轉型中的基督教家庭教會與中國公民社會的建構

Abstract

本文探討中國基督新教「家庭教會」的發展是否有助於中國公民社會的建構。自改革開放以來，沒有加入政府所認可的「基督教三自愛國運動委員會」與「基督教協會」（稱為「兩會」）的基督新教群體通常被稱為「家庭教會」。本文提議，評估「家庭教會」對於中國公民社會建構之貢獻的一個重要面向，在於檢驗「家庭教會」群體是否有助於培養建構公共領域的「公民特質」。本文指出，1980與1990年代在農村興起的「家庭教會」常具有私有化、教派性與他世關懷的傾向，其信仰群體雖然極力維護一個在國家掌控之外的生存空間，卻難以提供促進不同群體之間信任與合作的「橋接型社會資本」。然而，依據本人在2011年與2012年於成都與福州所做的田野調查，許多都市家庭教會逐漸建立起跨越群體、城鄉、與地區之間的聯繫和合作，並投身於社會參與。中國的家庭教會的轉型可能帶出有助於建構公民社會的社會資本，此發展值得繼續觀察。

This paper attempts to examine whether and to what extent the Protestant ‘house church’ may contribute to the construction of civil society in China. The ‘house church’ refers to Protestant groups existing outside the government-sanctified TSPM (Three-Self Patriotic Movement) and CCC (China Christian Council). A useful criterion for the role of house church groups for building civil society in China is their capability to nurture ‘the qualities of civility’. In accordance with this criterion, I propose that house churches arising in rural areas in the 1980s and 1990s tend to impart privatized, sectarian tendencies and other-worldly concerns to those religious groups, thus failing to provide “bridging social capital” that is essential to the virtue of trust and cooperation across different groups. On the other hand, according to my eld data collected in Chengdu and Fuzhou in 2011 and 2012, many urban house churches have established connections and various types of cooperation across regions and rural-urban division. Some of them are also devoted into social engagement. The transformation of house churches may bring valuable social capital that fosters the building of civil society in China.