研究《福音书》最早拉丁注释的学者：别把《圣经》里的事当真了 [英国媒体]

'Don't take the Bible literally' says scholar who brought to light earliest Latin analysis of the Gospels

研究《福音书》最早拉丁注释的学者：别把《圣经》里的事当真了



The earliest Latin interpretation of the Gospels has been brought to light by a British academic – and it suggests that readers should not take the Bible literally.

英国学术界刚刚整理完最早的《福音书》拉丁文解经文本。文本内容建议《圣经》的读者不要按照字面意思去理解《圣经》。

Lost for 1,500 years, the fourth-century commentary by African-born Italian bishop Fortunatianus of Aquileia interprets the Gospels as a series of allegories instead of a literal history.

这个拉丁文译本是公园四世纪时的非裔意大利主教，阿奇雷阿的福图那西亚纳斯对《福音书》的解释。他将《福音书》的内容解释为一系列的比喻，而不是真实的历史。

Dr Hugh Houghton, of the University of Birmingham, who translated the work, said it was an approach which modern Christians could learn from.

伯明翰大学教授休·浩顿是这批文本的翻译者。他说这个解释《圣经》的方法是当今基督徒应当学习的。

The find adds weight to the idea that many early biblical scholars did not see the Bible as a history, but instead a series of coded messages which represented key elements of Christianity, he said.

据他说，这个发现强化了疑经派的观点，即早期的圣经学者并不将《圣经》文本视作历史，而是一段段的隐喻式信息。其中蕴含的是基督教的基本教义。

"There's been an assumption that it's a literal record of truth - a lot of the early scholars got very worried about inconsistencies between Matthew and Luke, for example.

“曾经很多人假设《圣经》是如实记载的历史，而早期的经学家对福音书里的不连贯处，比如《马太福音》和《路加福音》之间的矛盾，感到十分焦虑。”

"But for people teaching the Bible in the fourth century, it's not the literal meaning which is important, it's how it's read allegorically.

“但当时的经学家仍然用《圣经》教诲信众。他们不将其中的字面意思作为重点，而是将其作为隐喻来理解。”



"In contemporary Biblical scholarship a lot of the gospels are written with symbolism in mind.

“在当今的经学界里，很多观点都认为《福音书》的写作是象征性的。”

"They are not setting out to be literal accounts but they are set out to be symbolic."

“它们并不是作为真实故事，而是象征式的寓言来记载的。”

He said that the Bible had to be "understood in the context that the authors were working in." 

浩顿称“必须用《圣经》作者当时的环境和条件来理解《圣经》”。

The approach differs from the trend of biblical literalism adopted by modern evangelical and fundamentalist Christians, which interprets the Bible as the literal word of God which is not open to interpretation. 

这个做法和当今的福音教派以及原教旨主义基督徒的态度完全不同。后两者将《圣经》称为神的语录，强调必须按照字面意义理解，不得自己随意解释。

This has been the basis for beliefs such as the idea that the earth is 6,000 years old and that it was created in seven days. 

这也是很多人认为地球只有6000年历史，并且是在7天中造出来的原因。

Modern archaeologists have also used the Bible to search for evidence about the life of Jesus, with mixed success. 

现代考古学家也会使用《圣经》来帮助寻找基督的可能证据，并取得一定进展。

The 100-page document examines the Gospel of Matthew in great detail and also examines part of the Gospels according to Luke and John.

整理完的文本有100页。其内容是阿奇雷阿的福图那西亚纳斯主教对《马太福音》的详细考证，并且包含了对《路加福音》与《约翰福音》的相关考证。

It had been hidden for 1,500 years within an anonymous manuscript in Cologne Cathedral Library, until it was digitised by the University of Salzburg in 2012, but lay untranslated until Dr Houghton came across it.

这份文本隐藏在科隆大教堂图书馆里的一份手抄本里，1500年来一直没有人发现。2012年，萨尔斯堡大学在数字化相关的档案时才发现它。之后浩顿教授对其进行了翻译和整理。

He discovered the existence of the manuscript after an Austrian colleague read about it in a local newspaper and told him about it.

一个奥地利同行在当地报纸里读到了相关新闻，并告诉了浩顿。

The work is thought to have been copied out by a scholar in around 800, more than 400 years after the original was written.

这份文本应该是公元800年左右的抄本。比原本晚了400年左右。

Dr Houghton said the book was an “extraordinary find”. It predates better-known writings by famous scholars including St Jerome, St Ambrose and St Augustine.

浩顿称其为“了不起的发现”。这份文本的写作时间比St Jerome, St Ambrose 以及 St Augustine 等着名圣经学者都要早。

The biblical scholar, from the university’s institute for textual scholarship and electronic editing, has now produced an English translation of the text, which will be published alongside the Latin this week.

浩顿已经将这份文本的英语版本付梓，本周将和拉丁文原本一道刊印出版。