从杨庆堃宗教社会学的功能主义视角看儒学的宗教特质

儒学是不是宗教的问题,至今仍困扰学术界,学者们对此莫衷一是。本文通过梳理杨庆堃的宗教社会学分析中对儒学宗教性的阐述,来认识儒学在中国人宗教生活中的角色与作用。杨庆堃从功能主义的视角论证了儒学具备的宗教特质——儒学的道德体系与礼仪制度为中国人解决个人与自然、个人与社会以及社会秩序建构提供了宗教性基调;他引述了大量的地方志等文献资料来说明,儒学作为意义与信仰实践体系对于中国民众生活世界的影响;并通过对“以神道设教”与政治伦理之间的功能性互动的讨论,揭示了儒学传统参与并决定社会秩序建构的普遍而有效的方式。
Abstract：Whether Confucianism is a religion or not has been a controversial issue among scholars. This article tries to understand the role and function of Confucianism in Chinese religious life by exploring C. K. Yang's argumentations on the religiousness of Confucianism. Yang demonstrated the religious characteristics of Confucianism from a functional perspective-the Confucian value and ritual systems provided the religious foundation in the relationship between man and nature, individual and society, as well as the social order construction; supported with large amount of materials from local chronicles, Yang pointed out the significance of Confucianism as a meaning system and a practical belief system in the lifeworld of the Chinese people; and through his analysis of functional interactions between “shendao shenjiao” (神道设教, the theory about how the sages devised guidance by way of deities and the people under the heaven followed) and traditional political ethics, Yang revealed the general and functional way in which Confucian tradition played a decisive role in the construction of social order.