“从番”还是“从古”:对太平军礼拜日的考察

Imitating the West or Reviving the Ancient:Worship-Day of the Taiping Army

礼拜日是上帝教的核心教义之一,但是由于在时间上与犹太教安息日意外重合,曾招致西方传教士的诸多质疑。太平军的礼拜日实践主要由午夜的礼拜仪式和昼间的特定活动两部分组成。在礼拜仪式上,太平军摆放供品,吟唱赞美诗,颂念并焚烧奏章的仪式过程杂糅了基督教与民间道教两种信仰元素。在昼间,太平军配置了一些约束性的生活制度,如物资领取、礼拜钱、体恤、刑罚等。由此,礼拜日超越了单纯的宗教性意涵,成为一个兼具圣俗的符号。太平军的礼拜日,是上帝教调和基督教与中国传统宗教的典型。这种做法虽然在一定程度上消解了中西冲突所带来的异质感,但隐藏在中西冲突背后的传统与现代的冲突,却是其始终无法克服的难题。

Worshiping God was one of the most important doctrines of the Taiping Religion,and yet for some dramatic reasons,Worship Day of the Taiping religion actually shared the same day with the Sabbath of Judaism,which incurred many western missionaries’queries and misunderstandings.The total activities of Taiping Army on Worship Day consisted of mid-night ceremonies and day-time rituals.Transcending its religious connotation and becoming a complex symbol of both holiness and secularity,Worship Day was a typical case implying the attempt of Taiping religion to formulate its creed and ritual procedures through integrating western Christianity into traditional Chinese religion.As a result,Taiping religion,to some extent,could dispel the heterogeneity left by the conflict between the Western and Chinese.Nevertheless,the collision between tradition and modernity concealed by the superficial conflict between China and Western was the real challenge that Taiping religion had to overcome.