Hauerwas對基督徒大學生的勸勉

Go With God

An open letter to young Christians on their way to college
文章資料來源：http://www.firstthings.com/article/2010/10/go-with-god

上述文章是美國的當代神學家兼大學教授Stanley Hauerwas給予現代年輕基督徒大學生的一些勸勉。Hauerwas教授的這番忠告，有別於一般平常我們所聽到對於基督徒大學生的忠告。也是身為大學裡的教授的Hauerwas，是非常清楚當今基督徒大學生的不足，以及需要專注的事項。基本來說，Hauerwas的這些話更像是另一股力量，補助了教會給予基督徒大學生的靈性上支持。當然，基督徒大學生的靈性方面是首要和不可忽略的，但是Hauerwas也看到還有一些方面是現代基督徒大學生需要去追求的，以至於他們可以為上帝做美好的見證。

一般上，教會對於基督徒大學生的要求，乃在於靈性上和德性上：就是要確保自己成為敬虔和有好品德的基督徒大學生。因此，他們不可忽略靈性的操練和校園生活上活出美好的道德品行。Hauerwas認為這是不足夠的，因為基督徒大學生是不同於其他非基督徒，基督徒大學生的學生身份乃是上帝的呼召（To be a student is a calling）。因此，作為大學生就是本身的目的，而不僅是是為了將來工作和事業上的呼召。他所給予的建議，乃是要求基督徒大學生成為一個徹底的大學生和知識分子，因此他們正是被上帝呼召為此目的，他們正是被上帝呼召在知識和專業領域來事奉上帝。所以，基督徒大學生必須為本身的思想裝備好各種重要的知識、學問、思考技巧、以及有素質的社交群體。作為基督徒知識分子，也意味著透過所認識到的現代世界的各種知識和學問，在信心和上帝話語的光照下，去重新詮釋和理解這個上帝所創造的世界。最基本的方法，就是廣泛的閱讀、學習和思考。

以下是一些從文章裡摘錄的要點：



基督教信仰的三大層面：宗教儀式上、道德上，以及知性上（Ritualistic, moral, and intellectual）

“The Christian religion,” wrote Robert Louis Wilken, “is inescapably ritualistic (one is received into the Church by a solemn washing with water), uncompromisingly moral (‘be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect,’ said Jesus), and unapologetically intellectual (be ready to give a ‘reason for the hope that is in you,’ in the words of 1 Peter). Like all the major religions of the world, Christianity is more than a set of devotional practices and a moral code: it is also a way of thinking about God, about human beings, about the world and history.”

成為基督徒大學生就是上帝的呼召（而不僅是為了將來的前途事業而已）。你們這幾年求學的任務主要就是“學習”（盡量的學習）。

The Christian fact is very straightforward: To be a student is a calling. Your parents are setting up accounts to pay the bills, or you are scraping together your own resources and taking out loans, or a scholarship is making college possible. Whatever the practical source, the end result is the same. You are privileged to enter a time—four years!—during which your main job is to listen to lectures, attend seminars, go to labs, and read books.

基督徒大學生與教會的關係：成為基督身體的一份子，服事基督的教會。如何？哪方面？就是在思想（思考上）：作為基督徒知識分子。

Christ’s call on you as a student is a calling to meet the needs of the Church, both for its own life and the life of the world. The Resurrection of Jesus, Wilken suggests, is not only the central fact of Christian worship but also the ground of all Christian thinking “about God, about human beings, about the world and history.” Somebody needs to do that thinking—and that means you. ……It takes an educated mind to do the Church’s work of thinking about and interpreting the world in light of Christ. Physics, sociology, French literary theory: All these and more—in fact, everything you study in college—is bathed in the light of Christ. It takes the eyes of faith to see that light, and it takes an educated mind to understand and articulate it.

基督徒大學生作為知識分子，隨時預備向人講解基督信仰裡的福音和真理。"有人問你們心中盼望的緣由、就要常作準備、以溫柔敬畏的心回答各人．"（彼前3:15）。因此，基督徒大學生也需要在神學思想上的裝備。

There’s another dimension to the call of intellectual work. In the First Letter of Peter we read, “Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you” (3:15). In fact, the contemporary American secular university is largely a place of unbelief. Thus, the Church has a job to do: to explain why belief in the risen Lord actually makes sense. You can, however, offer the reasonable defense Peter asks for. You may at least make someone think twice before he rejects the risen Lord. But remember: You are about to become a student—not a pastor, a social worker, or a spiritual director. Whatever you end up doing with your life, now is the time when you develop the intellectual skills the Church needs for the sake of building up the Body of Christ. Your Christian calling as a student does not require you to become a theologian…. But there is a wider sense of being a theologian, one that simply means thinking about what you are learning in light of Christ. This does not happen by making everything fit into Church doctrine or biblical preaching—that’s theology in the strict, official sense. Instead, to become a Christian scholar is more a matter of intention and desire, of bearing witness to Christ in the contemporary world of science, literature, and so forth.

基督徒大學生需要不同知識領域的朋友，好好選擇和結交有素質的朋友（別過於浪費時間於無聊的朋友閒談）。最好的朋友就是“書”（成為作者的好朋友）。廣泛的閱讀讓你的視野得以擴張出去，產生更大的可能性和創造力。

You can’t do this on your own. You’ll need friends who major in physics and biology as well as in economics, psychology, philosophy, literature, and every other discipline. These friends can be teachers and fellow students, of course, but, for the most part, our intellectual friendships are channeled through books. C.S. Lewis has remained popular with Christian students for many good reasons, not the least of which is that he makes himself available to his readers as a trusted friend in Christ. That’s true for many other authors too. Get to know them.

主動尋找有素質的老師（即使他們不是基督徒），與老師接觸和交流，請教你的老師的引導。從老師身上捉住可以學習和追求的方面。

This is especially true for your relationships with your teachers. You are not likely to become buddies with your teachers. They tend to be intimidating. But you can become intellectual friends, and this will most likely happen if you’ve read some of the same books. This is even true for science professors. You’re unlikely to engage a physics professor in an interesting conversation about subatomic particles. As a freshman you don’t know enough. Books are touchstones, common points of reference. They are the water in which our minds swim.

當然，呼召成為基督徒大學生卻非簡單之事，你也許會面對各種誘惑、試探、掙扎，以及批評的攻擊。但你必須堅持你本身的呼召，這是成為知識分子難以避免的事。

Fulfilling your calling as a Christian student won’t be easy. It’s not easy for anyone who is serious about the intellectual life, Christian or not. Many schools have no particular expectations. Moreover, there is no guarantee that you will be encouraged to read. Some classes, even in the humanities, are based on textbooks that chop up classic texts into little snippets. You cannot become friends with an author by reading half a dozen pages. Finally, and perhaps worse because insidious, there is a strange anti-intellectualism abroad in academia. Some professors have convinced themselves that all knowledge is just political power dressed up in fancy language, or that books and ideas are simply ideological weapons in the quest for domination. Christians, of all people, should recognize that what is known and how it is known produce and reproduce power relations that are unjust, but this does not mean all questions of truth must be abandoned. As I said, it won’t be easy.

不要受本身的主修領域限制你的學習，盡量做更廣泛和跨領域的閱讀。

Eventually, you will no longer be a freshman, and American undergraduate education will force you to begin to specialize. This will present dangers as well as opportunities. You will be tempted to choose a major that will give you a sense of coherence. But be careful your major does not narrow you in the wrong way. Continue reading broadly. It may seem that the more you know about less and less, the smarter you’ve become; after all, you now know so much more about psychology! But, in truth, the more you know about less and less should teach you humility.

了解本身主修的科系的歷史，使你知道這個學科領域的發展演變過程。對本科歷史的認識，能夠讓你獲得到不同的洞察，促使更多可能的新發現。不要只是成為你本科的大學生，你是被呼召成為基督徒大學生，因此你要追求更大的學習範圍。

To combat a tendency toward the complacency that comes from mastering a discipline, it is particularly important that you gain historical insight into the practice of your discipline. To go back and read Isaac Newton can be a bit of a shock, because he interwove his scientific analysis with theological arguments. You shouldn’t take this as a mandate for doing the same thing in the twenty-first century. It should, however, make you realize that modern science has profound metaphysical and theological dimensions that have to be cordoned off, perhaps for good reasons. Or perhaps not. The point is that knowing the history of your discipline will, inevitably, broaden the kinds of questions you ask and force you to read to be an intellectual rather than just a specialist. I emphasize broadening your major with historical questions and challenges to set categories because your calling is to be a Christian student, not a physics student or an English student. Again, I do not want to make every Christian in the university into a theologian, but it is important for you to interrogate theologically what you are learning.

不要忘記持守本身堅固和節制的靈性操練：禱告讀經、敬拜、團契等。只有好靈性的基督徒大學生才可能意識到作為大學生是上帝的呼召，並願意堅持走下去。在道德品德上不輕易妥協，有智慧的結交朋友。

Only a man or woman who has undergone a long period of spiritual discipline can reliably pray in the solitude of a hermitage. You’re young. You need the regular discipline of worship, Bible reading, and Christian fellowship. Don’t neglect them in college. Also, don’t underestimate the moral temptations of the contemporary college scene. We cannot help but be influenced by the behavior of our friends, so choose wisely. 

*** Stanley Hauerwas是當今美國著名的神學家，也是Duke Divinity School的神學系教授。