A scholar of Chinese culture said that Chinese Christians had restored the relationship with Heaven before establishing any human relationship
On August 24, Peng Yang, a scholar of Chinese culture delivered a lecture online titled “The Prophetic Wisdom in the Analects: from the Six Convictions of Confucius”, interpreting a series of Confucius’ thoughts from an uncommon perspective.
The scholar in the comparative study of Chinese traditional culture, Judaism, and Christianity. centered his lecture on two questions: "why should Christians read the Analects?" and "what are the main misunderstandings of the Analects among modern readers?"
In his lecture, he argued that Confucius’ identity as a "seer" had often been neglected. From this perspective, he propounded the value of the Analects for Christians. He also put forward that Confucius attached great emphasis to "heaven" (天) in the book, which was often overlooked by modern readers.
Yang introduced that Confucius could be considered as a seer, a junzi (gentleman), or an imperial teacher, where the latter two had been the mainstream way of interpreting Confucius. However, his studies have been focusing on understanding Confucius as a seer, and how Confucius viewed the world as a seer.
In Chinese, the idea of "prophet" and "seer" could both be "先知", yet he chose the term "seer" rather than "prophet" to define Confucius. He argued that compared to a "prophet" who speaks on behalf of God like Moses in the Old Testament, the term "seer” as in "one who sees” could be an appropriate description for Confucius: "A seer can see more than the appearance, but the reality.”
He further illustrated that Confucius should not be called a prophet as there was no evidence showing that he understood God's will in this way. Yet, he suggested the Chinese saga can be called a "seer”, as he saw a transcending sovereign power behind many things, which Confucius articulated as “Tian” (天, Heaven).
"Confucius saw the order of the Creator and publicized it. In this sense, we can identify Confucius as a seer,” emphasized Yang.
He continued, "The biggest misunderstanding of the Analects is that people neglect the idea of Tian.”
Yang took an example of the verse “A gentleman should be slow to speak but quick in action”, which was widely taken as a moral rule which values action more than speech. Yet behind this moral rule wasm Confucius' knowledge about heaven. He believed “speech” was divine and people should not “speak” recklessly. He quoted Confucius from the Analects, “Does Heaven speak? The four seasons pursue their courses, and all things are continually being produced, but does Heaven say anything?”, where Confucius was saying “Heaven hasn”t said anything, how could we speak?”. Therefore, a gentleman should be “slow to speak”.
The scholar further elaborated that, many of the teachings from the Analects were based on Confucius' understanding of Heaven, though they seemed to be about interpersonal relationships.
“Nowadays people too often simplify the Analects into a success guideline about interpersonal relationships: how we can establish and maintain relationships or how we can do things smoothly. In doing this, readers only see people but not Tian.” Yang added, “Yet this was not the original intention of Confucius. He did not only say that we should follow these interpersonal rules but tried to say that all of the interpersonal relationships were built on a Tian-human relationship.”
“From a perspective of Chinese traditional culture, Christians are people whose relationship with Heaven has been mended. People need to first establish a relationship with their Creator, then other humans”, concluded Yang.
This piece is intended as a faithful representation of the views and opinions expressed in the lecture described, but these views do not necessarily reflect those of the author or the editors of CCD.
- Translated by Grace Song
8月24日，学者杨鹏做了一场题为“透过孔子的六个确信看《论语》中的先知智慧”的网络讲座，让会众看到了与大众眼中不一样的孔子以及《论语》中的先知智慧。
主讲人杨鹏主要针对以下两个问题进行了分享：一，基督徒为什么要读《论语》？二，现代社会大众对《论语》有很多误读，这些误读主要体现在哪些地方呢？
讲座中，杨鹏强调，除了君子、帝师之外，孔子还具有常常被忽视的先知的身份，并从这个角度解读了基督徒读《论语》的价值。同时，他谈到，透过《论语》可以看到孔子非常看重“天”，这个是孔子思想中很重要的一个点，但是现代大众在读的时候常常忽略了，杨鹏认为这一点很遗憾。
一，基督徒为什么要读《论语》？
孔子的主要身份有三种：先知、君子、帝师。过去解读《论语》著作，基本都是从君子和帝师的角度解读。但是杨鹏是从先知的角度解读《论语》，给会众展现了先知孔子眼中的世界。
为什么说孔子是先知呢？杨鹏解释说，对于基督徒来说，一提到先知，就是圣经里面那几十位先知，比如摩西，上帝通过摩西给以色列人颁布了律法。但英文的“先知”有两个单词，一个是Prophet，神的代言者，另外一个是 Seer，直接翻译过来就是“能看见的人”：不是只看见表面而是能够看见本质。
杨鹏进一步阐释说，我们以Prophet来称呼孔子显然是不恰当的，因为孔子没有听见上帝的旨意。但他认为，孔子可以称为Seer，他能够看到表面现象背后的超越性的主宰的力量——孔子称之为“天”，指的就是终极的主宰力量。
“孔子他看到了造物主的秩序，并且把这样的秩序宣扬了出来。从这个意义上我们可以说孔子是一名先知。”他强调说。
二，现代社会大众对《论语》有很多误读，这些误读主要体现在哪些地方呢？
“大众对《论语》最大的误读，是把天给忘掉了。”
杨鹏说，孔子有一句话叫做“纳于言而敏于行”，看起来好像是一条伦理，很多人理解为多做事情少说话。但是其实在伦理的背后，有着很深的孔子对上天的认知。孔子认为“说”很神圣，不能够随便说。杨鹏引用《论语》中的一句话“天何言哉？四时行焉，百物生焉，天何言哉？”也就是说，“天都没有说话呢，我们怎么能说呢？”所以才要“纳于言”。
他进一步补充说，《论语》中很多道理看似是人际关系，但背后是来自孔子对上天的认知。我们如果不知道这层背景，就会觉得这个道理很浅显，但是如果知道，我们就会明白这个道理其实非常深刻。
“今天太多的人把《论语》越来越给简化了，只是当作关于人际关系的成功学而看待：我们要怎么建立和维持人际关系，怎么样才能够很顺利的做事情。只看见了人，而看不见背后的天。”主讲人说到：“但是其实孔子的初衷并不是这样的，因为《论语》中所有的一切，都是从天命而来的。孔子不是仅仅说我们要符合人际的这些关系，而是想说人际关系都是从天人关系而来的。”
“基督徒，从中国的传统文化范畴来看的话，其实是恢复了天人关系。人首先是要与造物主建立关系，然后才谈得上人际关系。”杨鹏说。
学者杨鹏网络分享：孔子及《论语》中的先知智慧
A scholar of Chinese culture said that Chinese Christians had restored the relationship with Heaven before establishing any human relationship
On August 24, Peng Yang, a scholar of Chinese culture delivered a lecture online titled “The Prophetic Wisdom in the Analects: from the Six Convictions of Confucius”, interpreting a series of Confucius’ thoughts from an uncommon perspective.
The scholar in the comparative study of Chinese traditional culture, Judaism, and Christianity. centered his lecture on two questions: "why should Christians read the Analects?" and "what are the main misunderstandings of the Analects among modern readers?"
In his lecture, he argued that Confucius’ identity as a "seer" had often been neglected. From this perspective, he propounded the value of the Analects for Christians. He also put forward that Confucius attached great emphasis to "heaven" (天) in the book, which was often overlooked by modern readers.
Yang introduced that Confucius could be considered as a seer, a junzi (gentleman), or an imperial teacher, where the latter two had been the mainstream way of interpreting Confucius. However, his studies have been focusing on understanding Confucius as a seer, and how Confucius viewed the world as a seer.
In Chinese, the idea of "prophet" and "seer" could both be "先知", yet he chose the term "seer" rather than "prophet" to define Confucius. He argued that compared to a "prophet" who speaks on behalf of God like Moses in the Old Testament, the term "seer” as in "one who sees” could be an appropriate description for Confucius: "A seer can see more than the appearance, but the reality.”
He further illustrated that Confucius should not be called a prophet as there was no evidence showing that he understood God's will in this way. Yet, he suggested the Chinese saga can be called a "seer”, as he saw a transcending sovereign power behind many things, which Confucius articulated as “Tian” (天, Heaven).
"Confucius saw the order of the Creator and publicized it. In this sense, we can identify Confucius as a seer,” emphasized Yang.
He continued, "The biggest misunderstanding of the Analects is that people neglect the idea of Tian.”
Yang took an example of the verse “A gentleman should be slow to speak but quick in action”, which was widely taken as a moral rule which values action more than speech. Yet behind this moral rule wasm Confucius' knowledge about heaven. He believed “speech” was divine and people should not “speak” recklessly. He quoted Confucius from the Analects, “Does Heaven speak? The four seasons pursue their courses, and all things are continually being produced, but does Heaven say anything?”, where Confucius was saying “Heaven hasn”t said anything, how could we speak?”. Therefore, a gentleman should be “slow to speak”.
The scholar further elaborated that, many of the teachings from the Analects were based on Confucius' understanding of Heaven, though they seemed to be about interpersonal relationships.
“Nowadays people too often simplify the Analects into a success guideline about interpersonal relationships: how we can establish and maintain relationships or how we can do things smoothly. In doing this, readers only see people but not Tian.” Yang added, “Yet this was not the original intention of Confucius. He did not only say that we should follow these interpersonal rules but tried to say that all of the interpersonal relationships were built on a Tian-human relationship.”
“From a perspective of Chinese traditional culture, Christians are people whose relationship with Heaven has been mended. People need to first establish a relationship with their Creator, then other humans”, concluded Yang.
This piece is intended as a faithful representation of the views and opinions expressed in the lecture described, but these views do not necessarily reflect those of the author or the editors of CCD.
- Translated by Grace Song
Scholar Interprets Confucius’ Role as ‘Seer' Through the Analects
