神譴或神意？—英格蘭宗教改革中期（1547－1559）新舊教對女性權威的理解與辯論

Divine Punishment or Providence? Catholic and Protestant Polemicists on Female Authority in Mid-English Reformation, 1547-1559

林美香(May-Shine Lin)

《國立政治大學歷史學報》 21期 (2004/05) Pp. 1-40

https://doi.org/10.30383/TJH.200405_(21).0001

摘要

宗教改革時代，英格蘭境內面臨嚴重的宗教衝突，特別是英格蘭自亨利八世過世之後，歷經了一連串宗教變動。這段時期又適逢兩位女子先後擔任統治者，更加深人心之不安。本文特以英格蘭宗教改革中期(自1547年至1559年)，亦是宗教變動尤為劇烈期間，天主教與新教對女性權威的思考為研究主題，呈現當時性別觀念、宗教立場與政治權力交錯互動的複雜關係。
由於宗教信仰主導了兩派對女性政治權威之支持或否定，因此本文將相關論述分為天主教與新教兩陣營。天主教徒在英格蘭瑪麗女王時代，強調服從理論，主張人民應不計君王之性別，完全服從上帝指定的統治者。部份新教徒則在同時期提出激烈的反抗理論，在女王的性別上作文章，否定女王統治的正當性並起而反抗。伊莉莎白女王於1558年繼位後，新教徒言論丕變，重回政治服從的基調，並主張女性統治合於神意、法律、習俗、和歷史經驗。新舊教之間，及兩派內部，雖對女性統治權有不同的態度，但均以上帝的安排做為理解女性統治主要的方式，並提出兩個相對的概念，一是「神譴」，一是「神意」。
本文指出，參與討論者雖針對女性統治權威，但並未提出反傳統的性別觀念，也非提倡性別革命，他們是因宗教或政治因素而運用性別語言，以建構支持或反對女王的基礎。

關鍵字

英格蘭宗教改革 ； 女性權威 ； 政治服從 ； 反抗理論

並列摘要

Reformation England suffered dreadful religious conflicts, worsened by a series of official religious changes in the reigns of King Henry VIII's heirs. Queens' ruling in England only made religious instability even more difficult. Against this background, I investigate the controversy over female authority between Catholics and Protestants in mid-English Reformation (1547-1559), a period of dramatic religious changes, and reveal the complex of gender, religion and politics in their discourse.
Catholic supporters of Queen Mary recommended a theory of political obedience that is neutral to the rulers' sexes. In contrast, some of the Protestant exiles advocated the theory of active resistance on the ground that female rule was in violation of divine law. However, the succession of Elizabeth Tudor turned the Protestant rejection of female authority into a defence of it, claiming that female rule is compatible with the divine will, laws, customs and historical examples, and therefore deserves popular obedience. Although the attitudes towards female authority differed between Protestant and Catholic polemicists or among their own comrades, they all understood female rulers as God's instruments, either as divine punishment or as providence.
All the polemicists intended neither to elaborate a new conception of sexual differences, nor to speak for a sexual revolution. Their discourse is no more than employing the language of gender to serve their religious and political interests, which determined their support for or opposition to a specific female ruler.

並列關鍵字

English Reformation ； female authority ； political obedience ； theory of resistance

參考文獻

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