汉语语境中的“福音”概念——基于17-19世纪的《圣经》文本分析

Evangelium in Chinese Context:A Preliminary Study of the Bibles of 17-19 Centuries

明清之际"西学入中",产生并传播了一批新名词、新概念。由于译介活动具有跨文化和跨语际的特点,部分新词问世时即伴生了误读与曲解,"福音"即其一例。作为基督教在华传播的核心教义之一,"福音"概念的重要性不言而喻,它不仅指称早期基督教文献中的"福音书",也比喻耶稣复活后给众人带来的好消息,终被引申为社会中有益的言论和利于众人的嘉音。本文通过回溯17-19世纪汉语语境中的《圣经》重要译本和神学著作,以期诠释中西异质文化下"福音"译词的出现和定型,同时考察其从语词向概念的转变过程。

At the turn of the Ming and Qing Dynasties,new words and concepts were fabricated and put into use in the wake of the dissemination of western knowledge in the East.Since translation is a transcultural and translingual practice,words and concepts are never free from misreadings and misinterpretations.A good example of this goes to evangelium--a core doctrine of Christianity.It refers not only to the Gospel in the early Christian text,but also the good news after the resurrection of Jesus,which is eventually extended to the common use for the whole society.This paper focuses on the translation of evangelium in Bibles and faith works in Chinese language from 17th to 19th Century,to demonstrate the consolidation of words into concepts.