“天之上何物?”——塞韦里尼与中国经典及其对于“朱子问天”的回应

“What Is Above The Sky?”Antelmo Severini,Chinese Classics,and His Answer to“Zhuzi Wentian”

塞韦里尼(1828—1909)是意大利汉学界公认的开拓者。1864年至1900年间,他在佛罗伦萨皇家高等研究院担任远东语言和文学教授,并在该领域作出了重大贡献。他的著作《中国人的神》出版于1873年,是西方世俗学者对中国宗教的最早研究之一。在这部作品中,塞韦里尼主张打破欧洲人对中国宗教先入为主的观念,强调分析中国经典原文的重要性。他批评传教士汉学家对中国宗教的解读,认为他们将西方的神学框架强加给了中国宗教,因而他们的阐释是带有偏见的,只因这种阐释方法对他们的传教活动有帮助,而不是出于纯粹的科学兴趣。塞韦里尼主要关注儒教。他对“上帝”和“天”这两大概念赋予了极大的关注。他认为,这些概念与西方的上帝和天堂概念不同,需要在中国文化的背景下理解,而不是参照西方的神学传统。塞韦里尼将中国宗教描述为一种仪式宗教,认为它没有规定信仰教条或对明确定义下的上帝的信仰。由于中国宗教没有教条,它也不包含神学体系。因此,上帝和天的概念不一定要匹配和表达一个连贯统一的神性概念。对于朱熹关于天域的问题(“天之上何物?”),中国传统并没有提供任何统一的答案。在塞韦里尼看来,中国文明提供了一个宽容社会的例子,给予其成员完全的宗教信仰自由。笔者认为塞韦里尼实际上运用了中国经典权威来支持与之同一时代的意大利政治辩论相关的政治主张。塞韦里尼的研究方法导致了其对古代中国的理想化描绘,过于抽象,缺乏历史准确性。此外,塞韦里尼并未涉猎其他主流宗教传统研究,譬如佛教和道教。尽管存在这些局限性,塞韦里尼的研究工作仍是对中国宗教研究的重大贡献。他强调分析中国经典原文的重要性,并批评传教士汉学家对中国宗教的误读,为更准确、更细致地理解中国宗教信仰铺平了道路。

Antelmo Severini(1828‒1909)is widely recognized as the pioneer of Italian academic Sinology.He held the position of professor of Far Eastern languages and literatures at Regio Istituto di Studi Superiori di Firenze from 1864 to 1900,and made significant contributions to the field.His work“Il Dio dei Cinesi”(The God of the Chinese)was published in 1873 and is one of the first studies on Chinese religion by a Western secular scholar.In this work,Severini advocates for a departure from preconceived notions about Chinese religion prevalent among Europeans,stressing the importance of analyzing original Chinese texts.He criticizes missionary sinologists’readings of Chinese religion,arguing that they imposed the framework of Western theology on Chinese religion,and that their interpretation was biased because it was instrumental to their missionary activities,and not directed by a pure scientific interest.Severini focuses primarily on the Ruist religious tradition,and he devotes a great deal of attention to the concepts of Shangdi and Tian.He argues that these concepts are distinct from the Western concepts of God and Heaven,and that they need to be understood within the context of Chinese culture,not in reference to Western theological tradition.Severini describes Chinese religion as a religion of rites,which does not prescribe a dogma of faith or belief in a well-defined God.Since Chinese religion has no dogma,it also does not contain a system of theology.As a consequence,the concepts of Shangdi and Tian do not necessarily have to match and express a coherent and unitary concept of divinity.Chinese tradition does not provide any univocal answer to Zhuxi’s question about the sky(“What's above the sky?”).In Severini’s view,Chinese civilization provides an example of a tolerant society that grants its members complete freedom of religious conscience.I argue that Severini employs the authority of Chinese classics to support political claims relevant to the Italian political debate of his time.Severini’s approach results in an idealized portrayal of ancient China,too abstract and lacking historical accuracy.Moreover,Severini did not engage with other prominent religious traditions such as Buddhism and Taoism.Despite these limitations,Severini’s work remains an important contribution to the study of Chinese religion.His emphasis on the importance of analyzing original Chinese texts and his criticism of missionary sinologists’readings of Chinese religion paved the way for more accurate and nuanced understandings of Chinese religious beliefs.