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启蒙与世俗化:东西方现代化历程
1.2.1.5 五、结  论

五、结  论

启蒙运动转变了欧洲文明的宗教基础,对在欧洲占统治地位的基督教信仰造成了巨大的冲击。这种冲击既是正面的,也是负面的。就负面的冲击而论,启蒙运动对于基督教进行了猛烈的批判,并从此开启了世俗化的进程。在欧洲接受基督教长达千年之后,许多受过教育的欧洲人开始公开宣称自己不是基督徒。在他们看来,近代科学的兴起揭示了一个有着无限空间和恒常法则的宇宙世界,而在这样的世界里,上帝的存在已经不再重要。他们到人类学或气候学之中去探究宗教的起源。他们认为,自然世界已经被去魔化,而宗教的起源也被去神圣化了。一小部分具有影响力的启蒙思想家变成了自然神论者、激进的怀疑论者,甚至是无神论者和唯物论者。他们认为,即便没有神圣的核准,也有可能支撑起一个道德体系;即便没有超自然惩罚的威胁或超自然奖赏的期盼,照样有可能去建构社会;即便没有教会,也照样可以维护社会的安宁与和谐。对于那些激进的启蒙批判家而言,基督教已经成为社会进步和社会伦理的障碍,故而可以在进步的名义之下将之清除干净。

到18世纪末,启蒙运动对基督教的批判得到越来越多的支持,尤其受到城市中产阶级的支持。这一点还体现在法国大革命中雅各宾分子对罗马天主教会的残酷打击之中。从1793~1794年,在反基督教的运动中,大约5 000名教士被杀死,许多教堂和大教堂遭到关闭和转为世俗之用,宗教仪式被禁止。在1797~1798年间,还爆发了另外一股反基督教的暴力浪潮,其中有更多的神职人员被屠杀,更多的教堂被转为他用。当法国革命军突破法国边境继续前进时,这种反基督教的狂热随着他们蔓延开来。他们发现,德国、意大利和西班牙的许多居民,特别是城镇居民,非常赞同他们的反基督教观点,并且支持他们削弱或压制教会。在革命时代过去之后,整个欧洲曾经努力恢复各大教会的权威,但是各大教会再也不可能像启蒙运动以前那样对社会和政治造成巨大的影响了。除此之外,还将有另一批人对基督教进行毫无顾忌的讨伐,而他们的影响将继续扩大。

然而,在更为积极的方面,基督教启蒙运动对欧洲宗教的未来产生了巨大影响,这和启蒙运动对基督教的批判同样重要。对于许多欧洲人来说,基督教启蒙运动改变了他们的信仰和实践。受过启蒙的基督徒同时强调启示和理性,并试图界定一种合乎理性的信仰。他们关注的焦点是基督宗教的伦理教训,还对科学的新发现作出积极的反应。当他们推崇一个合乎理性和强调道德的基督教时,他们就不再注重教义的阐述和历史的信仰声明,从而有助于基督宗教摆脱宗教改革之后使得欧洲备受打击的宗教争论和冲突。他们确立了信仰的道德原则,导致了诠释圣经的新方法的出现——包括强调历史背景的“高等批评”。此外,有的人还重新关注历史性的耶稣,一个作为道德导师和社会改革者的耶稣。启蒙基督徒还将教会理解为具有社会用途的组织,并强调教会在教育、慈善、贫困救济以及通过学识深厚的教职人员所开展的活动来推动知识进步等方面的角色。

启蒙基督徒还越来越关注宗教体验以及后来被称作是宗教心理学的领域。他们更为感兴趣的是“内在声音”的见证,而不是基督教的外在权威,无论是教会的权威,历史的信仰声明,还是圣经的神圣文本。他们更加关注的是通过良心和情感所启示出来的关于上帝存在的“内在证据”,而不是通过自然宇宙的设计所证明的关于上帝存在的“外在证据”。对于受到启蒙运动影响的基督徒而言,更为重要的是,个人应该在对基督教信仰的理性回应基础之上,自主地决定成为一名基督徒,而不是简单地因为宗教信仰的权威或者因为宗教信仰是集体身份的一部分而去接受它。历史学家大卫·白宾顿曾经评论说,启蒙运动强调个人选择、信仰的内在见证以及人性在本质上的统一,故而对于近代福音派的出现起着至关重要的作用。img41这种理解是非常正确的。基督教的启蒙运动的确对于欧洲在18世纪80年代和19世纪30年代的基督教复兴有着很大的贡献,而它对宣教的兴趣也有助于基督教19世纪在全球传播开来。img42

注 释

①论述宗教与启蒙的新近著作包括:P.Byrne,Natural Religion and the Nature of Religion:The Legacy of Deism(London,1989); P.Harrison,“Religion”and the Religions of the English Enlightenment(Cambridge,1990);K.Haakonssen(ed.),Enlightenment and Religion:Rational Dissent in Eighteenth-Century Britain(Cambridge,1996);D.Sorkin,Moses Mendelssohn and the Religious Enlightenment(Berkeley,California,1996);B.Y.Young,ReligionandEnlightenment in Eighteenth-Century England(Oxford,1998);W.R. Ward,Christianity under the Ancien Régime 1648-1789(Cambridge,1999),Chap.6;J.E.Bradley and D.K.Van Kley(eds.),Religion and Politics in Enlightenment Europe(Notre Dame,Indiana,2001); R.Sullivan,‘RethinkingChristianityinEnlightenedEurope',Eighteenth-Century Studies,34(2001),pp.298-309;N.Aston,Christianity andRevolutionaryEuropec.1750-1830(Cambridge,2002),Chap.3;S.J.Barnett,The Enlightenment and Religion:The Myths of Modernity(Manchester,2003);and T.Ahnert,Religion and the Origins of the German Enlightenment(Rochester,New York,2006).

②论述启蒙史家的新近著作,见S.J.Brown(ed.),William Robertson and the Expansion of Empire(Cambridge,1997);K.O'Brien,Narratives of Enlightenment:Cosmopolitan History from Voltaire to Gibbon(Cambridge,1997);and J.G.A.Pocock's major study of Edward Gibbon,Barbarism and Religion,2 vols.(Cambridge,1999).

③Edmund Burke to William Robertson,9 June 1777,National Library of Scotland,Robertson-MacDonald Papers,Ms 3943,fols 17-18.

④D.A.Pailin,‘The Confused and Confusing Story of Natural Religion',Religion,24(1994),pp.199-212.

⑤D.Sorkin,‘Geneva's“Enlightened Orthodoxy”:The Middle Way of Jacob Vernet(1698-1789)',Church History,74(2005),p.292.

⑥Barnett,The Enlightenment and Religion,pp.11-39.

⑦文见R.Porter,Enlightenment:Britain and the Creation of the Modern World(London,2000),p.112.

⑧J.C.D.Clark,Providence,Predestination and Progress:Or,did the Enlightenment Fail?,Albion,35(2003),p.571.

⑨J.C.D.Clark,Providence Predestination and Progress:Or,did the Enlightenment Fail?,Albion,35(2003),pp.567-8;D.A.Pailin,‘Truth in a Heresy?Deism',Expository Times,112(2001),p.116.

⑩Barnett,The Enlightenment and Religion,p.70.

img43Harrison,‘Religion’and the Religions in the English Enlightenment,p.97.

img44P.Gay,The Enlightenment:An Interpretation.The Rise of Modern Paganism(London,1967),p.391.

img45Voltaire,Micromegas:A Comic Romance.Being a Severe Satire upon the Philosophy,Ignorance,and Self-Conceit of Mankind(London,1753),p.40.

img46D.Hume,Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion(London,1779),pp.68,74.

img47D.Hume,‘The Natural History of Religion’,in D.Hume,Four Dissertations(London,1757),pp.116-17.

img48Gustave Rudlier,La Jeunesse de Benjamin Constant 1767-1794(Paris,1909),pp.376-7.I am grateful to Professor Lionel Gossman of Princeton University for this reference.

img49Hume,‘The Natural History of Religion’,pp.14-15.

img50Harrison,‘Religion’and the Religions in the English Enlightenment,p.118.

img51B.A.Gerrish,review of Peter Byrne,Natural Religions and the Nature or Religion in The Journal of Religion,73(1993),p.414.

img52文见H.Y.H.Poon,‘Life before Darwin:Body,Mind,and Soul in Britain,1815-1859’,尚未出版的博士论文(University of Edinburgh,2005),p.39.

img53Gay,The Enlightenment:An Interpretation,pp.400-01.

img54Gay,The Enlightenment:An Interpretation,p.64.

img55Margaret C.Jacob,“The Enlightenment Critique of Christianity”,in S.J.Brown and T.Tackett(eds.),Cambridge History of Christianity,Vol.VII:Enlightenment,Reawakening,Revolution,1660-1815(Cambridge,2006),pp.265-82.

img56J.Butler,The Analogy of Religion,Natural and Revealed,to theConstitution and Course of Nature,2ndedn.(London,1736),‘Advertisement’.

img57基督教启蒙的精彩简述见Helena Rosenblatt,‘The Christian Enlightenment’,inBrownandTackett,CambridgeHistoryof Christianity,Vol.VII:Enlightenment,Reawakening,Revolution,1660-1815.pp.283-301.

img58Bradley and Van Kley(eds.),Religion and Politics in Enlightenment Europe,p.5.

img59J.Locke,An Essay Concerning Human Understanding,ed.A.D.Woozley(New York,1964),p.378.

img60J.Locke,The Reasonableness of Christianity,as Deliv'd in the Scriptures,6th edn.(London,1736),p.11.

img61W.Robertson,An Historical Disquisition concerning the Knowledge which the Ancients had of India,2nd edn.(London,1794),p.303.

img62D.Sorkin,‘Reclaiming Theology for the Enlightenment:The Case of Siegmund Jacob Baumgarten’,Central European History,36(2003),pp.503-30.

img63Sorkin,‘Geneva's“Enlightened Orthodoxy”:the Middle Way of Jacob Vernet’,pp.286-305;H.Rosenblatt,Rousseau and Geneva:From the First Discourse to the Social Contract(Cambridge,1997),pp.15-17.

img64Barnett,The Enlightenment and Religion,pp.130-64.

img65Rosenblatt,‘The Christian Enlightenment’,pp.290-1.

img66Aston,Christianity and Revolutionary Europe,p.103.

img67J.C.O'Neill,The Bible's Authority:A Portrait Gallery of Thinkers from Lessing to Bultmann(Edinburgh,1991),pp.39-53,78-94.

img68J.G.von Herder,Reflections on the Philosophy of the History of Mankind(1784-91),ed.F.E.Manuel(Chicago,1968),p.118.

img69S.J.Brown,‘William Robertson and the Scottish Enlightenment’,in Brown(ed.),William Robertson and the Expansion of Empire,pp.7-35.

img70R.B.Sher,Church and University in the Scottish Enlightenment(Princeton,New Jersey,1985),pp.161-2.

img71M.Schmidt,‘Ecumenical Activity on the Continent of Europe in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries’,in R.Rouse and S.C.Neill(eds.),A History of the Ecumenical Movement 1517-1948(London,1954),pp.105-20.

img72Gay,The Enlightenment:An Interpretation,p.333.

img73但是,这可能导致他低估特别启示对历史宗教的重要性,见R.F. Thiemann,‘Gotthold Ephraim Lessing:An Enlightened View of Judaism’,Journal of Ecumenical Studies,18(1981),pp.401-22.

img74G.E.Lessing,Nathan the Wise:A Philosophical Drama,trans.R.E. Raspe(London,1781),pp.54-5.

img75J.E.Bradley,‘Toleration and Movements of Christian Reunion 1660-1789’,in Brown and Tackett,Cambridge History of Christianity,Vol. VII:Enlightenment,Reawakening,Revolution,1660-1815,pp.348-70.

img76B.Stanley,‘Christian Missions and the Enlightenment:A Reevaluation’,in B.Stanley(ed.),Christian Missions and the Enlightenment(Grand Rapids,Michigan,2001),pp.1-21.

img77W.R.Ward,‘Enlightenment in Early Moravianism’,in W.R. Ward,Faith and Faction(London,1993),pp.95-111.

img78A.C.Ross,‘Christian Encounters with other World Religions’in Brown and Tackett,Cambridge History of Christianity,Vol.VII: Enlightenment,Reawakening,Revolution,1660-1815Brownand Tackett,Cambridge History of Christianity,Vol.VII:Enlightenment,Reawakening,Revolution,1660-1815,pp.482-3.

img79Rosenblatt,‘The Christian Enlightenment’,pp.292-3.

img80启蒙运动后期对情操与美学的强调,见E.Cassirer,The Philosophy of the Enlightenment,trans.F.C.A.Koelln and J.P.Pettegrove(Princeton,1951),pp.275-360.

img81J.Dwyer,The Age of the Passions:An Interpretation of Adam Smith and Scottish Enlightenment Culture(East Linton,1998),pp.121-129.

img82D.Bebbington,Evangelicalism in Modern Britain:A History from the 1730s to the 1980s(London,1989),pp.51-52.

img83D.Bebbington,Evangelicalism in Madern Britain:A History from the 1730s to the 1980s(London,1989)pp.50-74.

img84S.J.Brown,Movements of Christian Awakening in Revolutionary Europe,1790-1815,in Brown and Tackett,Cambridge History of Christianity,Vol.VII:Enlightenment,Reawakening,Revolution,1660-1815,pp. 575-595.