价值冲突中的《圣经》翻译——明末清初耶稣会传教士的翻译策略和关键译名选择

The Clash of Values and the Imperative of Translation: The Case of Jesuit Missionaries' Rendering of The Bible into Chinese in the 17th Century

在可能发生的价值冲突面前,明末清初来华传教的耶稣会士翻译《圣经》时采取了适应的策略。这意味着,对有悖儒家价值的重要福音信息不进行传达;如果必要的话,将之悉数删除;如果原文行文与中国习俗和价值观不符,则淡化原文语气;在某些场合,添加原文根本没有的内容,即使所添加内容与福音信息截然相反也在所不惜。“天”和“天主”等中文语词被传教士用来翻译Deus这一关键概念,藉此,迥然有异的中西价值体系之间搭起了一座概念的桥梁。另一方面,由于与耶稣会士的密切接触甚至信仰基督教,儒家士大夫也掌握了一条将西方更先进的科学技术引入中国的方便渠道。

Facing the dire consequences of a head-on clash with the local values in their efforts to turn The Bible into Chinese, the Jesuit missionaries in China during the first half of the 17th century opted for an adaptational approach. They withheld messages of the Gospels that did not sound compatible with the dominant Confucian orthodoxy, completely expunging the passages concerned when necessary. They toned down any original wording in conflict with the then Chinese sensitivities. To ensure the Chinese version's acceptance by the intended audience, they even added to it ideas either nowhere to be found in the original text or flagrantly contradictory to what was regarded as God' s teaching. The Chinese notions of Tian (the Heaven) and Tianzhu (the Lord of the Heaven), for instance, were used as equivalents for the Christian concept of Deus. Such strategies succeeded in bridging the conceptual gap between two otherwise incommensurate cultures and discourses. In large measure because of the missionaries'translation practices, the Confucian literati were able to gain access to what the West had to offer at that time, especially its more advanced sciences and technology.