圣人与圣徒——晚清时期亚伯拉罕形象的重写

Sage and Saint:Rewriting Abraham in the Late Qing Period

引论哈佛大学韩南(Patrick Hanan,1927-2014)在《中国19世纪的传教士小说》一文中最先关注到,晚清来华传教士创作了众多讲述亚伯拉罕、约瑟、保罗等圣经人物生平故事的传记作品,如《摩西言行全传》(1836)、《约瑟言行全传》(1861)、《保罗言行》(1900)等,提出"圣经里的人物传记"这一概念。①在《1867年以前来华基督教传教士列传及著作目录》《中华基督教文字索引》《基督圣教出版各书书目汇纂》等资料中也有数量颇丰的此类"圣经人物传记"。②传教士们以《圣经》为主要依据、以传记为写作体式,用汉语所书写的圣经人物生平,塑造这些圣经人物的生平,试图塑造基督徒典范,向世人展现基督教图景。

In the late Qing,Karl Gützlaff,James Legge and other Protestant missionaries rewrote the lives of biblical figures in the form of Chinese biographies,hoping to introduce them in a form more acceptable to Chinese.Abraham was an important figure frequently rewritten by the missionaries.This article explores the reception history of the Bible in China and missionaries’writing strategies to rework the image of Abraham in a Chinese context through these biographies.Protestant missionaries borrowed the term"Sage"from earlier Roman Catholic use to apply to Abraham,and frequently referred him as"Abraham the Sage."They used the term in its Chinese cultural context to emphasize Abraham’s wisdom and virtuous actions,while also drawing on the Christian concept of a saint to highlight his faith.By combining these two aspects the missionaries established the image of Abraham as a model biblical character for Chinese readers in a Chinese context.