宗教慈善与宗教的理性化：来自江浙地区的实证案例

理性化作为现代社会人类思想与行为朝向合理性与意义的过程,在宗教领域往往体现为宗教的现世性与伦理道德化。本文基于对一个基督教慈善基金会和一所佛教安养院的实证案例的比较分析,聚焦宗教慈善的发展是如何嵌入在一个当代中国宗教不断理性化的进程中的。不同于传统的华人慈善组织视宗族与地区团体成员为主要救助对象,新兴的当代中国宗教慈善能够超越地缘血缘的限制而服务更广泛的人群。通过比较浙江基督教H慈善基金会与江苏佛教D安养院两个具体案例在领导架构、运行模式、组织立场、空间定位以及社会身份等方面的差异,本文尝试刻画归纳出当代中国宗教的慈善实践机制,并指出当代中国宗教的理性化不是一个单一维度的宗教现象,而是中国社会独特宗教发展生态的产物,体现了宗教在现代性中的复杂角色。     

中国神学建设的沉思──读《丁光训文集》

基督教在中国的发展，中国基督教神学的创建，以及宗教与中国当代社会的关系，这些问题受到中国基督教界、宗教界和知识界的普遍关注。丁主教这部文集的出版，对我们深入探究这些问题和找寻这些问题理想的解答提供了重要启迪和思路。我们从事宗教研究尤其是基督教研究的学...     

第八届“基督宗教在当代中国的社会作用及其影响”高级论坛综述

第八届“基督宗教在当代中国的社会作用及其影响”高级论坛于2012年10月22日至27日,在南京举行。论坛由中央统战部和中央政府驻香港联络办公室组织指导、金陵协和神学院承办。香港和内地的政界、学界、教界专家学者60余人应邀参加了会议。与会者围绕基督宗教与社会公益事业的发展、基督宗教与当代中国文化建设、基督宗教与当代和谐社会的构建、基督宗教与当代中国社会建设、中国基督教神学可能发展的方向等专题展开研讨。现将主要内容归纳综述如下。     

近期学术会议动态

２００１年１０月 １日至４日由中国社会科学院基督教研究中心与德国米索尔友爱团结基金会在北京联合召开了“基督教与当代社会”国际学术研讨会。共有来自十余个国家的教务人员和宗教研究人员约１００人参加了本次会议。会议在３个主题下围绕１０个分题展开讨论：一、当代社会转型与基督宗教：１、当今世纪之交的基督宗教思想；２、基督教会在２１世纪的社会定位；３、“全球化”对基督教信仰的影响；二、当代社会中的基督宗教；４、作为公民杜会团体的教会；５、当代社会中基督徒个人的存在处境；６、当代政教关系；７、基督宗教与其它宗…     

谈发展话未来促交流——“第十四届基督宗教在当代中国的社会作用及其影响”高级论坛在贵阳举行

2018年11月13日,由中央政府驻港联络协调部主办、中国基督教两会承办的“第十四届基督宗教在当代中国的社会作用及其影响”高级论坛在贵阳举行,中国基督教协会驻会副会长兼总干事阚保平牧师代表中国基督教两会致辞,并做主旨发言。50多名来自内地和香港特区的天主教、基督教人士,专家学者及政府宗教部门干部参加了此次论坛。     

基督教中国化的建设性

<正>我们所致力的基督教中国化研究是要面向未来的,是富有建设性的,也就是要有助于克服中国基督教所面临的主要难题,推动基督教积极融入中国文化、中华民族,尤其是当代中国社会,以使其广大信众与全国人民一道共创中华民族的美好未来。1.基督教中国化可为构建文明对话神学奉献中国智慧要让基督教成为"中国的",首先必须探索有中国特色的神学思想体系。那么,在当今中国社会致力于妥善处理宗教关系,呼唤宗教界人士和信教群众为社会和谐、文化繁荣做出贡献的良好氛围     

提高信徒辨别异端邪说的能力

在社会转型期间,更有一些貌似宗教、实为邪教并打着基督教旗号的垃圾污染着中国基督教的神圣性。它们如同瘟疫,严重地扰乱了社会的正常秩序。     

丁光训主教论基督教中国化

<正>对于基督教中国化的认识与研究,经过几年的积淀,目前已基本形成政界、学界和教界三方面的互动关系。政界主要指主管宗教的政府部门,他们从国家与社会的角度,强调基督教与社会主义社会相适应,主张基督教中国化的目标就是建设一个独立自主的中国基督教会;学界主要指从学术层面关注中国宗教(尤其是基督教)问题的学者,他们更愿意从文化的角度,强调基督教文化与中国文化的深度融合,在中西文化互补的大框架下,探讨基督教哲理层面的中国化;至于教界,当然是指基督教会自身,作为基督教中国化的主体,义不容辞地要担负起     

天上的光洒在地上——从耶稣医治病人的视域浅析基督教中国化

正一、引言"基督教中国化"是当前中国基督教最重要、最有价值导向与现实意义的研究课题,因为它是中国基督教目前正在行走的历史进程,也肩负着基督教在中国社会健康发展的历史使命。而且,自从2016年4月全国宗教工作会议在北京召开以来,基督教中国化的探究热更上一层楼,因为习近平总书记的重要讲话指出:"积极引导宗教与社会主义社会相适应,一个重要的任务就是支持我国宗教坚持中国化方向。"     

“基督宗教来华与中西文化交流学术研讨会”召开

由华中师范大学中国教会大学史研究中心主办、中国社会科学院世界宗教研究所暨基督教研究中心协办的“基督宗教来华与中西文化交流学术研讨会”于8月13日至15日在武汉举行,来自全国十多个省市区的近50位学者参加了会议,并发表了论文。与会代表主要就基督宗教来华之本土化、传教士与中西文化交流、中国近代教会教育和基督宗教来华对中国社会之影响及当代中国基督教研究现状等方面进行了深入的研讨,发言热烈,争论激烈,畅所欲言,会议始终充满着自由活泼的气氛。这次会议的显著特点是：（1）这是全国首次中国基督教史研究学者的聚会,尤其…     

西方马克思主义宗教论说的六个问题领域

宗教在当代社会的"私人化",使基督教不仅作为一种信仰传统、也作为一种文化叙事引起诸多学科的关注,进而在基督教与马克思主义的关系方面形成了新的论说模式。马克思主义与基督教神学是否存在着可能交合的问题领域?这应该对中国目前的宗教学研究具有重要的借鉴价值。本文作者就此归纳为六个方面,并提出相关讨论。     

The Step Model of Transformative Religious Experiences: A Phenomenological Understanding of Religious Conversions in India

This is a phenomenological study of individual conversion experiences to Christianity from different religious traditions in India. The author has collected 165 accounts of conversion experiences by using maximum variant sampling and multiple methods of data collection. By using grounded theory, the author has generated a step model of transformative religious experiences. The step model incorporates the religious experience in conversion to which the converts attribute great significance. It accommodates both the role of religious practices and social psychological factors in the conversion process. This study also brings to light the hostilities to conversion in a multi-religious context.     

Lost in the Market, Saved at McDonald's: Conversion to Christianity in Urban China

Protestant Christianity has been growing very fast in China under communist rule. This article shows that the converts are not all marginalized individuals deprived of material and social resources. An increasing proportion of the converts are well-educated young people in urban China. To explain this conversion to a nontraditional religion, the micro-level factors of individual crisis, individual choices, and personal bonds are inadequate. The meso-level institutional factors of organizational strengths and competitiveness are important, but religious organizations are severely constrained by restrictive regulations in China. I argue that the macro-level contextual factors are very important to understand the phenomenon of large-scale conversion to Christianity in China today. The crucial contextual factors are the increasingly globalized market economy under political repression. Christianity provides peace and certainty in facing wild market forces. The Christian faith is liberating amid a stifling political atmosphere. McDonald's is a prominent symbol of the globalized market, which, like Christianity, is perceived as modern and cosmopolitan within the Chinese context.     

Associations Between Religious Behavior and Attitude to Christianity Among Australian Catholic Adolescents: Scale Validation

Abstract

In a sample of 1,166 Catholic high school students (age = 13–18 years), the author used confirmatory factor analysis to validate a 30-item instrument that assesses 6 dimensions of attitude to Christianity (viz., attitude to prayer, attitude to God, attitude to Jesus, attitude to the Bible, attitude to Christian practice, attitude to social justice). Goodness-of-fit indices for the proposed measurement model revealed that the model fitted the data very well, thus confirming the instrument's structure. A correlation analysis revealed associations between religious behavior and attitude to Christianity.     

A Review of Carolyn Chen’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">Getting Saved in America: Taiwanese Immigration and Religious Experience</Emphasis>

Carolyn Chen’ Getting Saved in America: Taiwanese Immigration and Religious Experience examines the impact of immigration on the religious practices of Taiwanese American Christians and Buddhists. In particular, the author studies how recent immigrants from Taiwan either convert to evangelical forms of Christianity or identify as explicit Buddhists as a way to remake the self in a particularly American context. By offering a dual tradition focus, the author provides significant insight into the relationship between gender, religious, and ethnic identities for Taiwanese Americans. Reviewing the centrality of religion in the lives of Taiwanese American Christians and Buddhists and its similar function in the lives of Korean American Buddhists, this review essay addresses how Asian American forms of religion and spirituality are reinterpreted to address the complex renegotiation of identities that take place for recent immigrants. This review essay also examines the process of religious conversion by questioning whether the move from one religious tradition to another can be understood as an additive process rather than a complete transition and addressing the impact of conversion on later generations.     

“What ‘Great Cloud of Witnesses’? Isn’t My Own Religious Experience Enough?”

The author notes that current seminary students show great variation in their academic skills, in their familiarity with the basics of Christianity, and in their sense of, and skill in, theological method. This condition is both caused and exacerbated by the students' acculturation in American religious privatism, which makes them resist a critical and constructive examination of their views and hinders their understanding of theology as an undertaking of and for the Church. The author describes a number of pedagogical strategies, teaching techniques, and classroom exercises that have shown some effectiveness in overcoming these problems.     

Challenging Christianity: Leo Tolstoy and religious education

The religious thought of Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy is a well documented but often overlooked example of unorthodox Christianity. This paper uses the example of Tolstoy’s religious thinking to question the integrity of the current representation of Christianity in UK schools. It also uses Tolstoy’s criticism of orthodox Christianity to suggest a possible consequence of the existing depiction of Christianity on students’ understanding and attitudes.     

Exceptionalism or Chinamerica: Measuring Religious Change in the Globalizing World Today

Religion is changing fast in this era of globalization. Major global trends include the growth of Muslims, the shrinking percentage of unaffiliated, and the rapid rise of Christianity in global China. By 2030, China is likely to become the largest Christian country in the world while retaining large numbers of Buddhists, Muslims, and folk religious believers. To capture religious changes more accurately, social scientists of religion must sharpen their measurement tools regarding religiosity; pay more attention to the reality of nonalignment among religious identity, belief, and practice; and acknowledge the reality of nonexclusive/multiple religious beliefs, practices, and identities. Scholars must also take responsibility for developing a clear and nuanced definition of religion, abandon exceptionalist thinking, and seek to discover common patterns of religious change across societies. Conceptual and measurement tools at the disposal of social scientists of religion should enable us to perceive and understand the converging changes of religion in China, the United States, and other societies, without ignoring their historical differences and contemporary particularities.     

Intergenerational Religious Mobility in Contemporary China

This study illustrates intergenerational religious mobility with the case of Chinese society. Using the quasi‐symmetric log‐linear model to separate structure mobility from exchange mobility, we examine the variation in religious identities between the reform era generation and their parents. Structure mobility results suggest that the encompassing social reform over the past decades in China has encouraged the structural growth of Islam and Christianity across generations, but traditional Chinese religions bear remarkable intergenerational disadvantages. Moreover, religious nones are growing across generations, at least relative to traditional Chinese religions. Exchange mobility findings indicate that individuals whose parents follow traditional Chinese religions are very likely to “convert” to Christianity. However, children of religious nones do not necessarily remain irreligious, possibly undermining the structural advantages of religious nones in the future. Finally, a comparison between cohort and period effects drives us to conclude that the major social force underpinning the revival of Chinese religion in the reform era is generational replacement instead of an increasingly religious transition of “old” generations.     

宗教身份与罗马人格法

宗教身份是指某宗教团体(派别)及其信徒在世俗社会中所处的地位。在基督教传入罗马前,各宗教间保持着和平共处的态势。其时,拥有某宗教身份不会影响人们的法律地位。但随着基督教的出现,这种情况改变了。帝政初期,他教信仰者因憎恶基督徒而对其迫害。因基督教身份,基督徒或被剥夺市民身份降为外邦人;或被剥夺自由身份降为奴隶。此时,宗教身份是人格变更的因素。而当基督教成为帝国国教时,信仰正统的基督教则成为完整人格的构成要素。凡信仰正统基督教则享有完整的权利能力;反之则具体权利能力受限,但不会导致身份的剥夺。