「然祢無意眷擇我」：鄧恩神聖十四行詩中揀選與焦慮的神學意涵

Abstract

本論文嘗試從鄧恩的神聖十四行詩檢視他對宗教改革及英國加爾文主義的回應。本文主張，該詩組瀰漫的抱怨與焦慮氛圍標誌著鄧恩對英國加爾文主義在神學與聖禮體系上的反動。第一章概述過去探究鄧恩宗教詩歌的兩種進路：「宗教—虔敬取向」以及「社會—謀算取向」，分究此二者的方法、關切、優點、限制，並指出本論文冀望以此二進路的成果為基礎，探索神聖十四行詩中的神學議題。第二章先以猶太—基督宗教正典中的「詩篇」為參照架構，將神聖十四行詩予以分類，並指出該詩組多為以抱怨為主題的哀歌，感恩詩與讚美詩幾乎失之闕如。詩中說話者的抱怨多環繞上帝之揀選以及對罪惡的焦慮，有受英國加爾文主義影響的痕跡，故本章後半概略簡介英國宗教改革之景況以及英國加爾文主義之若干特徵，包括雙重預定論、企圖建立穩定融貫的神學體系、以聖典而非聖禮為信仰的中心。第三章就「神人關係」之向度探討神聖十四行詩說話者對於「選民」或「棄民」的身份焦慮，闡明加爾文主義雙重預定論對於救恩「記號」的關注非但無法安慰詩中的說話者，反而產生更多信仰上的焦慮與疑難。第四章則討論鄧恩如何透過悖論（paradox）的語言策略來暴露一套穩定式神學體系的不足，以及鄧恩如何表述自己對於聖禮的思考，以聖禮作為救恩具體可見的「記號」。本研究指出，鄧恩十四行詩中焦慮的氛圍，體現出他對英國加爾文神學系統的抗議與眼淚。

The purpose of the present study is to examine how John Donne in his Holy Sonnets responds to the Protestant Reformation and English Calvinism. I suggest that the complaints and anxiety pervaded in the Holy Sonnets are Donne’s counter-reaction to the theological and ritual system of English Calvinism. In the first chapter I contend that there are two streams of interpretation of Donne’s religious poems. The first is the religio-devotional approach, and the second I call the social-conspiratorial approach. The relgio-devotional critics tend to regard Donne as a pious believer and attribute him to one particular theological party. They tend to find out the similarities between the Holy Sonnets and some religious predecessors. The social-conspiratorial critics aptly point out that the Holy Sonnets bear the performative and political characteristics, and explore the cultural effects of Donne’s writing. The present study, based on these two approaches, focuses on the theological aspects of the Holy Sonnets. In the second chapter I take the Book of Psalms as a comparative model and classify Donne’s Holy Sonnets into three categories respectively: laments, thanksgivings, and hymns. A large portion of the Holy Sonnets is laments which include complaints, confessions, and pleas for help, and Hymns and thanksgivings are almost completely lacking. Therer are also some “salvation drama” in which the speaker’s tone indicates that hope of salvation is rather detached. I suggest that the tone of the Holy Sonnets indicates the influence of English Calvinism, and I provide a brief introduction of the English Reformation and some features of English Calvinism in the second half of this chapter. In the third chapter I explore relationship between the Holy Sonnets and the Calvinist doctrine of predestination, so as to explain the speaker’s anxiety to find his “mark” of “election,” so as to reassure his eternal identity. “As due by many titles” will be examined in detail, in order to justify my claims. In the first part of the fourth chapter I attempt to demonstrate how Donne by using “paradoxes” in the Holy Sonnets to subvert the stable and philosophical system of Calvinist theology. In the latter part of this chapter, I turn to investigate the how Donne responds o the tension between the Calvinist obsession of finding “marks” of God’s grace and the Catholic theory that “sacraments” (especially the Eucharist) are the very “marks” of God grace. Finally, in my conclusion I claim that the pervasive anxious atmosphere in the Holy Sonnets indicates Donne’s tear and protestation against English Calvinist systematic theology.