宗教与美国革命

Religion and the American Revolution

长期以来,国内史学界在研究和探讨美国革命时,大多从政治、宪法、经济、贸易、黑奴和民族等视角阐述美国革命的渊源和意义,鲜有宗教因素方面的考量。北美殖民地与英国宗主国在两大宗教问题上存在着冲突,宗教在推动殖民地走上美国革命之路方面发挥了重要作用。法印战争结束后,随着英国在宗教和政治上加大对北美殖民地的干预和控制,宗教自由和政治自由成为一枚硬币的两面,两者不可须臾缺一。正是在这个意义上,殖民地争取宗教自由的斗争促进和推动了美国革命的爆发和发展。

In the study of the origins and significance of the American Revolution in China, scholars have largely approached it from the perspectives of political and trade conflict, constitutional dispute, black slavery and the formation of American nationality, with little attention ever paid to the relationship between religion and the American Revolution. By drawing upon the existing scholarship in the study of the American Revolu- tion, this paper argues that, based on the 17th English radicalism in political and religious thought, colonial Protestants, Puritans in particular, challenged the attempts of Great Britain to interfere with the religious life of colonial America. The paper points out that with the religious and political freedom becoming increasingly interwoven at the conclusion of the French and Indian War, colonial Protestants came to the realization that these two freedoms were in fact two sides of the same coin, either won together or lost together. Viewed in this light, the paper concludes that colonial Protestants efforts to fight for religious freedom helped promote and indeed advance the movement of colonial America toward the Revolution.