《官话和合本圣经》的成功翻译及其对中国新文学的影响

Successful Translation of The Combined Bible and the Bible in Mandarin Chinese and Its Impact on China's New Literature

《官话和合本圣经》的翻译取得了很高的成就,是一批对中文颇有造诣的传教士及其华人助手的合作结晶。汉译白话圣经目的虽不在文学,而在于宣传宗教,可是因《圣经》本身是极佳的文学作品,加上其成功的白话语言,因而在客观上对中国新文学的发轫起到了积极的借鉴和示范作用。这一点,得到了包括周作人在内的新文学先驱的肯定。随着新文学的发展,圣经中的意象、语言、精神及文体也在诸多作家作品中得到了体现,从而为新文学提供了丰富的异质资源。

The translation of The Combined Bible and the Bible in Mandarin Chinese, a great accomplishment, is a collaboration between a group of foreign missionaries well versed in Chinese and their Chinese aides. The translation of the Bible in vernacular Chinese does not aim at literature, but at preaching Christianity. However, because the Bible itself is a literary masterpiece, with its successful vernacular Chinese, it has, objectively, played a salutary and exemplary role in the birth of China＇s New Literature, which literary leaders such as Zhou Zuoren have acknowledged. With the development of New Literature, the image, language, spirit, and style of the Bible have all come to be embodied in many writers＇ works, thus providing some rich heterogenous resources for New Literature.