鸦片战争前后在华传教士的基督宗教认同与教名翻译

China-based Missionaries'‘Religious Identity of Christianity and their Translation of“Christianity”around the Time of the First Opium War

在华传教的实践,使马礼逊经历了从认同“天主教”即Christianity到压缩其范畴用以专指the RomanCatholic religion的转变。面对由此产生的建构新教自我身份的要求,米怜、麦都思、郭实猎使用“耶稣教”等概念加以标识,却未得到全体新教人士的赞同,导致概念之间的纠缠与混乱。鸦片战争后,加略利在明确排除Protestantism的前提下,为被压缩的“天主教”争取弛禁。新教传教士则利用此前的混乱局面及清政府对基督宗教的一知半解,通过灵活伸缩“天主教”,不仅扩大了清政府的弛禁范围,还借机塑造中国人的基督宗教认知。

The practice of missionary work in China led Robert Morrison to undergo a transformation from identifying with"Catholicism",with Christianity,to narrowing its scope to refer specifically to the Roman Catholic religion.To meet the request to construct a Protestant selfidentity,William Milne,Walter Henry Medhurst and Karl Gutzlaff used concepts such as"yesujiao"to express themselves,but not all Protestant groups were in agreement,leading to confusion among various competing concepts.After the First Opium War,the Catholic missionary,J.M.Callery fought for the toleration of the contracted"tianzhujiao"on the premise of clearly excluding Protestantism.Protestant missionaries,by taking advantage of the chaotic situation and the Qing government's limited understanding of Christianity,expanded the"tianzhujiao"flexibly,not only to expand the scope of the ban,but also to take the opportunity to shape the Chinese people's perception of Christianity.