Pre- Exilic Prophets of the Old Testament.

9) 詹德隆，張雪珠等合著，「第二依撒意亞－－引論兼簡易詮釋」，光啟，1973
The Fujen Theological Series published this work on Second Isaiah (chapters 1-39 of Isaiah). It was prepared, like several other volumes in the series, by some of the students in the Theology Faculty of Fujen University, Taipei, as a result of seminar work. It discusses many relevant questions, e.g. the prophetic movement; critical and historical questions concerning the book of Isaiah; the Servant Songs; Second Isaiah and the liturgy; and adds a useful bibliography of Chinese and English writings on Isaiah.

10) 劉家正等編著，「耶肋米亞先知－－他的生活和信息」，光啟，1974
This is a parallel work to the preceding prepared by the Fujen theology students on the prophet Jeremiah. It provides some detailed exegesis of important passages.

11) 劉家正等編著，「約伯面對朋友及天主」，光啟，1974
In the same Fujen Theological Series, we have a thorough textual exegesis, followed by a theological synthesis of the enigmatic book of Job.

12) 呂芬蓉，曹定人合譯，「聖詠－－聖詠結構及意義」，華明，1977
This is a translation of a well-established book on the Psalms by the Dutch Trappist, Pius Drijvers. It gives a rather complete treatment of the customary questions, e.g. the origin of the Psalms; the various types; their use as prayers. It also prints the complete text of the Psalms in the Franciscan translation.

13) 房志榮，于士錚合譯，「絕妙禱辭－－聖詠」，光啟，1976
Fr. Augustin George, a French biblical scholar, concentrates on the spiritual and theological riches of the Psalms, but without neglecting important literary and critical issues. Fr. M. Fang, one of the translators, appends three of his own articles on the Psalter, previously published elsewhere.

14) 胡國楨等編著，「箴言－－簡介與詮釋」，光啟，1978
The most recent volume in the Fujen Theological Series is a full-length study of the Book of Proverbs, giving detailed exegesis and a general introduction on the Old Testament wisdom literature. There is an interesting comparative table of Chinese and Old Testament proverbs and a good bibliography in Chinese and English.

On the Old Testament we now have some highly competent work done by Fr. M. Fang and also by foreign experts such as Vawter, Drijvers and George. But apart from these writings on the Pentateuch, on the Psalms and on two of the prophets and Proverbs, together with the Franciscans' 8-volume translation and commentary, there exists almost nothing by Catholic writers in Chinese on vast tracts of the Old Testament, and in particular no up-to-date commentaries either at the popular or scientific levels.

Part III: Books about the New Testament
1) 田永正譯，「教會與新經」，光啟，1967
Fr. Patrick Fannon, the English biblical scholar, adds a subtitle to the original booklet: "the birth of the New Testament from the life of the Church". He explains how the New Testament was gradually written to meet the needs and circumstances of the early Church and that it still has an intimate connection with the daily life of the modern follower of Christ.

2 ) 房志榮編著，「新約諸書分類簡介」，光啟，1972
To compose this very useful small book, Fr. Fang took the introductions to all the books of the New Testament as found in the complete edition of the Jerusalem Bible and translated them into Chinese.

3 ) 周納爵譯，「福音概論」，光啟，1957
Fr. Joseph Huby, the French biblical writer, wrote this systematic treatment of each of the four Gospels and their writers and special characteristics. It provides a lot of basic information, but having been written between the two World Wars, is not now up-to-date on various critical questions.

4) 馬駿聲著，「福音與信仰」，光啟，1964
"Are the Gospels trustworthy?", that is the question which Fr. Eugene Zsamar, a Hungarian missionary who spent his life among the Chinese and wrote a series of books in Chinese on spirituality, attempts to answer in this booklet. His answers are the traditional ones, common in text-books earlier this century but now needing updating.

5) 張春申著，「福音新論」，光啟，1973
Fr. A.B. Chang has taught dogmatic theology at Fujen University for some years. His Modern Criticism of the Gospels presents biblical-theological studies of Christ's Baptism, Temptation and Transfiguration, preceded by a set of chapters on modern Catholic critical study of the Gospels and its effect on our understanding of historicity, inspiration and related topics. This is a valuable work by a prominent Catholic theologian.

6) 王敬弘譯，「福音中的歷史性真理」，聞道，1973
In 1964 the Pontifical Biblical Commission published an important statement on the historicity of the Gospels, in effect giving the official Catholic position towards Rudolf Bultmann and his influential school of Form Criticism. This document of the Biblical Commission, which was taken up into the Vatican II Constitution on Divine Revelation, has been translated into Chinese by Fr. Richard Wang who added Fr. Joseph Fitzmyer's informed commentary on it from Theological Studies of 1964.

7 ) 蔣梅等譯，「新約導讀叢書」，十四冊，光啟，1974-77
This is a series of 14 short commentaries on each book of the New Testament forming the Chinese version of the popular U.S. series. New Testament Reading Guides. They are quite readable and informative, and in some cases are of real value where done by outstanding scholars, e.g. Raymond Brown on John; R.A.F. MacKenzie on New Testament Introduction; David Stanley on Matthew; Barnabas Ahern on Galatians and Romans. The Chinese translations were done in Taiwan by a group of university students under the supervision of Fr. Richard Wang. The full biblical text is also printed, in the Franciscan translation.

8 ) 帆行譯，「馬爾谷福音詮解」，光啟，1962
In the 1920's and 1930's the Verbum Salutis commentaries on the New Testament books appeared in France. The Gospels commentaries subsequently were published in English. Only one of these commentaries has appeared in Chinese: Fr. Joseph Huby's commentary on Mark's Gospel which was translated in Shanghai in the late 1940's and reprinted in Taiwan. It is a substantial work, stressing the theological and spiritual aspects, but is outdated from the exegetical and critical points of view.

9) 韓承良編著，「瑪竇福音教師手冊」，「路加福音教師手冊」，「宗徒大事錄教師手冊」，思高聖經學會，1976
These three booklets were prepared to help those teaching Biblical Knowledge for the Hong Kong Secondary Schools Certificate of Education examination, which in New Testament prescribes The Acts of the Apostles and one of the Synoptic Gospels in rotation. Each booklet is divided into a certain number of lessons and gives a short bibliography for further reading in Chinese and English. The volume on the other Synoptic Gospel, Mark, does not seem to have been published as yet.

10) 房志榮編著，「保祿使徒的生活，書信及神學」，光啟，1974
This work, compiled by the indefatigable Fr. Fang, collects the introductory material on St. Paul, his life, letters and theology to be found in the highly-acclaimed Jerome Biblical Commentary and presents it, in slightly simplified form, in Chinese dress, resulting in the most up-to-date Catholic work on St. Paul in Chinese.

11) 傅文輝譯，「怎樣讀聖保祿書信」，光啟，1967
A useful book on St. Paul by Fr. Francois Amiot, the French biblical scholar. It is on a popular level, covering somewhat the same ground as the preceding work but not as well.

There are some useful books in Chinese on the New Testament but they are not numerous. We must record the astonishing fact that apart from the Franciscans' three volumes of New Testament text and commentary and the New Testament Reading Guide series dating back almost twenty years, there is only one commentary of any size on one of the four Gospels and virtually nothing on any of the other 26 books of the New Testament, the basic writings of the Christian religion.

Part IV: Biblical Theology
1) 聖經神學辭典編譯委員會譯，「聖經神學辭典」，三卷，光啟，1975-78
This is a major reference work, edited by Fr. Xavier Leon-Dufour with articles contributed by the leading biblical scholars of the French-speaking world. The Chinese version is translated directly from the original French in its second, greatly enlarged edition. This standard work has articles on all the theological concepts of both the Old and New Testaments. The French and English editions follow a purely alphabetical order for the articles, where-as the Chinese rearranges the material into three volumes, dealing in turn with: God and the World; Christ and Salvation; The Holy Spirit and the Church; but for ease of consultation, adding indexes in Chinese, English and French.

2 ) 徐牧民譯，「古經要義」，光啟，1967
Fr. Albert Gelin, the French writer, gives a valuable short survey of the main themes of Old Testament theology under the headings: God's revelation in the Old Testament; God's plan for mankind; individual salvation.

3 ) 傅文輝譯，「聖經的人性觀」，光啟，1974
Fr. Gelin's study of Man in the Bible adopts a theological and spiritual approach.

4) 陶為翼譯，「萬民的天主－－以色列的天主/ 基督徒的天主」，光啟，1977
Fr. Jean Giblet, the French writer, edited this work which follows some key biblical themes, e.g. God's plan, God's revelation, God's call, God's faithfulness, as they develop right through the Old and New Testaments.

5 ) 侯景文譯，「基督之光」1970
This work of the famous French theologian Fr. Jules Lebreton is subtitled: "The Spiritual Doctrine of the New Testament".

6 ) 黃素蓮譯，「信證學與聖經中的基督」，光啟，1972
Apologetics and the Biblical Christ was written by the well-known U.S. theologian, Fr. Avery Dulles. In five chapters he discusses the impact of modern studies on the traditional approach to fundamental theology and apologetics.

7 ) 王敬弘譯，「天主子－－救世主」，光啟，1969
This is a competent work on how the Bible sees the divinity of Christ. Five prominent French exegetes contribute. Special attention is given to St. Paul and St. John.

On Biblical Theology, the fruit of detailed study of the sacred text, we have now one major work, the Dictionary of Biblical Theology, and half a dozen other volumes of fairly recent vintage. We still lack in-depth treatments of major writers (such as John and Paul) and of themes of the New Testament, particularly as seen through Chinese eyes.

Conclusion
Although this article aims at being comprehensive within the limits expressed, it appears to be a first voyage across a largely uncharted sea. So the compiler would be grateful to receive corrections and to learn of books in this field that have been overlooked in the present tentative list.

Two reflections suggest themselves at the conclusion of this rapid survey of Chinese Catholic books on the Bible: gratitude to those who have laboured long hours and months to produce our present Catholic literature on the Bible, whether written originally in Chinese (almost one half of the titles listed above) or translated from other languages; and secondly, a realization of the enormous task that remains to be done in this field by dedicated people who have a love of God's Word, who are prepared to master the tools of modern biblical study and who can write Chinese well－－an urgent and demanding example of "Localization". Only then can Catholic biblical writing in Chinese hope to take its place beside the extensive and profound Catholic writings on the Bible in the other great world languages.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prepared by: Holy Spirit Seminary College  

作者：嘉理陵 年份：1978

The following Bibliography is an initial attempt to gather together references to works in English on Basic Christian Communities. It is in general based on the material which is fairly readily available in Hong Kong, notably in the Library of Holy Spirit Seminary. Anyone who is interested in more extensive reading should consult the following international bibliographies:

Delespesse, Max, (edit). Courrier Communautaire International. (Brussels, Centre Communautaire International).

Floristan, C. "Les Communautes de base: compte rendu bibliographique". Concilium (Paris), 104(1975)133-141.

Pigault, G. Christian Communities/Communautes Chretiennes. International Bibliography 1972-1974. RIC (Repertoire bibliographique des institutions chretiennes/Bibliographical repertory of Christian institutions)－－Supplement No. 16 (Strasbourg, CERDIC, 1974).

I should like to thank Fr. B. J. Shields S.J. for his help in compiling this Bibliography.

Achutegui, Pedro S., S.J. (edit). Asian Colloquium . . . : see below, FABC.

Alting von Geusau, Leo. "The Basic Community Movement". IDOC International, 29(31 July, 1971)3-14.

Alting von Geusau, Leo. "Towards an International Analysis of New Forms of Community". IDOC International, 44(25 March, 1972)47-70.

Amalorpavadass, D.S. "On the Local Church, on Small Communities, on Missionary Motivation". The Bishops' Synod, 1974: Evangelization in Asia Today, Part 2, pp. 62-66. (Manila, n.d.)

AMECEA. Conclusions of the Fourth AMECEA (Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in East Africa) Plenary Meeting, Nairobi, Kenya, 15-22 July 1976.

Argiiello, Kiko. "To Renew Christian Life in Parishes－－Neo-catechumenal Communities". Christ to the World. 22(1977) 92-99.

Basic Christian Communities in the Church. Pro Mundi Vita Bulletin, 62 (Sept. 1976). Compiled by J. Kerkhofs S.I. with the cooperation of A. Mendoza and L. Hertsens W.F., on the basis of information available by November 1976. ("The Quest for Truly Human Communities", pp. 2-5; "Basic Ecclesial Communities in Latin America", pp. 6-12; "Basic Christian Communities in Africa", pp. 13-20; "Basic Christian Communities in Asia", pp. 21-22; "Basic Christian Communities in Europe", pp. 23-26; "Basic Christian Communities and Creativity", pp. 27-30; Appendix: "Extract from the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi", p. 31; "Extract from A Time for Building (Report of Joint Working Party on Pastoral Strategy. C.I.S. of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales)", p. 32.).

Besret, Bernard. "Communautes de base". IDOC International, 44(25 March, 1972)9-15.

Bianchi, Enzo. "Bose: An Interconfessional Community in Italy". Concilium, New Series, No. 9, Vol. 9 (1973)111-119.

Bravo, Francisco. "Laymen . . . is what it takes". America, 8 April 1967.

Briend, Theo. "A Fruitful Pastoral Experience in a Parish of 30,000 Souls in Brazil". Christ to the World, 21(1976)197-201.

Bright, Laurence, O.P. (edit). The Christian Community. Essays on the Role of the Church in the World. (London, Sheed and Ward, 1971). pp. vii, 168.

CCP National Team. Christian Formation Sessions For Basic Christian Communities, Part 1. (Manila, EAPI, 1977).

CELAM. The Church in the Present-Day Transformation of Latin America in the Light of the Council (The Medellin Documents), esp. Document 15, #10: "Basic Christian Communities". (Washington D.C., The Latin American Bureau, USCC, 1970).

Clark, David B. Basic Communities. (London, SPCK, 1977). pp. 200.

Clark, Stephen B. Building Christian Communities－－Strategy for Renewing the Church. (Notre Dame, Indiana, Ave Maria Press, 1972; Manila, Bea Institute, BCC Series, No. 5). pp. 189.

"Community Life in Brazil." The Tablet, (Jan. 1977) 45-46.

Currier, Richard. Agony and Ecstacy in Building Christian Community: A Pastoral Plan for the Catholic Church. (Ligourian Pamphlets, 1969).

Delespesse, Max. The Church Community, Leaven and Life-Style. (Ottawa, The Catholic Centre of St. Paul University, 1969).

DeSousa, D'Arcy A. "The Lost Dimension. The Sense of True Community". Lumen Vitae, 32(1977)197-206.

Dupuis, J., SJ. "Community and Ministry". FABC, Asian Colloquium . . ., pp. 223-243.

Dupuis, J., S.J. "Ministries in the Church. An Asian Colloquium". Vidyajyoti, 41(1977)243-260 (esp. pp. 248-250).

Edele, Andrew. Building Small Communities in Urban Areas. (AMECEA Documentation Series, 18 Jan. 1978).

FABC (Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences). Asian Colloquium on Ministries in the Church. Hong Kong, Feb. 27 Mar. 5, 1977. Edited by Pedro S. de Achutegui S.J. (Manila, Bea Institute, 1977). pp. xxiv, 496.

FABC. "Conclusions of the FABC Colloquium on Ministries in the Church. (Hong Kong, 27th Feb. 5th Mar. 1977)" (Extracts; full text in FABC, Asian Colloquium . . ., pp. 17-57). Vidyajyoti, 41(1977)279-289 (esp. pp. 283-285).

Fang, Mark, S.J., and Shields, B.J., S.J. "The Church as a Living Community in the New Testament". Teaching All Nations, 7(1970) 127-144; also in: Humphrey, Sinicization . . .: see below.

Greeley, Andrew. "The Persistence of Community". Concilium, New Series, No. 9, Vol. 1 (1973)23-35.

Gresh, Ted. (edit). Basic Christian Communities in the Philippines. (Manila, Bea Institute, 1977, BCC Series, No. 8). pp. viii, 139.

Gresh, Ted. (edit). New Ministries in the Church. An international Survey. (Manila, Bea Institute, 1977, BCC Series, No. 7).

Gresh, Ted. (edit). New Ministries in the Church. A Philippine Perspective. (Manila, Bea Institute, 1977, BCC Series, No. 6).

Gresh, Ted. (edit). New Wineskins for a Church in Ferment －－All About Basic Christian Communities. (Manila, Bea Institute, 1977, BCC Series, No. 4). pp. iv, 127.

Gresh, Ted. (edit). Outline－－A Core Course for Lay Leadership Formation. (Manila, Lay Formation Institute, 1976; Bea Institute, 1977, BCC Series, No. 2). pp. iv, 40.

Gresh, Ted. (edit). Readings on Basic Christian Communities in the Church. (Manila, Bea Institute, 1977, BCC Series, No. 1).

Hally, Cyril. "Japanese Community Models". Pro Mundi Vita Bulletin, 41(1972)29-32.

Harriot, John F.X., S.J. "Basic Communities in Asia". The Month, (March 1978)81-85.

HasenhuttI, Gotthold. "Church and Institution". Concilium, New Series, No. 10, Vol. 1 (1974)1-21.

Haughton, Rosemary. "The New Communities". Doctrine and Life, 27(1977) No. 5, 53-64.

Hearne, B. Theological Reflections on the Objectives of Christian Community. (AMECEA Documentation Series, 18 May 1976; AMECEA Plenary Study Conference, 1976, Position Paper, No. 2).

Hertens, L. "The Basic Community in African Churches". Pro Mundi Vita Bulletin, 41(1972)27-28.

Hofinger, J., S.J., and Sheridan, T.J., S.J. The Medellin Papers. A Selection from the Proceedings of the Sixth International Study Week on Catechetics, held at Medellin, Columbia, 11-17 August 1968. (Manila, EAPI, 1969). pp. 222.

Humphrey, Delos A., M.M. Sinicization. The Church as a Living Community (1969 Workshop); The Gospel of Christ and Modern China (1970 Workshop). (Taipei, 1971).

IDOC International 44, Editorial. "New Forms of Community". IDOC International, 44(25 March 1972)2-8.

International Colloquium on New Forms of Community Life (Louvain, 9-13 Sept. 1971). Pro Mundi Vita Bulletin, 41(1972)3-7.

J.C. "Life of a Christian Community in a Chinese Village". Christ to the World, 21(1976)202-205.

Kalilombe, P.A., Bishop. An Overall View On Building Christian Communities. (AMECEA Documentation Series, May 1976).

Kalilombe, P.A., Bishop. "Building Christian Communities". Lumen Vitae, 32(1977)175-196.

Kenney, Carlton. The Church Which Is His Body. (Cariton Kenney, P.O. Box 5036, Waco, Texas).

Kilian, S.J. Theological Models For The Parish. (With full bibliography). (New York, Alba House, 1977). pp. xi, 192.

Kosicki, G.W., C.S.B. "Steps Toward Christian Community". Review for Religious, 36(1977)467-477.

LADOC. Basic Christian Communities. (The LADOC "Keyhole" Series: Latin American Documentation, USCC, Washington; Manila, Bea Institute, 1977, BCC Series 3). pp. ii, 63.

Lohfink, Norbert, S.J. Experiences of Basic Christian Communities in West Germany. (Position Paper at Seventh Jesuit Ecumenical Congress, Frankfurt, 24-30 August, 1977).

Martin, Ralph. Unless the Lord Build The House . . . (esp. pp. 35-38, "Christian Community"). (Notre Dame, Indiana, Ave Maria Press, 1971). pp. 63.

Mensa Domini Catechetical Institute. Growing Up Towards a New Community: Practical Guide for Building Christian Communities. (San Jose, Antique, Philippines, Mensa Domini Catechetical Institute, 1977). pp. iv, 94.

Meyer, Bernard P., M.M. Christian Communities in the Third World. (Maryknoll, New York, 1969, privately printed for Maryknollers). pp. vi, 167.

Mukombe, Pirigisha, Bishop (interview). "A Living Christian Community in the Diocese of Kasongo in Central Africa (Zaire)". Christ to the World, 22(1977)317-322.

New Forms of Community Life. Pro Mundi Vita Bulletin, 41(1972). Contents detailed in this Bibliography under: international Colloquium ...; Nuij; Scherer; Hertens; Hally.

Njenga, John, Bishop. "How to Build Basic Christian Communities in Eastern Africa". Christ to the World, 22(1977)403-410.

Nuij, Ton. "New Forms of Community Life". Pro Mundi Vita Bulletin, 41(1972)8-17.

Paine, Rick. "Project Place". IDOC International, 44(25 March 1972) 16-23.

Palmes, C. "Basic Ecclesial Communities and Religious Leadership in Latin America". Pro Mundi Vita Bulletin, 50(1974)77-79.

Paul VI, Pope. "Evangelization in the Modern World" (Evangelii Nuntiandi), Dec. 8th, 1975, #58, "Ecclesial Basic Communities". L'Osservatore Romano (English Edition), 25 December 1975, p. 6.

Paul VI, Pope. "Local Church Structures in a Time of Renewal" (Address to the XXI Italian National Study Week for Pastoral Renewal (Aggiornamento), the theme of which was: Diocese, Parish and Basic Communities; Sept. 9th, 1971). The Pope Speaks, 16(1971)218-222; cf. The Clergy Monthly, 36(1972) 81-83.

Paul VI, Pope. "The Neo-Catechetical Communities". (Extract from a speech given on 12 January 1977 to the International Congress of the Neo-Catechumenal Communities, 10-13 January 1977). Christ to the World, 22(1977)74-79.

Paz, Jehudah. "Kibbutzirn". IDOC International, 44(25 March 1972)24-46.

Perrin Jassy, Marie-France. Basic Community in the Africa Churches. (Translated by Sr. Jeanne Marie Lyons, Maryknoll, New York, Orbis Books, 1973). pp. xviii, 257.

Perrin Jassy, Marie-France. Forming Christian Communities. (Uganda, Gaba Institute Pastoral Papers No. 17, Gaba Publications, 1970).

Perrin Jassy, Marie-France. "Leadership". Pro Mundi Vita Bulletin, 50(1974)80-82.

Power, David, O.M.I. "In the end God: Thoughts on Community". Doctrine and Life, 26(1976)174-184.

Rahner, Karl, S.J. The Shape of the Church to Come. (German Ed: Freiburg, Herder, 1972; English Trans: London, SPCK, 1974; Manila, Bea Institute, BCC Series No. 9).

Rahner, Karl, S.J. "On the Structure of the People of the Church Today". Theological Investigations, Vol. 12, pp. 218-228. (London, Darton, Longman and Todd, 1974).

Rahner, Karl, S.J. "Perspectives for the Future of the Church". Theological Investigations, Vol. 12, pp. 202-217. (London, Darton, Longman and Todd, 1974).

Regan, David, C.S.Sp. "The Small Community as Most Local Church". Doctrine and Life, 26(1976)845-854.

Remy, Jean, and Voye, Liliane. "Informal Groups in the Present-Day Church: A Sociological Analysis". Concilium, New Series, No. 10, Vol. 1 (1974)85-99. ,

Rich, John. Life Together in Small Christian Communities. A Leadership Training Course. (Davao City, Philippines, The Lay Leadership Institutes, 1977). pp. ii, 94.

Rigby, Andrew. Communes in Great Britain. (London, Routledge, 1974).

Russell, Letty M. "Theological Aspects of the Partnership of Women and Men in Christian Communities". Pro Mundi Vita Bulletin, 59(1976)4-10.

Scheepens, J., S.M.M. Towards Christian Communities in the Parish. (Uganda, Gaba Publications, 1970).

Scherer, Jacqueline. "Some Paradoxes of Contemporary Communities: Sociological Observations". Pro Mundi Vita Bulletin, 41(1972)18-26.

Siefer, Gregor. "Ecclesiological Implications of Weber's Definition of 'Community' ". Concilium, New Series, No. 10, Vol. 1 (1974) 148-160.

Silva Corcuera, Guillermo, S.J. Christian Base Communities: A Church being born of the people who are fighting for their liberation. (Position Paper at Seventh Jesuit Ecumenical Con- gress, Frankfurt, 24-30 August 1977).

Smith, Frances. Towards a Living Church. (Uganda, Gaba Institute Pastoral Papers, No. 15).

Synod of Bishops, 1974. "Suggestions of French Bishops". Teaching All Nations, 12(1975)28.

Synod of Bishops, 1974. "Topics for Discussion". Teaching All Nations, 12(1975)13.

Van de Vijver, Raymond, C.I.C.M. "Establishment of a Neo-Catechumenal Community in Japan". Christ to the World, 22(1977)100-104.

Vanier, Jean. "Building up a Healing Community (A Retreat with JeanVanier)". Good Tidings, 15(1976)127-128.

Vanzin, Calixte Victorin. "Living Christian Communities in the Diocese of Uvira (Zaire)". Christ to the World, 19(1974) 453-461.

Vision on Building Small Christian Communities. (Seminar held in Davao City, Philippines, September 1977).

Wu, John Baptist, Bishop. Pastoral Letter on Basic Christian Communities. Hong Kong, Sunday Examiner, 24 March 1978, p. 1.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prepared by: Holy Spirit Seminary College  

作者：祈士真 Casey, John J. 年份：1978

It may be thought that after the Second Vatican Council issued its DECREE ON PRIESTLY TRAINING, there should be little or no difficulty in planning seminary courses. However, this has not been the case because of the limitations of the document. For the decree, which gives basic objectives of curriculum and instruction, takes for granted the traditional study of philosophy and theology without critically evaluating the reasons why they are still considered most appropriate for the education of the priest. Perhaps those who wrote the decree saw this conclusion as so obvious that it did not need to be stated; and perhaps most would agree that this is true for the field of theology. But the same can not be said of philosophy. For although many would agree that philosophy is most appropriate, there are others who consider the social sciences or some other area of the sciences as better suited to the overall training of the contemporary priest. Those who hold this second opinion see the Vatican decree as having done little more than add the weight of authority to one side of a disputed question.

This being the case, it is the purpose of this paper to examine the basic starting points from which these differences of opinion spring and to try to put them in clear perspective. It is hoped that continued investigation of this particular question will lead to a more efficient and effective curriculum for that two-year unit of major seminary instruction which precedes the study of theology.

Philosophy has traditionally been considered the counter-part of theology in the education of the priest and this position was taken for granted in the Second Vatican Council. The DECREE ON PRIESTLY TRAINING states that the basic curriculum objective in seminary education is "a more effective coordination of philosophy and theology so that they supplement one another in revealing to the minds of the students with ever increasing clarity the mystery of Christ." 1 Now it is evident that this statement means both philosophy and theology have a complementary role to play in this unfolding. For philosophy this role is defined as the contributing of a "solid and consistent knowledge of man, the world and God based on the philosophic patrimony which is forever valid." 2 In line with this it can be rightly understood that the role of theology is similar, namely the contributing of a solid and consistent knowledge of man, the world and God based on the theological patrimony of the Church. It is also quite clear that philosophy and theology are not seen as presenting two separate but equal pictures, but rather as presenting one picture which is indeed the mystery of Christ. Thus a basic principle behind this curriculum objective is that proper philosophical reasoning supplements theology in the unfolding of the faith.

Now it is perfectly obvious to anyone involved in seminary teaching that the logical reasons for holding such a position can be found in the teachings of Saint Thomas Aquinas. After all, an effective coordination between philosophy and theology is a profoundly Thomistic theme, and in its day was a radical departur from traditional thinking. For up to that time any secular thought that did not have the authoritative approval of the Church Fathers was considered a dangerous innovation. Thomas changed this through his doctrine of the one truth coming from several sources which doctrine he put into practice in his SUMMA THEOLOGIAE, thus wedding philosophy and theology together in a way that saw each complement the other in presenting to the mind of man a complete picture of reality.

The way that reason and faith complement each other, Thomas explained as follows. Man is endowed with a light of knowledge through his very nature. But this light of natural knowledge is incapable of knowing all things particularly those things which concern what he can not experience. Thus for a complete knowledge of reality, revelation is necessary from whence comes the second source of knowledge for man, the light of faith. Now the light of faith is an auxiliary to natural knowledge in building up and completing that part of the total picture of reality which can not be grasped by reason alone. In this structure of the one truth coming from both natural knowledge and the light of faith, there is an area in which both faith and reason overlap. Thus that God exists, that He is One and the like can be demonstrated by the light of natural reason as well as be presented to us by faith. This means that the quantitative content of what is known by the light of faith and by the light of reason will vary in different people. Thus the more intelligent man can know more about God by the light of natural knowledge than the less intelligent who must depend more on the light of faith for his knowledge about God. However, the end point－－the knowledge itself－－will be the same for one as for the other.

Given the above, it is clear that natural knowledge and the knowledge of faith have an intrinsic connection. Neither natural knowledge alone nor the knowledge that comes from revelation will give to man that whole picture of reality which is, of course, the truth. But because of this organic unity, revelation can correct defects in reasoning and reason offers deductive possibilities that allow man to understand more clearly through analogy even those truths that can be known only by the light of faith.

Now given this analysis of Thomas' thought, it seems an obvious conclusion to those who accept his reasoning that philosophy and theology are really inseparable because together they produce one result, namely the true picture of reality. Granted this, however, there are those who say this analysis describes only what Thomas did in his day but does not describe accurately what Thomas intended. The true focus of Thomas Aquinas can only be understood by comparing the intellectual climate of his time with that of the twentieth century and then, using this as a background, by analysing his work.

By reason or natural knowledge, Aquinas was actually speaking of secular science which in his time and in his way of looking at it was found at its best in the works of the philosopher Aristotle. For this reason Thomas abandoned traditional thought and accepted Aristotelianism. From his time to ours, however, what is best in secular knowledge has become embodied in the field of science. Thus what Thomas set out to do in the thirteenth century no less an eminent Thomist than Etienne Gilson describes in the following way for Thomas' twentieth century counterpart. "He would be taking the scientific view of nature and putting it to the service of religion in a synthesis in which everything starts from faith and returns to it." 3 Now this is exactly what Aquinas did in his time. He took Aristotle's philosophy which was the current science and put it to the service of religion in a synthesis in which everything started from faith as the absolute measure of truth and returned to it as the end point of all investigation. So if Thomas Aquinas were alive today, he would be using science rather than philosophy for his synthesis since it is science today that gives us our contemporary human picture of reality. This being the case, it is more in keeping with the mind of Saint Thomas to concentrate on science as the counter- part to theology in unfolding the deeper meaning of the mystery of Christ while waiting for that genius of our day who like Thomas will pull together science and theology into a new synthesis.

Now whether Thomas Aquinas were he alive today would be putting science to the use of his theological pursuits is only speculation. But what is known is that Thomas considered philosophy as being almost totally directed toward a knowledge of God. And so true did he consider this of metaphysics that he gives us an interesting insight into the philosophy curriculum of his day when he says in the SUMMA CONTRA GENTILES that "this is why metaphysics which deals with divine things is the last part of philosophy to be learned." 4 Given this conviction of Aquinas, then, it is difficult to see how he would choose science, which is obviously not concerned with the divine, over philosophy and particularly over metaphysics as that branch of human knowledge which he would use together with theology to form his synthesis. On the other hand, however, science left out of such a synthesis would sorely tax his conviction of the unity of knowledge.

But all of these arguments have little or no effect on those who do not start from the basic Thomistic principle of the unity of all knowledge and therefore would see various fields of knowledge as having only an extrinsic connection with one another. And basically it is because of this extrinsic connection only that they claim a particular richness afforded by the various sciences in unfolding the mystery of Christ. This is a classical positivist position and it is best understood by looking at the kind of analysis those who hold this position would make of the deficiencies of Aristotelian thought in the development of knowledge. Since Aristotelian thought is at the heart of the philosophical patrimony which is considered forever valid, it is a clear indication of how useless positivists would see it in the service of the faith.

Aristotle's philosophy by its very nature binders the pursuit of knowledge. The reason is that Aristotle relied on a logic of classification whereby through qualitative judgments distinc-tions were noted among various things. Quality, then, became the basic category of reality. Aristotle's investigation of things consisted of observation and through observation sorting out those qualities which were merely accidental from those qualities which were essential. By repeatedly doing this, Aristotle was able to intuit the essence of a thing which then became the why of its activity. Now the difficulty with this approach is that the information that one receives from such a method is trivial. For example, one arrives at the knowledge that the essential quality of man is rationality. From that point on, any time you ask a question such as why do men write books or why do men make laws, your answer is always a statement of man's essence, namely because man is rational. But this kind of a causal answer does not really give us any new information; rather it simply unpacks from the essence of man what we have already put into it when originally sorting out the essence. Thus writing books and being rational are really the same thing; we are staling a tautology. The difficulty basically goes back to Aristotle's conception of causes. He did delineate four causes; the efficient cause－－the internal or external agency which makes a thing move, the material cause－－the stuff of which a thing is made, the formal cause－－the pattern or law of development, and the final cause－－the end toward which a thing develops. Now when we look closely at all these causes, we find that efficient, formal and final causes are usually the essence in disguise. Thus a thing does what it does because it is what it is. Now if we ask the question why does a rose grow, using Aristotle's system of knowledge, our answer would be that a rose is a rose because a rose is a rose－－the classic tautology. Thus the great flaw in Aristotle's approach is that it allows for so few deductive consequences which makes it theoretically trivial for the development of knowledge. It is only when one dispenses with Aristotle's conception of causality and begins to explain things in terms of the functional dependence of variables that human knowledge is able to blossom forth.

The positivist approach, on the other hand, has proved itself very fruitful in the development of the theological sciences. Scripture studies which had languished for centuries underwent tremendous development when the positive approach became standard. And in recent years other studies, particularly the study of liturgy and the sacraments, have expanded under the same influence. And moral theology is undergoing the same transformation today under the same impetus. This being the case, a much better preparation for the fuller unfolding of the mystery of Christ in its relation to man during the study of theology would be a solid background in the sciences which form the basic positivist approach.

Now while the positivist approach can indeed show out-standing results in the cognitive content of certain areas of knowledge within the broad field of theology, it can not be denied that because its fields of study can have no intrinsic connection to theology, it suffers in relation to theology from the same difficulty that the Aristotelian approach suffers in relation to science, namely theoretical triviality. Whereas philosophy can do valuable service in three areas－－the background of human knowledge on which the faith is built, the expanded understanding of the faith through analogy and the defence of the faith through its ability to demonstrate truth, falsity and necessity－－the social sciences or any other field of knowledge using the positivist approach can do only one service in the area of the background human knowledge on which the faith is built. The reason why the approach is so limited in relation to theology is the lack of an adequate notion of causality. When final causes were consciously dispensed with as irrelevant to the advance of science and efficient causality was reduced solely to physical agents interacting among themselves, science arrived at a position where it was unable to contribute anything other than trivia to the unfolding of the mystery of Christ. For a field of study which denies final causality can not in fact contribute to the unfolding of what is the final cause of all human activity and the cause of causes. And the underdeveloped notion of efficient causality in science leads us to trivia. Suppose we were talking about the ascension of Christ. "The only thing that such an approach could contribute to this topic would be something on the interdependence of variables such as oxygen, pressure and the human body at various levels of ascent. So outside of general background knowledge the contribution of science be it physical or social will be very limited indeed whereas the contribution of philosophy by the very nature of the field of study will be quite superior.

These, then, are the basic positions and the basic arguments for and against philosophy or the sciences as the more suitable field of knowledge to be coupled with theology in the major seminary curriculum. However, since dialectical thought has a great effect on our age, there is a growing tendency in practice to arrive at a synthesis of these two conflicting positions whereby individual questions are studied from both the philosophic and the scientific points of view, noting what each area of knowledge has to contribute to a fuller understanding of that topic. It is interesting, of course, that this is the position which had developed in theology in the post-scholastic period. But there is indeed sound rescuing behind such a procedure in the philosophy curriculum which gets right at the heart of the contemporary controversy concerning knowledge. Because what is popularly considered a conflict between theology and science－－sacred knowledge and secular－－is really the historical and unresolved conflict between the two great branches of secular knowledge, philosophy and science. What this means is before any new synthesis can be developed between secular and sacred knowledge, secular knowledge must first set its own house in order. In short, if Thomas Aquinas were alive today, his first task would be to unify science and philosophy, a need which did not exist in his day. Only after that could he turn to the synthesis of human knowledge and theology.　

1.DECREE ON PRIESTLY TRAINING of Vatican Council II, V, 14.

2.IBID., V, 15.

3.Etienne Gilson, THE PHILOSOPHER AND THEOLOGY. (New York: Random House, 1962) p. 217.

4.SUMMA CONTRA GENTILES, Bk. I, Chap. 4, No. 3.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prepared by: Holy Spirit Seminary College