认识现代神学26、第十四章:神秘主义
主讲:林慈信牧师_校对:刘加立弟兄_英文:XSS姐妹_中文:姣姐妹
认识现代神学第26讲。我们上一讲开始的第14章神秘主义。我们正在为神秘主义做一些的定义。神秘主义比较关注的是灵界而不是物质的宇宙,要透过静观或者其他的属灵操练,来与宇宙或者宇宙的精神,宇宙的灵合一。
我们继续:Mysticism in its simplest and most essential meaning,神秘主义的最简单、最核心性的意义是,is a type of religion which puts the emphasis on immediate awareness of relation with God,direct and intimate consciousness of Divine Presence.这个意义就是,神秘主义是一种的宗教,他所强调的是直接的觉悟到与上帝的关系,直接的、亲密的意识到这个神圣的同在。” It is particularly the strong element of subjectivity and directness of revelation that forms the common link between neo-orthodoxy and Timothy Leary’s new “religion of inner space.”就是这个很强烈的主观和启示的直接性这个要素,就让巴特的新正统神学和Timothy Leary,L-e-a-r-y,他的所谓“内在空间的宗教”有所连接。
Timothy Leary是当时1960、70年代的吸毒的嬉皮士青年人的英雄之一。We may understand it better if we look for elements,rather than movements.假如我们不去寻找神秘主义的运动,而多看共通的要素,可能对神秘主义有更好的理解。
NO.1,第一个要素。Its central feature will be belief in special revelation outside the Bible.神秘主义的最核心的特点就是他相信圣经以外的特殊启示。The mystic may say that the Bible is merely a witness to revelation,waiting for God’s presence in dialogue with the sinner to become special revelation.神秘主义者可能会说,圣经只不过是对启示的一个的见证,在等着上帝的临到。就是说,等到上帝来与罪人对话,才成为特殊启示。This is the position of Barth and his worldwide disciples.这个是巴特和他全球性的门徒们的立场。
Or he may say,或者说,神秘主义者会这样说,that God still speaks to us directly in dreams and visions.今天上帝仍然直接的透过梦和异象向我们说话的。God is then said to add,not new revelations,but new interpretations to the Bible.他们会说上帝现在增加、加添,不是新的启示,乃是对圣经的新的解释。
Joseph Smith,the founder of the Mormon Church,believed,Smith,就是摩门教的创始人相信,that God had given him a new interpretation of the Bible.上帝给他对圣经一个崭新的解释了。Ellen G.White,the prophetess-spokesman of the Seventh-day Adventist Church,安息日会的女先知White(怀特),is still regarded as a prophet of the Lord,like Moses,gifted with special revelation.今天仍然被认为是耶和华的先知,就好像摩西一样,有着他所启示的恩赐的。
One often finds a similar emphasis in the literature of what has come to be called Neo-Pentecostalism.我们在所谓新五旬节主义的著作中往往看到他们也是有这种类似的侧重点的。God is said to grant,not only the gift of tongues,他们说,上帝不单单赐下说方言的恩赐,but also special revelation apart from the Bible.另外赐下的是圣经以外的特殊启示的。
In this same light,从同一个角度来看,many Asian evangelicals,seeking an answer for a very difficult problem in their life,很多亚洲的福音派基督徒,当他们面对生活中一个很大的困难的时候,当他们在寻找怎么样解决这个难题的时候,go to a nearby mountain for prayer and fasting,他们就跑去附近的一座山去祷告,去禁食,and return after forty days,saying that God has appeared to them in a vision,那四十天之后回来,说上帝在异象中向他们显现了,and given them the answer to their problem.也对他们的问题提供了答案了。These people all share one thing in common,这一切的人、事都有一个共通点,就是—the mystical belief that God speaks apart from His Word,the Bible.就是上帝撇开他自己的话语,圣经,仍然启示的,仍然说话的。
NO.2,第二个核心要素。With the loss of an objective standard,当失去了一个客观的标准的时候,mysticism emphasizes subjectivism and emotionalism.神秘主义所强调的是主观的和情感的。In the sixteenth century Reformation in Europe,在十六世纪的欧洲,在宗教改革时期,in the movement called Anabaptism,有着其中一个运动就是重洗派,this feature appeared among certain groups who remembered the example of Isaiah and walked naked through the streets.他们中间有些人记起以赛亚的榜样,所以在街上赤裸的在走。In America,it appeared in groups like the “Quakers,” 在美国,在这个贵格会,是指早期的贵格会,也出现一些的现象,whose nickname indicated ,贵格是他们的绰号,这个绰号就指出,their habit of quaking when they felt “the presence of God,”当他们感觉到“上帝的同在”的时候,他们有这个发抖的这种的习惯的,or in the “Holy Rollers,”或者到了十九世纪的所谓“圣洁的打滚者”,who would roll on the floors when God’s revelation came.就是当上帝的所谓启示临到的时候,他们会在地上打滚的。
In Korea,在韩国,it appears in clapping hands,and screaming and tears during the worship services of the Olive-tree sect,centered around Elder Park,the self-designated “Holy Spirit.”我们可以看到,在这个韩国的橄榄树的教派,围绕着朴长老,朴长老自称是“圣灵”。这个橄榄树教派,在他们的崇拜会里面会拍手,大声喊叫,流眼泪。In far less violent fashion,but equally subjective,it manifests itself in the remarks of Paul Tillich,那么没有那么的极端的,但是同样的主观的要素,从田立克的言论可以看出,on the question of the reliability of the record concerning Jesus’ miracles.就是当他回答耶稣的神迹的记录是否可靠的时候,他的答案。
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“In history,of course,you never have definite evidence for anything,” he had replied to a reporter.他曾经回答一个记者的问题的时候这样说:“当然,在历史里你永远找不到肯定的证据的。”The reporter’s perceptiveness caught fully the thrust of that remark.这个记者很有洞悉力,他完全掌握到田立克讲那句话的意义。“But how,I insisted,could symbols change,even lose all meaning,without affecting the content of the Christian message?记者说,我坚持说:当符号象征改变一切的意义,甚至乎失去一切的意义的时候,怎么可能不同时影响到基督教信息的内容呢?. . . This was such a thoroughgoing kind of relativism.这种简直是一个最彻底的相对主义。”
NO.3,第三方面的核心的要素。Mysticism usually deemphasizes the established church and is one-leader-centered.神秘主义往往不强调有形的教会,往往是围绕着一个领袖的。There is often a strong attack on the uselessness and corruption of the church.往往他们会抨击教会是否有用,抨击教会的败坏。The 144,000 of Revelation chapter 7 may be limited to Jehovah’s Witnesses or,as in the Adventist Church,to those who worship on Saturday and not Sunday,who do not have “the mark of the beast.”启示录第七章的144000人,可能是限制于耶和华见证人,或者在安息日会里限制于那些在星期六而不是星期天崇拜的人,这些人是没有“兽的印”的。
Or,as in the theology of secularization,或者在世俗化的神学,the effort will be to break down the lines between church and world,他们会努力的把教会与世界之间的界限拆掉,and underline the inabilities of the church,as presently constituted,to speak to the world’s needs.而特别强调教会如何的无能,目前的教会是多么的无能,向世界上的需要说话。Often with this emphasis,there will be the promotion of a movement,往往在这方面,就是反对教会的重点的同时,他们会宣传他们的运动,whose center may be one person in particular,那个运动的中心可能就是有一位特定的人—Ellen White of the Seventh-day Adventist Church,安息会的核心人物就是Ellen White,Joseph Smith of the Mormon Church,摩门教就是他们的创始人史密斯,Elder Park of the Korean Olive-tree sect,韩国的橄榄树教派就是朴长老,还有Dietrich Bonhoeffer,the prophet of “religionless Christianity.”还有“没有宗教的基督教”,他们的潘霍华。
NO.4,第四方面的核心要素。Mystical emphasis is placed on the spectacular.神秘主义往往强调很轰动的事件。It is not the ordinary gifts of the Spirit,but the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit,that are emphasized.他们所强调的不是圣灵一般的恩赐,乃是圣灵特殊的恩赐。The revivalists call out,“Grace! Visions! Miracles! Tongues!”一些奋兴布道家喊叫说:“恩典呐!异象啊!神迹啊!方言呐!”Miracles are stressed and sometimes also the so-called gift of tongues.往往他们强调神迹,还有所谓方言的恩赐。Behind the history of many of Africa’s new “Christo-syncristic religions [sic],”在非洲很多新兴的基督教和混合宗教,这些的混合的宗教的历史上,在他们这个历史的背后,one finds healers are miracle-workers.他们会有一些能够医病的行神迹的领袖们的。
NO.5,第五方面的要素。Mysticism emphasizes eschatology in some limiting sense.神秘主义会有有限性的来强调默示论的。那这里又分两派。
A:To those mystics on a scale sliding closer to a recognition of biblical authority,假如我们说神秘主义有很多种,那么比较靠近承认圣经权威的那些的神秘主义者,it will be eschatology severely limited to the events of the second coming of Christ,他们就把末世论严重的限制于一些基督再来的时候的事件,often involving itself in the closest investigation of details surrounding this event,他们往往的很谨慎的去察究,围绕着基督再来的一些的事件,often emphasizing judgment primarily,往往主要所强调的是神的审判,and not salvation.而不是救赎,不是救恩的。In sixteenth century Europe,在十六世纪的欧洲,this tendency expressed itself in those extreme elements of Anabaptism,在一些重洗派的极端的人士中就表达出这种的倾向,who anticipated momentarily the second coming of Christ,因为他们在期待着基督的再来马上就会来到的—the imminent,visible return of Christ to Europe to set up His millennial reign.基督马上能见的会回来,到欧洲来设立祂千禧年的统治的。
In twentieth century Korea,那么在二十世纪的韩国,the same tendency appears in the writings of men like the Rev. Lee Rye-ja,我们也可以看到好像这位李牧师的著作里有着同样的倾向,who warns us,他警告我们说,that the day of grace has passed,恩典时期已经过了,and that the day of blood and vengeance has come.流血报应的日子来到了。You can see it in the Korean bookstores,你可以在韩国的书店看到,where there are countless collections of sermons on eschatology,无数这么多的讲道集都是讲末世论的,and more commentaries on the book of Revelation than any other Bible book.启示录的圣经注释是多过对任何其他书卷的注释的。
B:For those mystics further away from the restrictions of biblical authority,那么对那些偏离圣经权威的那些的神秘主义者,eschatology is usually denuded of any references to the second coming of Christ.那么末世论就完全脱光任何与基督再来的关系了。For Moltmann,对莫特曼来说,it is orientation toward the future,not the coming Christ.整个导向是朝向未来,而不是朝向基督的再来的。For Bultmann,对布特曼来说,it is demythologized,基督的再来就会去神话化,into the existential horizon of human life,就成为人生的存在性的水平线,that which confronts man with the ultimate meaning of his existence,就是要人面对的它的存在的之中的意义,that which calls him to existential decision.就是呼吁人要做出存在性的决定的那个,那个就是末世。For Barth,那么,对巴特来说,“the men of the New Testament were not joyful because they expected that Christ was soon to return on the clouds of heaven.新约的人是喜乐,不是因为他们期待着基督很快就驾着云会回来的。On the contrary,相反的,they looked for Christ’s second coming because,他们期待基督的再来,因为,because the presence of Christ with them was already so gloriously real.因为基督与他们的同在已经是那么的荣耀,那么的真。”
Mysticism at least reminds us,神秘主义至少提醒我们,that our Christianity must be more than merely talking Christianity.我们的基督教信仰不可以仅仅是讲话的基督教。It must be Christianity of the heart and of the emotions.我们的基督教信仰必须是从心中发出的,有着情感的基督教。At the same time,但是与此同时,“beloved,do not believe every spirit,but test the spirits,to see whether they are of God” (I John 4:1l).根据约壹4:1,亲爱的弟兄啊,一切的灵,你们不可都信,总要试验那些灵是出于上帝的不是。A test of mysticism’s spirit should note the following dangers at least.那么若要查验神秘主义的灵,我们至少要注意到下列的几方面的危险。
那下面就是对神秘主义的批判。
NO.1,第一方面的批判或者危险。Mysticism’s emphasis on special revelation apart from the Bible forgets that,“神秘主义强调圣经以外的特殊启示,就指出,他们忘记,the word of God is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him (Westminster Shorter Catechism,question 2).唯有上帝的话是唯一的准则,指导我们,我们该如何荣耀神,永远享受他的同在的(《小要理问答》,第二问的答案)。”
We may know only that will of God for our life which is necessary to know,我们只能够知道那些我们需要知道的,关于我们生命的上帝的旨意的(Deut. 29:29,申29:29).But that will of God we can find only in the Bible.但是我们只能在圣经里面找到上帝那个的旨意的。If we seek for “teaching,for reproof,for correction,for instruction in righteousness”,假如我们要找到“教训、督责、使人归正、教导的人学义(提后3:16、17)”,there is only one place to which we can turn,我们只能够回转到一个地方—the Bible.圣经。The evangelical who resorts to dreams and visions,假如是要用到梦和异象的福音派基督徒,is as guilty of mysticism’s basic fault as Barth,他们就与巴特一样犯了神秘主义基本上的错误,who also divides the Bible from the revelation of God.就是把圣经和神的启示分隔了。Both forget that God’s Word has been written.两者都忘记上帝的话是已经写下来的,是been,之于书的。
我们下一讲要继续讲神秘主义的第2、3、4、5方面的危险。我们下次继续。
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