國立政治大學歷史學系

中國基督徒的另一部「婚姻法」——以《天風》雜誌為例探討兩性倫理與聖經文本的關係(1983-2013年)

Chinese Christians’ Another “Marriage Law”: Sexual Ethics and Biblical Texts in the Chinese Christian Journal of Tian Feng, 1983-2013

基督徒是否可以與非基督徒結婚？基督徒是否可以有婚前性關係，而性關係是否即便在婚姻中也是污穢的？基督徒是否可以離婚，在何種條件下可以離婚？這些與基督徒日常生活密切相關的問題，均受聖經詮釋的影響。本文以1980年代改革開放以來的中國基督教《天風》雜誌為史料，從「聖經接受史」的視角出發，旨在探討聖經文本如何在實際上影響中國基督徒的兩性倫理論述與實踐，而《天風》作者們又如何以不同的方式重新詮釋聖經文本。許多中國基督徒「根據」聖經文本提出：第一，基督徒不可以與非基督徒結婚；第二，基督徒不可婚前同居，甚至性關係在婚姻之中也是污穢的；第三，基督徒只有在聖經中提到的特殊條件下才可以離婚，甚至即便特殊條件發生也不被鼓勵離婚。相應地，不少《天風》作者們試圖通過重新詮釋聖經文本，對以上三種關於兩性倫理的主張提出不同程度的反對意見。他們亦「根據」聖經文本提出：第一，聖經儘管提倡基督徒之間的婚姻，但絕非反對基督徒與非基督徒之間的婚姻；第二，《天風》作者們多半也反對婚前同居，此外有傳道人批評那種認為婚後性關係是不潔的看法；第三，《天風》作者們努力糾正那種絕對不可離婚的極端論調。在改革開放以來的中國，聖經在一定程度上成為調控中國基督徒兩性倫理的行為規範；它是中國基督徒的另一部「婚姻法」。

Can Christians divorce, and, if yes, under what circumstances? The answers to these issues in Christians’ everyday life are all influenced by their interpretations of the Bible. The paper, basing itself on the influential Chinese Protestant Magazine of Tianfeng in Reform China from 1980s onwards from the perspective of the “reception history of the Bible”, investigates how the Biblical texts influenced Chinese Christians’ discourse and practice of sexual ethics, and how Christian authors of Tianfeng re-interpreted related Biblical texts in different ways. Many Chinese Christians, according to their understanding of the Bible, advocated that: (1) Christians should not marry non-Christians; (2) Christians could not be allowed to have sexual relationship before marriage, and sexual relationship even within marriage could be deemed dirty; (3) Christians was supposed to divorce only in some special cases stated in the Bible, or they were discouraged to divorce in these cases. Accordingly, some Christian authors of Tianfeng, through their re-interpretations of the Bible, argued against these three claims listed above in one way or another. They, also according their understanding of the Bible, attempted to demonstrate that: (1) the Bible, despite its encouraging marriage between Christians, did not entirely prohibit marriage between Christian and non-Christian; (2) sexual relationship before marriage was to be opposed indeed, but it was not dirty within marriage; (3) the Bible did permit the legitimacy of some cases of divorce, unlike what those anti-all-Christian-divorces Christians advocated. In reform China, the Bible, to some extent, became a code of conducts regulating Chinese Christians’ sexual ethics; it can be equal to Chinese Christians’ another “marriage law.”

中國基督徒、兩性倫理、聖經文本、婚姻法、《天風》

Chinese Christians, Sexual Ethics, Biblical Texts, Marriage Law, Tian Feng