从《论政学疏稿》的“道”浅谈王国维与基督教

On Wang Guowei and Christianity from the Perspective of“the Tao”in“Draft of a Commentary on Politics and Learning”

王国维1923年底上溥仪的奏折《论政学疏稿》中认为中国自三代以来只有一个“修身齐家治国平天下”的“道”,但在与西方列强通商后,西学西政之书输入中国,从此这个“道”就变成两个了。实际上,从唐代开始,输入中国的天主教一个派别——景教就自称为“道”了,这个传统在元代、明朝末年和清朝初年一直延续,到雍正皇帝禁教后天主教才被称为异端和邪教。但鸦片战争之后在中国传播的天主教和基督新教又都被称为“道”了,到王国维那个时代这点几乎已经成为知识界的常识。不过,王国维奏折中的“道”,并没有包括天主教、基督教这个道在内。因为,在王国维看来,宗教起源于人性善恶的对立,并无神创造宗教的神圣性可言。他质疑了佛祖与耶稣自身是否得救,还认为天主教基督教传入中国的时机不对,与中国传统文化差别太大,即使一时传入也很难保持影响。但从功能论角度看,他认为宗教是给予下层社会民众慰藉的一种“美术”,仅此而已。此外,王国维认为基督教只能吸引下层民众的态度,并不妨碍他为孩子能到基督教学校深造而欣喜,这和当时许多知识人一样,表现了一方面在“道”的层面排斥西方文明核心价值基督教这一进路,但另一方面并不排斥西方文明其他方面,例如其先进的教育制度。

At the end of 1923,Wang Guowei presented“Draft of a Commentary on Politics and Learning”to Puyi,in which he argued that ever since the“three generations”China has only one“Tao”:“cultivate yourself,regulate your family,rule your country wisely,and lead the world to peace.”However,after commercialization with Western powers,Western learning and political books had entered China and since then the“Tao”became two.In fact,since the Tang Dynasty,Nestorianism,a sect of Catholicism imported into China,has called itself“Tao.”The term was used intermittently until the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty.Only after Emperor Yongzheng banned Catholicism was it called heresy.However both,Catholicism and Protestantism spread in China after the Opium War were called“Tao”again,which had almost become general knowledge among the intelligentsia in Wang Guowei’s era.However,the“Tao”in Wang Guowei’s commentary does not include Christianity.In his view,religion originated from the opposition between good and evil in human nature,and there is no divine creation of religion.He questioned whether the Buddha and Jesus themselves were saved.He also believed that the timing of the introduction of Catholicism into China was not right,and it was too different from traditional Chinese culture.Even if it was introduced temporarily,it was difficult to maintain its influence.However,from the perspective of functionalism,he believed that religion was a kind of“art”that offered consolation to people in lower society,and that was all.But such recognition did not prevent him from rejoicing that his children could attend Christian schools,which,like many intellectuals,showed that on the one hand he rejected Christianity as the core value of Western civilization from the level of“Tao.”On the other hand,he did not reject other aspects of Western civilization,such as its advanced educational system.