结语

基督宗教被证明是一个富有弹性的社会及宗教运动。在过往的两千余年中,该宗教传遍世界,以迥然不同的方式发展,并衍生出大公教会、各种修会及宗派。基督宗教不但对西方文化产生了不可磨灭的影响,对许多非西方文化亦是。基督教得以延续及具有弹性的基本要素,体现在其基本信仰、教义及修行上具有适应及变化的能力。道成肉身、文化适应、本色化、本土化、处境化等,都是指向这一适应及变化能力的相关术语。因此,教会以各种本土化面貌发展为希伯来、希腊、罗马、欧洲、俄罗斯、亚美尼亚、英国、美国、太平洋岛、非洲、印度、中国的教会。值得一提的是,现代世界中有组织的宗教都持续面对着世俗化带来的挑战,对基督宗教而言,虽然改变世界的能力有限,但不会放弃接受挑战。


[1] 参见Albert Schweitzer,The Quest of the Historical Jesus,London:SCM Press,2000;J.M.Robinson,A New Quest of the Historical Jesus,London:SCM Press,1959。

[2] See Adrian Hastings,ed.,A World History of Christianity,Grand Rapids,Michigan:William B.Eerdmans Publishing Company,1999,p.31ff.

[3] 摩尼教来源于摩尼的教导,由东方波斯的诺斯底教发展而来。这是一种二元的世界观,建基于好与恶、光明与黑暗的冲突。信徒对不同形式的禁欲有所实践,以确保从世俗冲突中出来。

[4] Bart Ehrman,The Triumph of Christianity:How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World,New York:Simon and Schuster,2018,p.84.这一观点最初由鲍尔(F.C.Bauer,1792—1860)阐述,参见Paul A.Hartog,ed.,Orthodoxy and Heresy in Early Christian Contexts:Reconsidering the Bauer Thesis,Eugene,Oregon:Pickwick Publications,2015。

[5] 对于《新约》的文本,参见Bruce M.Metzger and Bart D.Ehrman,The Text of the New Testament:Its Transmission,Corruption and Restoration,4th edition,Oxford,New York:Oxford University Press,2005。

[6] 原本及较短篇幅的信经出自尼西亚大公会议,较长及普遍使用的版本是《尼西亚—君士坦丁堡信经》。这最有可能是出自381年的第一次君士坦丁堡大公会议。

[7] Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History:Complete and Unabridged,trans.Christian Frederic Cruse,Peabody,Mass.:Hendrickson Publishers,1998.

[8] Leo D.Davis,S.J.,The First Seven Ecumenical Councils325-787):Their History and Theology,Wilmington,Delaware:Michael Glazier,1988.罗马天主教会承认14个附加会议,最后一个会议是梵二会议(1962~1965)。

[9] Chares Norris Cochrane,Christianity and Classical Culture:A Study of Thought and Action from Augustus to Augustine,Oxford,New York:Oxford University Press,1944.

[10] Peter Brown,Augustine of Hippo:A Biography,Rev.ed.,Berkeley,California:University of California Press,2000.

[11] Vladimir Lossky,The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church,Crestwood,New York:St.Vladimir’s Seminary Press,1976.

[12] Philip Jenkins,The Next Christendom:The Coming of Global Christianity,3rd edition,Oxford,New York:Oxford University Press,2011,pp.1-20.

[13] Diarmaid MacCulloch,Christianity:The First Three Thousand Years,New York:Viking-Penguin,2010,pp.466-503.

[14] Diarmaid MacCulloch,Christianity:The First Three Thousand Years,pp.363-425.

[15] 对此的标准英文通史是 Jonathan Riley-Smith,The Crusades:A History,London:Bloomsbury Academic Press,2014。

[16] Norman Cohn,The Pursuit of the Millennium:Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages,Oxford,New York:Oxford University Press,1970.

[17] 在2017年纪念新教改革500周年时,有许多有关马丁·路德的新研究。最近的一部传记,参见Eric Metaxas,Martin Luther:The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World,New York:Viking Press,2017。一部有关路德在西方的持续影响的研究,参见Christopher Ocker,Luther,Conflict,and Christendom:Reformation Europe and Christianity in the West,New York:Cambridge University Press,2018。

[18] 〔法〕约翰·加尔文:《基督教要义》(上、中、下册),钱曜诚等译,生活·读书·新知三联书店,2012。参见John Calvin,William T.McNeill,ed.,The Institutes of the Christian Religion,2 Vols.,Louisville,Kentucky:The Westminster John Knox Press,1970。

[19] A standard history is John R.H.Moorman,A History of the Church in England,3rd edition,Moorehouse Publishers,1980.

[20] Diarmaid MacCulloch,The Reformation:A History,London;New York:Penguin Books,2005.

[21] 对启蒙运动最佳的历史阐述,参见Jonathan Israel,Radical Enlightenment:Philosophy and the Making of Modernity,1650-1750,Oxford,New York:Oxford University Press,2001;Enlightenment Contested:Philosophy,Modernity,and the Emancipation of Man,1670-1752,Oxford,New York:Oxford University Press,2006;Democratic Enlightenment:Philosophy,Revolution,and Human Rights,1750-1790,Oxford,New York:Oxford University Press,2011。

[22] Robert Eric Frykenberg,Christianity in India:From Beginnings to the Present,Oxford,New York:Oxford University Press,2010.

[23] Mark A.Noll,A History of Christianity in the United States and Canada,Grand Rapids,Michigan:William B.Eerdmans Publishing Company,1992.

[24] Norman Etherington,ed.,Missions and Empire,Oxford,New York:Oxford university Press,2005.

[25] Bengt Sundkler and Christopher Steed,A History of the Church in Africa,Cambridge,UK;New York:Cambridge University Press,2000.

[26] Lamin Sanneh,Translating the Message:The Missionary Impact on Culture,2nd edition,Maryknoll,New York:Orbis Books,2009.

[27] Allan Heaton Anderson,To the Ends of the Earth:Pentecostalism and the Transformation of World Christianity,Oxford,New York:Oxford University Press,2013.