Author Affiliation: Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Religion, Columbia University=美國哥倫比亞大學宗教系博士候選人
關鍵詞
missionary=傳教士; modern chinese buddhism=現代中國佛教; orientalism=東方學; archival sources=檔案資料; Joseph Edkins=艾約瑟; Earl Herbert Cressy=葛德基
摘要
European-language scholarship on Buddhism in nineteenth—and early twentieth—century China has traditionally relied heavily on sources originally produced by Christian missionary scholars. While the field has since broadened its scope to include a wide variety of sources, including Chinese-language and ethnographic studies, missionary writings continue to be widely cited today;and yet we must acknowledge that the study of orientalism has brought to the fore several critical problems of bias and perspective inherent in these types of materials. Rather than dismissing them, this paper offers a preliminary model for making responsible use of the vast corpus of material on Buddhist religious culture produced by Christian missionaries resident in China. It does so by means of an examination of two figures: Joseph Edkins 艾約瑟 (1823-1905), and Earl Herbert Cressy 葛德基 (1883-1979). I will argue that through a better understanding of the historical context of Christian scholarship and mission work and in China, we may negotiate their biases and thereby access a unique and useful historical perspective on this critical period of Chinese Buddhist history.
