太平天国的宗教实践散论

Religious Practice in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

就发动和组织起义而言 ,洪秀全的宗教实践是成功的。然而 ,由于自身理论上的种种缺陷 ,当上帝教上升为统治人们思想的意识形态时 ,它便日渐暴露出其先天不足的一面 ,既无力继续胜任太平天国精神支柱的角色 ,也无法阻遏太平天国内部自相残杀、上下离心等现象的出现。尤其是到了后期 ,洪秀全的宗教活动已不像前期那样含有丰富的社会内容 ,而是一味强化自己作为真命天子的权威 ,故而无法挽救其内部的信仰危机。另一方面 ,在拒绝认同基督教的同时 ,洪秀全又激烈反孔 ,这就使得他的宗教在洋人和国人眼里都成了“异端”。总的说来 ,洪秀全的宗教实践是失败的 ,其理论更多吸收的是中西文化中的弱点或缺点 ,而不是双方的优点。太平天国覆亡后 ,缺乏生命力的上帝教便随之消亡。

Hong Xiuquans religious practice was a success in launching and organ izing the uprising. However, when the God Faith became the ruling ideology, its congenital shortcomings of the doctrine itself revealed completely. As a result, it could neither act as the spiritual prop of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, nor check the internal turmoil such as killing each other and discord between the h igher and lower levels. Especially in the later period, Hong Xiuquans religiou s activities were totally directed at strengthening his authority as the son of H eaven, lacking the former substantial content which dealt with the social proble ms, and could not resolve the internal crisis of faith. In the meanwhile, Hong X i uquan not only refused to approve Christianity, but also launched a sharp anti c onfucianism movement. For this reason, both foreigners and his fellow countrymen regarded his religion as heretical beliefs. Generally speaking, Hong Xiuquans religious practice was a failure and his religious theory assimilated more defec ts of the Chinese and Western civilization instead of their virtues. Consequentl y, the collapse of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was bound to be followed b y the death of the God Faith, which was lacking in vitality.