机械宇宙观之于基督教和天道信仰的不同意义

The Different Meanings of Cosmic Mechanism to Christianity and Faith of Tian

由于对至上神圣存在与宇宙之间的关系的理解有所不同,基督教和天道信仰这两种信仰传统在近代面对牛顿范式的机械宇宙观时遂有截然不同的反应。基督徒借助自然神学的思维框架,欣然同意把宇宙视为一架精妙复杂的机器,以此论证上帝的存在。然而,宇宙若被视为不具备内在动力、生机和灵慧的机械,则它显然不足以担任至上神圣存在这一角色,因而机械宇宙观对中国的天道信仰则构成严重的挑战。

Because the understanding of the relationship between supreme divine being and the universe is different,the Christianity and the Faith of Tian made different reactions to the Newtonian cosmic mechanism. With the framework of natural theology, many Christians readily agreed to imagine the universe as an extremely complex machine so as to demonstrate the existence of God. Whereas, the universe is obviously not eligible to play the role of a supreme divine being if it is regarded as an machine without internal motive power, vitality and intelligence, thus cosmic mechanism posed a serious challenge to Chinese Faith of Tian.