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鄺智良

撮要

1895 年，傅蘭雅（John Fryer, 1839-1928）舉辦「時新小說」競賽，鼓勵中國文人以基督教語調針砭鴉片、時文、纏足「三弊」，催生出迄今可見首批中國人創作的「漢語基督教小說」。它們作為史料，有助今人了解清末基督徒對國家現狀與前途的思索。本文旨在闡述部分參賽者所鼓吹，一種「自上而下」式的基督教救國取徑。在這種想像中，基督徒理政方為國家鏟除積弊、邁向富強之真途；而要達至基督徒理政，參賽者或冀盼清室、官紳奉教，或寄望基督徒能得到提拔從政。本文第三部分，抽選了十六回之《砭俗良謨》作為討論對象，一方面描述此作如何具體地展示出上述救國取徑，刻劃出儒士奉教，繼而獲得清室提拔而從政，成為革除諸社會問題之關鍵；另一方面，分析作者如何以儒士為預設讀者，作出針對性的宗教表述，凸顯聖賢與基督承於一脈，務求說服讀者信仰基督。 

ABSTRACT

In 1895, John Fryer held the New Age Novel contest encouraging contestants to tackle three social problems including opium smoking, foot binding and eight-legged essay, in Christian tone. As historical records they can help us to understand how Christians in Late Qing thought about the present and future of the country. This paper aimed at illustrating a “top-down” approach in saving the country by Christianity suggested by some contestants. They portrayed Christian governance as the way to cure social defects and leading the country to wealth and strength. For a Christian governance to exist, they imagine the acceptance of Christianity by the imperial family and the bureaucrats, or the Chinese Christians are appointed as important officers in the dynasty. In the third section of the paper, the sixteen-chaptered Biansuliangmo as an example will be discussed. On one hand, how the novel illustrating the “top-down” approach is described. The novel portrays the conversion of Confucians and the appointment of Christians as bureaucrats by the emperor leading to the solving of social problems. On the other hand, the religious discourses made in the novel will be discussed. The author chose Confucians as the target readers and made corresponding discourses. The similarity between Confucian Sage and Christ is emphasized for persuading the readers to convert to Christianity.

原載於《建道學刊》53期（2020年1月），頁 83-108。