洪秀全的「天父」與「天兄」觀念之探討

天父上主皇上帝的概念，為洪秀全建立的宗教中最核心的觀念，洪秀全的宗教理念是以天父為主發展而成，在拜上帝會及其後的太平天國中，天父享有至高無上的地位。天父的概念，大致可以從宗教、倫理及政治三個觀點來談。天兄基督的觀念，在太平天國的宗教中，也具有相當關鍵的地位。但是我們要記得一個前提，那就是洪秀全利用基督教的概念時，猶如舊瓶裝新酒一般，皇上帝雖然來自於《聖經》的中文譯本，但是在洪秀全的宗教中，皇上帝的概念，絕非是 God，其他如天兄耶穌的觀念亦是如此。因此，要釐清太平天國的宗教和基督教之間的關係，首先要賦予太平天國宗教一個獨立的地位，視它為自成體系的宗教，而後方能比較兩者異同。

關鍵字

洪秀全；太平天國；天父上主皇上帝；天兄；梁發；《勸世良言》

並列摘要

In establishing his religion, one of the Hung Siu-Tshuen’s principal conception is about ‘a man venerable in years.’ Hung Siu-Tshuen’s religious idea is composed of the subject of Heavenly Father who is the supreme being in Pai Shang Ti Hui and Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to come. On the whole, we discuss the concept of Heavenly Father from three aspects: religion, ethics, and politics. The viewpoint of Heavenly Brother, Christ, is also essential to Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s religion. But we have a premise that the idea of Christianity is utilized by Hung Siu-Tshuen just as the old bottle are filled with new wine. Lord Heavenly Father comes from the Chinese translation of the Bible; however, the concept of that does not mean God in Hung Siu-Tshuen’s religion, and that of Heavenly Brother, Jesus, does not actually mean Jesus in the Bible, either. As a result we first have to endow Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s religion with the individual interpretation, thinking of it as a self-reliant religion, and then comparing their differences in order to distinguish Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s religion from Christianity.