儒家与宗教——论西方的儒教观念及相关的问题

中国儒家为先秦诸家学派之一。自西汉以来中国历代王朝皆以儒家学说作为社会政治伦理的理论基础。自佛教的传入与道教的兴起，中国始有宗教观念。西方学者将儒家或儒家学说译为“儒教”，以为是中国三大教派之一。但入华耶稣会士及古典哲学家却发现它是无神主义，而在关于对超自然力的崇拜和对人的终极价值的追求，以及是否存在特殊的宗教仪式等方面，他们仍断定儒家不具宗教性质。现代西方一些学者则从泛宗教观念肯定儒家为中国国教。西方学者的认识存在某些困惑和误解，其中有合理的因素与精深的见解。这有助于我们对儒家性质的深入探讨。

Confucianism and Religion --On Confucian Concepts and Related Issues in Western Countries

China＇ s Confucian, one of the schools before Qin Dynasty, had been the theoretical basis of social and political ethics since Western Han Dynasty. Religion concept in China was formed after the introduction of Buddhism and the rise of Taoism. Western scholars interpreted Confucian and theory of Confucian as Confucianism, one of the three main denominations in China. But the Jesuits into China and classical philosophers found it was atheism. Additionally, judging from the worship of supernatural forces, the pursuit of the ultimate value of human and special religious rituals, it embodied no religious nature. From perspective of pan-religious, some modem western scholars argue that Confucianism is religion of China. Their confusions and misunderstandings contain some reasonable thoughts and profound insights, which is helpful to explore further the nature of Confucian.