“祖先祭祀”与“禁拜假神”——清代教案中的中国民间法与西方教会法之冲突

在法文化的场域中，一个民族历史越悠久，习惯性规则积淀越深厚。“祖先祭祀”在中国民间源远流长，无论是在宗教意义、人文精神还是在文化意义上，都是中国人必须遵守的行为规范，是中国民间经久不衰的“法”。基督教传入中国后，这一民间法规范开始受到挑战。清代教案中，大量案件就是由于“祖先祭祀”受到冲击而引起。“禁拜假神”是基督教会的禁止性规范，独一真神信仰是基督教不可动摇的根基与法则。除了圣父、圣子、圣灵“三位一体”的上帝，任何人、任何事物都不能成为信徒的敬拜对象，否则就是犯“敬拜偶像”的“罪”，会受到上帝或教会的管教或惩罚。中国民间祭祀的“祖先”，在教会法中是“人”而不是“神”，如果将祖先当做神灵加以敬拜，就是“敬拜假神”。中国民间法规范“祖先祭祀”与西方教会法规范“禁拜假神”之冲突，是1869年江西教案、1881年福建诏安教案、1890年湖北广济教案等众多教案的实质起因。“祖先祭祀”与“禁拜假神”之冲突，体现了“宗法之法”与“宗教之法”两种法文化之冲突。“宗法”是根植于血缘伦理、按照人与人之间的尊卑长幼贵贱关系所确立的一套行为规范。通过“祖先祭祀”活动的仪式、程序，人们不仅可以祈祷祖先在天之灵，保佑在世的子孙后代家运亨通，更重要的，是进一步明确、强化在世子嗣之间的等级结构秩序。祖先不仅是家族信仰和敬拜的“神”，更重要的是家族成员之间的血缘与精神纽带。这种血缘宗法性的家族神崇拜，最终目的乃是将各家族成员固定在家族网络的某个节点上，其宗法功能远超过其宗教功能。“宗教”则是对信仰对象无条件的委身或献身，即超越于世俗的价值观而全身心地寻求“无限的真理或终极的实在”。教会法之“禁拜假神”，呈现出鲜明的“宗教性”特征；任何事物，如果取代了上帝的位置，就不是敬虔的信仰，禁止敬拜假神或偶像是教会法始终如一的禁止性规范。对于基督教徒来说，上帝是其生命的主宰，作为上帝之言的《圣经》是“神法”，是其最高的思想和行为规范。尽管《圣经》也要求信徒孝敬父母、缅怀祖先，但神、人之间的界限可谓泾渭分明；人无论如何伟大，也不能取代受到绝对敬奉的上帝的地位，祖先当然也不能例外。宗教的绝对性规范与宗法的习惯性规范相冲突，教案的发生因此有其必然性。然而，除去狭隘的民族情感因素，这种冲突对中国具有积极意义。在组织形态层面，数千年传统中国宗法伦理控制下的“大一统”社会结构，在这种冲突中呈现出分化之势。在思想文化层面，“一元”格局开始向“多元”转变。在社会秩序方面，民间法秩序的同质一元化格局开始分裂。从法治社会形成的法文化原理来看，这些变化态势，恰恰与法治社会的形成趋向相一致。以“祖先祭祀”与“禁拜假神”为代表的中国民间法与西方教会法之冲突，实际是中国本土法文化与具有“法治”基因的基督教法文化之冲突。这种冲突令中国人痛苦，然而却意义深远。

關鍵字

民间法；祖先祭祀；教会法；禁拜假神；教案

並列摘要

In the field of Legal culture, the longer the history of a nation, the deeper the accumulation of customary rules. "Ancestor Sacrifice" has a long history in Chinese folk, whether in religious significance, humanistic spirit or cultural sense, it is a code of conduct that must be observed by Chinese, and it is an enduring "law" of Chinese folk. After Christianity has been spread to China, this norm of folk law began to be challenged. In the Qing Dynasty, a large number of anti-church cases were caused by the impact of "Ancestor Sacrifice". "Forbidden Worship of False gods" is the forbidden norm of the Christian Church, and the belief in one true God is the unshakable foundation and law of Christianity. Except for the "Trinity" God of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, no one and anything can be the object of worship of believers, otherwise they will commit the "sin" of "worshiping idols" and will be disciplined or punished by God or the Church. The "ancestors" of Chinese folk sacrifice are "men" rather than "gods" in Canon Law, and if the ancestors are worshipped as gods, it is "worship of false gods". The conflict between the "Ancestor Sacrifice" norms of Chinese folk law and the ""Forbidden Worship of False gods" in Western canon law is the substantive cause of many anti-church cases, such as the Jiangxi anti-church Case occurred in 1869, the Fujian Zhao'an anti-church Case in 1881, and the 1890 Hubei Guangji antichurch Case in 1890. The conflict between "Ancestor Sacrifice" and " "Forbidden Worship of False gods" reflects the conflict between the two legal cultures of "Patriarchal Law" and "Religious Law". "Patriarchy" is a set of behavioral norms rooted in the ethics of blood and established according to the relationship between people. Through the rituals and procedures of the "Ancestor Sacrifice" activities, it is not only possible to pray for the spirits of the ancestors in heaven and bless the families of the living descendants, but more importantly, to further clarify and strengthen the hierarchical structure order between the descendants of the world. Ancestors are not only the "gods" of family belief and worship, but more importantly, the blood and spiritual ties between family members. The ultimate goal of this blood patriarchal worship of family gods is to pin each family member to a certain node in the family network, and its patriarchal function far exceeds its religious function. "Religion" is the unconditional devotion to the object of faith, that is, the wholehearted search for "infinite truth or ultimate reality" beyond secular values. The ""Forbidden Worship of False gods " in canon law shows a distinct "religious" character. Anything that takes the place of God is not a godly faith, and the prohibition of worshipping false gods or idols is a consistent prohibition of canon law. For Christians, God is the Lord of their lives, and the Bible as the Word of God is the "Divine Law" and the highest code of thought and behavior. Although the Bible also requires believers to honor their parents and remember their ancestors, the boundary between God and man is very clear; no matter how great the man is, he cannot replace the position of the absolutely revered God, and the ancestors are certainly no exception. The absolute norms of religion conflict with the customary folk norms of patriarchy, and the occurrence of anti-church cases is therefore inevitable. However, apart from the narrow elements of national sentiment, this conflict has positive implications for China. At the level of organizational form, the "great unification" social structure under the control of traditional Chinese patriarchal ethics for thousands of years has shown a trend of differentiation in this conflict. At the ideological and cultural level, the "one-dimensional" pattern began to be changed into "pluralism". In terms of social order, the homogeneous monolithic pattern of folk law order began to split. Judging from the principles of legal culture formed in a rule-of-law society, these changes are precisely consistent with the formation trend of a rule-of-law society. The conflict between Chinese folk law and Western canon law, represented by "Ancestor Sacrifice" and " "Forbidden Worship of False gods ", is actually the conflict between China's indigenous legal culture and The Christian legal culture with the "rule of law" gene. This conflict is afflictive for Chinese, but it has positive significance for the transformation of Chinese society.