兩難之間：在華基督教差會早期的本土佈道員

Caught in Between- Native Preachers in Early Chinese Missions

杜景珍(Du Jing Zhen)

《道風：漢語神學學刊》 7期 (1997/07) Pp. 195-210+297-298

並列摘要

A case study of the American Congregational Mission in northwestern Shandong is undertaken to demonstrate the dilemmas native preachers found themselves in during the late 19th century. Northwestern Shandong was a hotspot for religion-related clashes and an important origin of the Boxers. The province as a whole had a comparatively well educated general populace, with many ＂seekers of truth＂ and peasant intellectuals imbued with the thinking of ＂Finding the Way at Dawn, Content to Die as Dusk＂. Noticeable work of the Mission began with disaster relief in 1878. The missionaries encountered a time of decline in established folk religions, Buddhism and Taoism. Among those seekers the missionaries found fertile and enthusiastic recruits. Notable among them are Hou Sheng Qing (候聖清) who had been observing other religions for a long time and by the locals was called ＂enthusiast in dogmas＂. Hou was lauded by American missionaries as the exemplary native preacher. There was also an anonymous doc tor who hosted the missionaries in the ancestral hall honoring the dead. Among former Taoist priests we had Zhu Lian Ke (朱連科) who forsook his Taoist vocation to become a native preacher. Another was Zhu Guang Kui(朱光魁) who gave up being the village mayor to preach the Gospel. Finally we had Wang Xi Xian(王希賢) the village Ruist who disregarded his own community's ostracism of Christianity and learnt about the faith from American and native preachers, including Hou Sheng Oing, finally becoming a Christian through his own rational quest. The native preachers were ardent church builders and evangelists, donating their land and ignoring their health. However, their animosity towards traditional Chinese ancestral rites led to official penalties and clan ostracism, since in traditional eyes they were infidel. Zhu Guang Kui was beaten 400 planks in court. Furthermore in one town, districts occupied by clans who adopted Christianity and those adhering to traditional folk beliefs became terra incognito to each other. Though indiscriminate anti-foreignism was a factor in the native preachers' sufferings, they were also responsible for their own fate in two aspects. First, they were over-zealous in destroying local cults, injuring the religious feelings of those around. Second, they isolated themselves too much by refusing to participate even in local non-religious communal charity activities, rounding themselves up in church instead.