晚清“文明”观念的宗教面向——以来华传教士群体为中心的探讨

The Religious Dimension of Concept of Civilization in Late Qing: A Study of Foreign Missionaries in China

近代中国最早有意推介"文明国家"理念的是晚清来华传教士群体。他们通过译介国际法著作,构建了一种建立在文明等级论基础之上的国际秩序观。同时,他们基于自身的传教立场,将当时通行于国际之间的文明等级论与源自基督教的"教化等级论"相结合,提出了以基督教为核心的文明等级论。在他们的视野中,中国的落后首先是由于宗教层面的落后。他们极力强调处于非文明状态的中国,只有主动学习"文明",特别是引进西方的基督教,才能真正扭转不利的局势,否则只能在西方优势的"文明"下沦为被征服的对象。这套"文明"方案有着过于鲜明的宗教色彩,没有被当时的中国人所采纳。不过,它却构成了近代中国人最早接触到的"文明"论述,可以为我们理解近代中西文明交冲的实质提供一种批判性视角。

The present paper points out that foreign missionaries pioneered in marketing the concept of civilized state in late Qing and correspondingly fabricated a Christian hierarchy of civilization. Missionaries particularly alleged that China’s backwardness resulted from its religious backwardness and only when China internalized Christianity would it be truly civilized. This highly religious discourse of civilization should be critically reexamined.