Very often we may encounter a paradox when we evangelize. Initially, we will highly praise the Western scientists and their achievements regarding them as the fruit of Christianity. For instance, we will say that Issac Newton and Albert Einstein were all Christians who believed in God. It was because of Christianity that Western science came into being. However, after one believes in God, he hears another voice in the church teachings, that is, Newton and Einstein were not Christians, and the God whom they believed in was not the Christian God. Science is ‘the basic principles of this world’. Rather, we should concentrate on the salvation of the soul. Consequently, people, who join the church because of the above evangelism, often feel that the initial teaching they heard was used to seduce them into membership.
Let me use an analogy for this way of evangelizing that Christianity is like a garment, and whoever wears it is a Christian. Therefore, Christianity can be worn by Western scientists who are Christians; can be worn by Western scientific and technological civilizations which are Christian civilizations. However, when I strip this garment off them and put it on me, then they are not a Christian anymore. I become a Christian. No matter how my behavior or spirit is, as long as I wear this garment, I am a Christian.
It is said that human history is a little girl who is freely dressed. So under such a concept, Christianity has also become the little girl who is freely dressed.
The core issue involved here is what Christianity is and how we can identify it, which is a matter of identifying criteria. Of course, Christianity has many denominations with a history of more than 2,000 years. Using a rigid standard to measure it would obviously be suspected of cutting one’s feet to fit one’s shoes. However, the reason why Christianity is Christianity must have its own characteristics and necessary elements, such as justice, love, and compassion, which are undeniably true in Christianity.
When we deny the common identifying criteria of Christianity, the Christian groups will fail to reach a consensus to form a community and meanwhile, it will make Christianity a label in the evangelical process. The label can be attached to anything, thus losing the uniqueness of Christianity itself.
In my opinion, distinguishing and understanding Christian culture and civilizations is one of the few important ways to solve answer the questions above.
Let’s first define what culture is.
The Chinese word ‘culture’ we use today actually came from Japan. It is a Japanese vocabulary (in Chinese characters, 文化; pronounced [wen hua], translator's note) that was the result of translating a Western concept called ‘culture’ by modern Japanese scholars. Then it was introduced to China by Chinese scholars. Of course, Japanese scholars were not the first to create the Chinese word ‘culture’. In Chinese ancient literature, there has been the word ‘culture’. ‘Wen’ (文), originally meant texture threads of stones or objects, was extended to mean the law of nature. Accordingly, the ancient Chinese used ‘wen’ (or law) to coinage ‘tian wen’, the law of nature (later ‘astronomy’ as ‘tian’ means the sky); or ‘ren wen’, the social norm and order of human relations (later ‘humanities’ as ‘ren’ means human beings, translator’s note). ‘Hua’ (化), in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, originally meant change, and later it was extended to mean enlightenment. Therefore, the combination of ‘wen’ and ‘hua’ (to form the word ‘culture’) means to educate people with ethical principles and make them obey social norms. In view of our history, it has always been a history of constant conquest. Therefore, the educational function of culture is mainly to make the conquered obey the conqueror, which can be perceived from the Chinese world view concepts such as ‘principles of social norm and human relation’ or ‘country-home’.
However, ‘culture’ does not mean the same in Western philosophy. The meaning of ‘culture’ can be traced back to the Latin word ‘cultura’, which originally meant planting or cultivating of crops. Later, it evolved to have a spiritual connotation referring to the spiritual or material achievements of human activities. Voltaire, the German enlightenment philosopher, used the word ‘culture’ to refer to the cultivation of human mind, wisdom, sentiment and morality. Therefore, the word ‘culture’ mainly refers to the results of human activities, which can be tangible and intangible, for example, architecture, literature, painting, religion, customs, etc.
We can see the differences in the meaning of the word ‘culture’ from Chinese and Western philosophy. The original meaning of Chinese ‘culture’ was mainly to educate people to obey the conqueror who fought on war chariots. Once the conqueror is in throne, he will waste no time in making everyone to obey him. However, the Western ‘culture’ has no such connotation but specifically refers to the result of people’s activities.
Civilization is not the same as culture - these are two different concepts. However, when we talk about them we often fail to distinguish the differences interchanging between the two words.
The word ‘civilization’ did not emerge at the same time as the word ‘culture’ did in the West. The English word ‘civilization’ is spelled ‘zivilisation’ in German, and ‘civilisation’ in French. These words were all derived from the Latin words such as ‘civis’ (citizen), ‘civitas’ (organized society or city) and ‘civilis’ (citizen). They can be traced back to the city-state of ancient Greece, and these concepts appeared as early as the 2nd century BC. From this etymology, we can see that ‘civilization’ means a social order in a city-state. European scholars in the 18th century first used the word ‘civilization’, which meant to endow the society with moral principles and forms. In Ferguson’s view, the history of human beings developed from barbarism to civilization.
‘Culture’ in today’s sense is more intended to refer to the result of the activities of a certain group. For instance, Christianity, Islam, the United States and Russia all have their own cultures. These cultures all have their own independent boundaries, own characteristics and ethnic affiliation. Therefore, it is in this sense that there are conflicts between cultures. We often say ‘when in Rome, do as the Romans do’ to mean adapting to another culture.
It is on this aspect that Huntington’s ‘Clash of Civilizations’ is actually a clash of cultures, not civilizations. Because civilization is the direction of the development of human history, and it is the consensus of moral standards and order that human beings have gained after painful lessons. Civilization is universal, while culture is the result of the activities of different groups.
On the cultural level, the Christian culture is different in every country. There are many Christian literature works or Christian art works in Europe, all of which are part of European Christian culture. China also has Christian culture such as literary works, fine arts, or church buildings. Every Christian culture has its own characteristics. When we enter our local churches, we often find that the Christian culture in which we live is covered with a strong sense of enlightenment. For instance, the church emphasizes obedience, obedience of believers to pastors, obedience of children to parents, and obedience from lower rank to upper rank. So the church keeps moving forward on the track of our own ancient culture. We put Christianity, ‘the cloak’, on our own culture.
Because each culture has its own characteristics, there may be no superior or subordinate cultures. The assessment and confirmation of cultural heritage does not mean to compare the advantages and disadvantages of the cultures. ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do’ means showing respect to another culture. Under the concept of cultural equality, we will not reflect on what is wrong with ‘our’ Christianity. We give our own Christian culture a feature so that we may dispel the tension between us and Jesus’ teachings.
However, Christian civilization is different. Christian civilization is a new world order brought by Jesus, a new relationship between people, and between people and God, and it is a new moral principle. As Jesus said, “a new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34)
Therefore, compared with the Christian civilization, we seem to be more willing to accept the Christian materialistic culture. In the terms of materialistic support for the church, it is the more the better. However, once the church is measured by the rules of Christian civilization, many people avoid it.
The content of Jesus’ teaching is a kind of culture, but all the more a kind of civilization. Jesus’ teaching provides human beings with moral principles, basic order and a bottom line between people. Yet, we have left the Christian civilization behind, and put the Christian ‘coat’ on our own culture. We still use new wineskins to hold old wine.
Therefore, it is in this sense that we can say that Christianity can be culturally localized, but once the Christian civilization brought by Jesus is abandoned, it has nothing to do with Jesus. Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:35) “My command is this: Love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12) However, we often fail to obey Jesus’ command. If we cheer for wars, if we seek reasons to enslave people, and if we cheer for violence, how can Jesus recognize such Christianity even if it is clothed in the Christian ‘cloak’?
Let’s be more civilized because of the Christian faith. Let’s walk on the road to civilization because of the Christian faith instead of shutting Jesus out for cultural reasons.
- Translated by Charlie Li
我们在传福音的时候，往往会遇到吊诡的现象。在开始传福音的时候，我们会大夸西方那些科学家和科学成就，把它们说成信基督教的结果。比如他们会讲牛顿、爱因斯坦等都是基督徒，都信上帝，正是因为基督教信仰才产生了西方的科学。但是当一个人信了上帝之后，在教会里则听到的是另外一种声音，那就是牛顿和爱因斯坦不是基督徒，他们信奉的上帝不是基督教的上帝，这些科学都是世上的小学，我们应该专心于灵魂拯救。因此，常常有因着这样的传福音而加入教会的人觉得最开始的宣讲有种被骗入会的感觉。
这种传福音的方式可以打个比方——就像基督教是一件衣服，穿在谁身上，谁就是基督教，因此，基督教可以穿在西方科学家身上，他们是基督徒，可以穿在西方科技文明身上，他们是基督教文明，但是这件衣服当被我从他们身上脱掉，穿在我的身上时，他们就不是基督教了，我就变成了基督教。不管我自己的行为怎样，不管我自己的精神怎样，只要穿着这件衣服，我就是基督教了。
人说历史是任人打扮的小姑娘，那么这种观念之下，基督教也变成了任人打扮的小姑娘。
这里所涉及的核心问题，就是什么才是基督教，我们怎么判别基督教，也就是标准问题。当然基督教有很多派别，也有两千多年的历史，使用一种僵硬的标准来衡量，显然是有削足适履之嫌。但是，基督教之所以是基督教，必然有他自身的特征和必备的要素，比如公义、慈爱、怜悯等，这些是无法否认的。
当我们否认了基督教共同标准，这不仅无法让基督教群体达成共识，形成一个共同体，同样会让基督教在传播过程中变成一个标签，可以贴在任何一个的东西之上，从而失去基督教自身的独特性。
我以为，分清这个问题，搞明白基督教文化和基督教文明是解决这个问题为数不多的重要途径之一。
我们先来界定一下什么是文化。
今天我们使用的文化这个词，其实是由日本东渡而来，是日本学者在近代为了翻译西方“文化”概念而使用的词汇，后来由中国学者引入。当然，这不是日本学者对文化这个词的首创，在我们的古代的文献中，就有文化这个词。文，即石头或者物体的纹路，引申为规律。因此在古人眼中文分成天文和人文，天文也就是天的规律，即自然规律；人文是人伦社会规范和秩序。化在甲骨文中的本意是变化，后来引申出教化之意。因此，文化合起来的意思，就是用伦理纲常来教化民众，使他们服从社会纲常规范。鉴于我们的历史，一直是一个不断被征服的历史，因此，文化的教化功能主要是让被征服者顺从征服者，这从我们三纲五常、家国天下等可以看出。
然而，文化在西方文化中则不是这个含义。文化一意我们可以追溯到拉丁文Cultura，本意为耕种或者作物的培育。后来逐渐引申到精神领域，用来指称人类活动的精神或者物质的成果。德国启蒙哲学家伏尔泰，用“文化”一词指称人类心灵、智慧 、情操 、风尚的化育。因此，文化这一词，主要指人类活动的结果，这些结果可以是建筑、文学、绘画、宗教、风俗等有形和无形的东西。
我们可以看到中西之间，文化所指的差别，我们文化的原初含义主要功能是教化，也就是马上得天下，之后就要用文化来使大家服从马上得来的天下。而西方的文化一词则没有更多的教化或目的指向，而是特指人们活动的结果。
文明与文化不同，这是两个概念。但是我们在平常使用的时候，一直在混淆，用文化来代替文明。
文明一词在西方并不是和文化一词同时出现。文明的英语Civilization，德语为 Zivilisation，法文 Civilisation，这些词都源于拉丁文 Civis( 公民) 和 Civitas( 有组织的社会或城市) 、Civilis( 公民)。这些词可以追溯到古希腊的城邦国家，早在公元前2世纪就已经出现这些概念。从这个词源我们可以看出，文明意味着一种城邦中的社会秩序。18世纪的欧洲学者最先开始使用文明这一词，文明赋予社会以道德的原则和形式，在弗格森看来，人类的历史是由野蛮走向文明。
今天意义上的文化，更多的用意是指称某一群体活动的结果，比如基督教、伊斯兰教、美国、俄国都有自己的文化，这些文化都各自有自己的独立边界，有自己的特点和民族归属，因此正是在此意义上，才有文化之间的冲突。我们常说的入乡随俗，就是指对另一种文化的适应。
也正是在这个问题上，亨廷顿的《文明的冲突》其实是文化的冲突，而不是文明的冲突。因为文明是人类历史发展的方向，是人类经过血的教训之后获得道德准则和秩序共识。文明是普世的，文化则是不同群体的活动结果。
从文化的层面上讲，每个国家的基督教文化不一样。欧洲有许多基督教文学作品或者基督教美术作品，这些都是欧洲的基督教文化。我们也有基督教文化，文学作品、美术、或者教堂建筑等。每个基督教文化都有自己的特色。进入我们本土的教会，我们常常会发现，常常我们所生存其中的基督教文化披上了浓浓的教化意味。比如，教会强调的是顺服，信徒顺服牧者，子女顺服父母，在上的顺服在下的，教会不断在我们自己古老的文化轨道上前行。我们将基督教的外衣皮在我们自己的文化上。
因为文化本身各有自己的特点，可能并没有高地之分。文化非遗的评定并没有比较文化优劣的意思。入乡随俗，同样是对另一种文化的尊重。在文化平等的观念之下，我们不会反思我们的基督教有什么问题，我们把自己的基督教文化冠以特色，从而消解了与耶稣教导之间的紧张。
基督教文明则不同，基督教文明是耶稣带来的一种新的世界秩序，新的人与人之间的关系，人与上帝的关系，一种新的道德原则。正如耶稣所说“我赐给你们一条新命令，乃是叫你们彼此相爱；我怎样爱你们，你们也要怎样相爱。” (约翰福音 13:34 和合本)
因此，与基督信仰文明相比，我们好像更愿意接受基督教的物质文化。面对对教会的物质支持，来者不拒，多多益善。但是一旦拿基督教文明的规则来衡量教会，很多则避之唯恐不及。
耶稣教导的内容是一种文化，更是一种文明。耶稣教导为人类提供了道德准则，提供了人与人之间的基本秩序和底线。但是我们却把基督教文明抛之脑后，而把基督教外衣披在自己的文化上。我们用新皮袋依然装着腐臭的旧酒。
因此，正是在这个意义上，我们可以说文化上基督教可以本土化，但是一旦舍弃了耶稣带来的基督教信仰文明，那么也就与耶稣没什么关联了。耶稣说：“你们若有彼此相爱的心，众人因此就认出你们是我的门徒了。”(约翰福音 13:35)“你们要彼此相爱，像我爱你们一样；这就是我的命令。” (约翰福音 15:12 )而我们却常常没有遵守耶稣的命令，我们若为战争欢呼，我们若为奴役人寻找理由，我们若为暴力欢呼，这样的基督教即使披着基督教的衣服，耶稣又怎能认可呢？
让我们因为基督信仰而更加文明，让我们因为基督教信仰而走在通往文明的大道上，而不是以文化的理由将耶稣拒之门外。
角声| 文明与文化有区别 莫让文化的大门把耶稣带来的文明阻在门外
Very often we may encounter a paradox when we evangelize. Initially, we will highly praise the Western scientists and their achievements regarding them as the fruit of Christianity. For instance, we will say that Issac Newton and Albert Einstein were all Christians who believed in God. It was because of Christianity that Western science came into being. However, after one believes in God, he hears another voice in the church teachings, that is, Newton and Einstein were not Christians, and the God whom they believed in was not the Christian God. Science is ‘the basic principles of this world’. Rather, we should concentrate on the salvation of the soul. Consequently, people, who join the church because of the above evangelism, often feel that the initial teaching they heard was used to seduce them into membership.
Let me use an analogy for this way of evangelizing that Christianity is like a garment, and whoever wears it is a Christian. Therefore, Christianity can be worn by Western scientists who are Christians; can be worn by Western scientific and technological civilizations which are Christian civilizations. However, when I strip this garment off them and put it on me, then they are not a Christian anymore. I become a Christian. No matter how my behavior or spirit is, as long as I wear this garment, I am a Christian.
It is said that human history is a little girl who is freely dressed. So under such a concept, Christianity has also become the little girl who is freely dressed.
The core issue involved here is what Christianity is and how we can identify it, which is a matter of identifying criteria. Of course, Christianity has many denominations with a history of more than 2,000 years. Using a rigid standard to measure it would obviously be suspected of cutting one’s feet to fit one’s shoes. However, the reason why Christianity is Christianity must have its own characteristics and necessary elements, such as justice, love, and compassion, which are undeniably true in Christianity.
When we deny the common identifying criteria of Christianity, the Christian groups will fail to reach a consensus to form a community and meanwhile, it will make Christianity a label in the evangelical process. The label can be attached to anything, thus losing the uniqueness of Christianity itself.
In my opinion, distinguishing and understanding Christian culture and civilizations is one of the few important ways to solve answer the questions above.
Let’s first define what culture is.
The Chinese word ‘culture’ we use today actually came from Japan. It is a Japanese vocabulary (in Chinese characters, 文化; pronounced [wen hua], translator's note) that was the result of translating a Western concept called ‘culture’ by modern Japanese scholars. Then it was introduced to China by Chinese scholars. Of course, Japanese scholars were not the first to create the Chinese word ‘culture’. In Chinese ancient literature, there has been the word ‘culture’. ‘Wen’ (文), originally meant texture threads of stones or objects, was extended to mean the law of nature. Accordingly, the ancient Chinese used ‘wen’ (or law) to coinage ‘tian wen’, the law of nature (later ‘astronomy’ as ‘tian’ means the sky); or ‘ren wen’, the social norm and order of human relations (later ‘humanities’ as ‘ren’ means human beings, translator’s note). ‘Hua’ (化), in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, originally meant change, and later it was extended to mean enlightenment. Therefore, the combination of ‘wen’ and ‘hua’ (to form the word ‘culture’) means to educate people with ethical principles and make them obey social norms. In view of our history, it has always been a history of constant conquest. Therefore, the educational function of culture is mainly to make the conquered obey the conqueror, which can be perceived from the Chinese world view concepts such as ‘principles of social norm and human relation’ or ‘country-home’.
However, ‘culture’ does not mean the same in Western philosophy. The meaning of ‘culture’ can be traced back to the Latin word ‘cultura’, which originally meant planting or cultivating of crops. Later, it evolved to have a spiritual connotation referring to the spiritual or material achievements of human activities. Voltaire, the German enlightenment philosopher, used the word ‘culture’ to refer to the cultivation of human mind, wisdom, sentiment and morality. Therefore, the word ‘culture’ mainly refers to the results of human activities, which can be tangible and intangible, for example, architecture, literature, painting, religion, customs, etc.
We can see the differences in the meaning of the word ‘culture’ from Chinese and Western philosophy. The original meaning of Chinese ‘culture’ was mainly to educate people to obey the conqueror who fought on war chariots. Once the conqueror is in throne, he will waste no time in making everyone to obey him. However, the Western ‘culture’ has no such connotation but specifically refers to the result of people’s activities.
Civilization is not the same as culture - these are two different concepts. However, when we talk about them we often fail to distinguish the differences interchanging between the two words.
The word ‘civilization’ did not emerge at the same time as the word ‘culture’ did in the West. The English word ‘civilization’ is spelled ‘zivilisation’ in German, and ‘civilisation’ in French. These words were all derived from the Latin words such as ‘civis’ (citizen), ‘civitas’ (organized society or city) and ‘civilis’ (citizen). They can be traced back to the city-state of ancient Greece, and these concepts appeared as early as the 2nd century BC. From this etymology, we can see that ‘civilization’ means a social order in a city-state. European scholars in the 18th century first used the word ‘civilization’, which meant to endow the society with moral principles and forms. In Ferguson’s view, the history of human beings developed from barbarism to civilization.
‘Culture’ in today’s sense is more intended to refer to the result of the activities of a certain group. For instance, Christianity, Islam, the United States and Russia all have their own cultures. These cultures all have their own independent boundaries, own characteristics and ethnic affiliation. Therefore, it is in this sense that there are conflicts between cultures. We often say ‘when in Rome, do as the Romans do’ to mean adapting to another culture.
It is on this aspect that Huntington’s ‘Clash of Civilizations’ is actually a clash of cultures, not civilizations. Because civilization is the direction of the development of human history, and it is the consensus of moral standards and order that human beings have gained after painful lessons. Civilization is universal, while culture is the result of the activities of different groups.
On the cultural level, the Christian culture is different in every country. There are many Christian literature works or Christian art works in Europe, all of which are part of European Christian culture. China also has Christian culture such as literary works, fine arts, or church buildings. Every Christian culture has its own characteristics. When we enter our local churches, we often find that the Christian culture in which we live is covered with a strong sense of enlightenment. For instance, the church emphasizes obedience, obedience of believers to pastors, obedience of children to parents, and obedience from lower rank to upper rank. So the church keeps moving forward on the track of our own ancient culture. We put Christianity, ‘the cloak’, on our own culture.
Because each culture has its own characteristics, there may be no superior or subordinate cultures. The assessment and confirmation of cultural heritage does not mean to compare the advantages and disadvantages of the cultures. ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do’ means showing respect to another culture. Under the concept of cultural equality, we will not reflect on what is wrong with ‘our’ Christianity. We give our own Christian culture a feature so that we may dispel the tension between us and Jesus’ teachings.
However, Christian civilization is different. Christian civilization is a new world order brought by Jesus, a new relationship between people, and between people and God, and it is a new moral principle. As Jesus said, “a new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34)
Therefore, compared with the Christian civilization, we seem to be more willing to accept the Christian materialistic culture. In the terms of materialistic support for the church, it is the more the better. However, once the church is measured by the rules of Christian civilization, many people avoid it.
The content of Jesus’ teaching is a kind of culture, but all the more a kind of civilization. Jesus’ teaching provides human beings with moral principles, basic order and a bottom line between people. Yet, we have left the Christian civilization behind, and put the Christian ‘coat’ on our own culture. We still use new wineskins to hold old wine.
Therefore, it is in this sense that we can say that Christianity can be culturally localized, but once the Christian civilization brought by Jesus is abandoned, it has nothing to do with Jesus. Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:35) “My command is this: Love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12) However, we often fail to obey Jesus’ command. If we cheer for wars, if we seek reasons to enslave people, and if we cheer for violence, how can Jesus recognize such Christianity even if it is clothed in the Christian ‘cloak’?
Let’s be more civilized because of the Christian faith. Let’s walk on the road to civilization because of the Christian faith instead of shutting Jesus out for cultural reasons.
- Translated by Charlie Li
Voice: Don't Let the Gate of Culture Block out Civilization Brought by Jesus
