宗教無給勞務之初探：以一美國華人基督教會為例

Religious Unpaid Labor in an American Ethnic-Chinese Church as Moral Community: A Durkheimian Reply to Religious Economy

黃克先(Ke-hsien Huang)

《臺灣宗教研究》 12卷1&2期 (2013/12) Pp. 61-82

摘要

本文討論宗教信徒如何執行團體內無給的勞務，藉此突顯信徒在宗教生活中的行動，不僅是成本利益的理性計算後做出的選擇，同時也受到隸屬的社群驅動下的集體行為。本研究立基在筆者於一所美國華人移民教會為期兩年半的田野工作所蒐集到的質性資料，試圖論證宗教無給勞務如何在信徒們的實踐過程，突顯出他們隸屬於宗教社會學先驅涂爾幹所謂的道德社群這個事實。文章中，依序指出，這種勞務執行過程中的有三項特色，（1）招募時毋需徵詢個人同意，（2）集體形塑的「隱形」勞動，（3）自覺有責而懼為旁觀。最後，筆者亦指出在符應道德社群要求的同時，信徒也能展現其作為社會行動者的能動性，巧妙運用勞動的機會，規避宗教權威的監控。

關鍵字

宗教無給勞務 ； 涂爾幹 ； 道德社群 ； 宗教經濟學 ； 真耶穌教會

並列摘要

This study is to analyze a case of an ethnic Chinese church in America, illustrating how church work is engaged by its members. By looking into the ethnographic detail in assigning and performing ordinary tasks in a church, the study illustrates religious life is more than a zero-sum game of involved parties carefully calculating their own cost and benefit; it is also about the embodiment of belonging to a moral community in which members participate voluntarily and feel obligated to contribute without making individual marks. No matter what type of church work it is, there are three universally principles observed that resonate with what Durkheim described of how individuals act in a moral community: (1) recruiting workers without requiring their willful consent first (2) workers taking no credit for their performance, and (3) members fearing to be a stander-by who just watch others work without providing any help. Last but interestingly, doing church work could be utilized by individuals as a legitimate way to escape the surveillance from religious authority, a vivid example showing that actors in a moral community still have their agency exercised.

並列關鍵字

Religious Unpaid Labor ； Durkheim ； Moral Community ； Religious Economy ； True Jesus Church