20世纪20-40年代,天主教内出现了一次饶有意味的“统一经文"事件讨论,其中反对意见占了上风。究其原因,既有对传统经文的尊重和对语体经文的疑虑,也有对清末白话文运动语言观的延续。不过,当时亦有一些折中意见。20世纪40年代后期天主教内出现的文言译经,也体现了与“统一经文"事件一脉相承的理路。
Between the 1920s and 1940s, significant discussion on "unifying the scriptures" took place within Roman Catholicism, with objecting views proving strongest. There were three main reasons for this: the first was out of respect for the traditional scriptural text; the second was due to doubts over vernacular scriptures, and the third was an extension of linguistic perspectives on the late Qing vernacular movement. There were also, however, compromise positions put forward. Roman Catholic classical Chinese scriptural translation during late 1940s reflected the same principle of "unifying the scriptures."