摘要
众所周知,中世纪神学理论的发展在13世纪托马斯·阿奎那的《神学大全》中达到了鼎盛时期。但从14世纪开始,由于罗马天主教廷的分裂和教会内部的腐败,各种时髦的神学理论开始纷纷褪去其神圣的色彩。在中世纪文学中开始出现了一些对于教会腐败和神学理论的苍白无力进行尖锐批判的作品。威廉·兰格伦的《农夫皮尔斯》就是这样一部典型的中古英语宗教诗歌。它虽然并不是一部神学理论作品,但是诗人兰格伦通过对圣教夫人、良心、忍耐、理智、学问、博士、神学大师等一系列讽喻性人物的刻画,对中世纪各种神学思想流派进行了重新审视和批判。圣教夫人回归早期教父们的原始共产主义思想,对于私有制的腐蚀和破坏作用进行了严厉批判,并对诗中叙述者威尔反复强调:"试遍所有珍宝,惟有真理最好。"诗中另一位正面人物忍耐对于"仁爱"这一概念的理想主义阐释充分揭示了一位中世纪神学大师的虚伪和伪善,后者只会空谈理论,但从未想过要身体力行。"半亩地"的寓言故事所倡导的"各尽所能,各取所需"和"不劳动者不得食"等思想更是生动体现了早期基督教教义和原始共产主义理想。
It was well known that the development of medieval theological theory reached its heyday in Thomas Aquinas＇ s Summa Theologica of the thirteenth century. Yet starting from the fourteenth century, due to the schism of the Roman Catholic Church and the corruption within the church, various theological theories began to lose their luster. A number of literary works came to criticize the corruption of the church and the futility of theological theory. William Langland＇s Piers Plowman is such a typical English poem of Middle Ages. Though not a theologian, Langland reexamines and criticizes various theological theories through his creation of many allegorical characters, such as Holy Church, Conscience, Patience, Reason, Clergy, Doctor, and Master. Holy Church returns to the primitive communist ideas of the early church fathers, and criticizes the corrupting function of the private system severely. She repeatedly tells Will, the narrator of the poem, ＂When all treasures are tried, Truth is the best.＂ Patience＇s idealistic interpretation of ＂charity＂ exposes the nature of a medieval theological master＇s hypocrisy and insincerity. The allegorical story of the ＂Half Acre,＂ moreover, vividly illustrates the early Christian doctrine and primitive communist ideas, ＂From each, according to his ability, and to each, according to his necessity＂ and ＂He who does not work, neither shall he eat.＂
出处
《外国文学研究》
CSSCI
北大核心
2017年第5期53-63,共11页
Foreign Literature Studies
