贝德士论抗战时局下的中国基督教

Miner Searle Bates’ Viewpoints on Chinese Christianity during the Sino-Japanese War

抗日战争时期,南京国际安全区主席、金陵大学教授贝德士广泛论及中国基督教及政教关系。他认为,战时沦陷区教会人才流失、国统区人才过剩问题突出,教会人士应坚守岗位。战时社会服务和教会发展同等重要、相辅相成,应齐头并进、相互促进。沦陷区传教士应避免与日伪当局发生冲突,以确保教会的正常运转,但必须坚持正义和坚守底线。少数日本基督徒带着真诚目的来华,但多数立场与日军一致,政治压力和民族主义是出现此种情形的主因。贝德士在谴责日军暴行的同时,坚持与日本基督徒友好往来,努力促使其觉醒。贝德士的战时书写,为学界的相关研究提供了大量史料;贝德士的某些论断,或可成为当下抗战基督教史研究新的学术增长点。

Miner Searle Bates, the president of the Nanjing International Security Zone and a professor of Nanking University, discussed the Church-State relationship in China during the Sino-Japanese War. Bates pointed out the fact that a lot of Christians left enemy-occupied areas to free areas,which unbalanced the distribution of Chinese Christians greatly. Church members should try their best to stick to their posts. During the wartime, social services and church development are equally important and mutually reinforcing,both of which should be enhanced. Missionaries in the enemy-occupied areas should avoid conflicts with Japanese and Puppet authorities for the sake of Christian Church safty, but they still need to uphold justice and keep the bottom line. A small number of Japanese Christians came to China with sincerity, but most of them took the same position with Japanese army due to political pressure and nationalism. Although Bates kept condemning the Japanese atrocities, he insisted on friendly exchanges with Japanese Christians and tried to make them awakened. Bates’ wartime writing provides plenty of historical materials to historians, and some of his assertions could be valuable academic growth points in the research of Christianity during the Sino-Japanese War.