天主教要理問答在晚明中西文化交流對話中的角色

Abstract

明末時期，西方傳教士羅明堅（Michele Ruggieri, 1543-1607）、利瑪竇（Matteo Ricci, 1552-1610）與蘇如望（João Soeiro, 1566-1607）具備著濃厚的神學、科學、人文主義、和宗教改革所凝結的世界觀，以及淺薄的中文基礎，進入歐洲幻想已久的中國。他們的前驅者，方濟各．沙勿略（Saint François-Xavier, 1506-1552）於日本傳教時發現中國在日本的影響力，因此早已對中國有高度興趣，特別期待能進入中國傳教。他深深認為只要把信仰帶進中國，福音很快會擴散。但要等到1583年，傳教士才正式進入並定居於中國的肇慶。進入後，利瑪竇與羅明堅等傳教士漸漸了解中國傳教工作的困難度。漸漸地，他們試圖找雙方文化的交集點，以便建構一個溝通的管道。其中一個重要的共同點，就是書寫與經典在中西文化皆有的地位和傳播力量。傳教士利用中國的印刷系統出版了大量的書籍。例如，1514與1727年之間，裴化行（Henri Bernard）統計623本中文手抄與印刷書籍，大多數有關基督宗教。中文的書籍不僅是要在明末中國的傳教史脈絡中看待，也應當以傳教士的歐洲背景和他們所熟悉的歐文文本來看待。並且，這些中文書籍時常是團體合作的工作成果；中國士大夫的回應或參與納入在文本內。因此，作為一個持久的對話管道和對話成果，是否能從其中畫出中西互動與對話的漫長過程？本論文主要是透過一系列最早期及相互呼應的要理問答之書籍來探討這個過程：《天主實錄》（羅明堅著，1584年初版）、《天主實義》（利瑪竇著，1603年初版）、《畸人十篇》（利瑪竇著，1608年初版）、與《天主聖教約言》（蘇如望著，約1601年初版）。以上幾本要理問答皆於1610年前出版，且偏向信證學（apologetics）的要理問答。藉由同一文類的分析與比較，筆者期待呈現傳教士如何重新詮釋了自己的身分與建立一個「中國基督徒」的身分。撰寫與詮釋「他者」的過程中，他們擁有的歐洲文化體系的背景影，響著他們對中國文化的詮釋，但同時，傳教士與中國人的對話，導致雙方都重新認知並定義自己的身分。

It is in the late Ming dynasty that the Jesuits Michele Ruggieri (1543-1607), Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), and, later on, João Soeiro (1566-1607) embarked on an adventurous journey into China, bringing their baggage of theology, philosophy and science, as well as a humanist and Christian vision of the world, freshly reviewed by the gradual Catholic reformation taking place throughout Sixteenth-Century Europe. They entered a country at once unknown and yet somewhat familiar to them, China having been the source of their imagination since Marco Polo, and the object of Saint Francis-Xavier’s (1506-1552) missionary endeavours while he was preaching in Japan, where the latter noticed the great influence Chinese culture had in its neighbouring countries. Once Ruggieri and Ricci entered China in 1582, they soon realized the overwhelming difficulties they were to face. In order to overcome these difficulties, they searched in their respective cultures for a point of encounter, which was to be the importance and high impact of written culture, common to both European and Chinese cultures. Thus, the Jesuits used China’s print culture to publish an astonishingly large number of works. Between 1514 and 1727, Henri Bernard recorded a number of 623 published works by the Jesuits, most of them about the Christian doctrine. These Chinese catechetical works should not only be observed from their Chinese point of view, but also from the European view, taking into account the background of the Jesuit missionaries. Furthermore, we must keep in mind that these texts were often co-authored, be it by several Western missionaries or by the Chinese and the missionaries, be it directly or indirectly—for instance by the writing of prefaces or postscripts. Therefore, as a means of communications and as a fruit of the Sino-Western dialogue, what role have these catechetical works played in the gradual process of the Sino-Western dialogue? The main objective of this thesis is to explore this process of cross-cultural encounter, through a series of early catechetical works by the first Jesuits of China: Tianzhu shilu (by Ruggieri, published in 1584), Tianzhu shiyi (Ricci, 1603), Jiren shipian (Ricci, 1608), and Tianzhu shengjiao yueyan (Soeiro, 1601). These catechetical works were all written before 1610, in the early period of Jesuit missionary activities, and they are considered more as apologetics, or pre-catechetical dialogues, rather than catechisms containing the whole of Christian doctrine. Through the analysis and comparison of these apologetics, I would like to observe the reinterpretation by the missionaries of their own identity and the gradual elaboration of a specifically “Chinese Christian” identity. While putting into words and interpreting the Other, the Jesuits carried with them the heavy baggage of European culture and thoughts, using the latter to reinterpret Chinese culture, but at the same time, the dialogue established with the Chinese was to influence both sides in the process, bringing them to reconsider and even redefine their respective identities.