基督教社群中的「禱告婆現象」及其宗教意義──以溫州地區的教會為考察對象/倪步曉

倪步曉

撮要

本文主要是以二十世紀末以降溫州地區基督教的「禱告婆」現象為例,說明禱告婆是溫州基督教社羣生活的重要組成部分。她們的信仰方式形成教會的生態文化,建構注重宗教經驗、追求實效靈驗、偏重感情輕學理,具有民間場域傾向的信仰傳統。本文通過對溫州地區禱告婆羣體的田野分析後,認為禱告婆始終體現一種在民間權威的信仰範式,在人際網絡的建立和教會秩序上,都折射出神聖世界與現實社會的共同性或互為一體的神聖邏輯。簡而言之,本文試圖敘述禱告婆的信仰方式,為了反映溫州基督教的地方本土色彩,它既從文革的祈禱傳統相衍生而出,其特點又不同於西方的靈恩教會,這類型是以一種非制度化的宗教形態存在。因此,在這種信仰模式下生活的人,形塑了他們的日常生活,亦會根據禱告婆在教會行動的權威,以及對這些禱告的信賴,來形成對這一信仰羣體的敘述,從而呈現出一類溫州基督教的信仰傳統面向。

ABSTRACT

This paper mainly takes the phenomenon of “Praying Women” of Christianity in the Wenzhou area (Zhejiang Province, China) at the end of the 20th century as an example. It shows that the Praying Women is an important part of the Wenzhou Christian community. Their way of faith forms the ecological culture of the church. Besides, they emphasize religious experience, pursue practical and effective thing, and emphasize on emotional thing rather than academic thing. They have the tradition of folk religion. Through the field research of groups of Praying Women in Wenzhou, this paper believes that the Praying Women always reflect an authoritative way of belief in the folk people. In the establishment of the interpersonal network and the church order, they both reflect a sacred logic that the commonality or Mutual integration between the sacred world and the real society. This paper also attempts to reconstruct the expression of the Praying Women, reflecting that the Christianity of Wenzhou has a profound local native color. Its development is in line with the tradition of the Wenzhou Christianity, and its characteristics are different from those of the Western Charismatic Church. This type exists in a non-institutionalized religious form. Therefore, the ideal aspirations of the people under this belief mode also shape their life behavior, and also vaguely reveal the functional understanding of religion, which also establishes the religious significance of studying regional Christianity.

原載於《建道學刊》54期(2020年7月),頁 227-250。

作者簡介

倪步曉

兼任助理教授