他鄉遙記－－秦家懿的鄉愁書寫與儒家基督徒的離散

Writing Home from Afar: Julia Ching's Nostalgic Writing and Her Identity as a Confucian Christian in Diaspora

本文以秦家懿(Julia Ching, 1934-2001)的著作為核心，分別從「秦家懿的雙重身分：一個夾在東方與西方的生命」、「雙重鄉愁：他鄉寄寓和地上旅居」、「離鄉與歸返：上下求索中國魂」、「蛻變的蝴蝶：遙記本鄉和天家」四個子題進行論述，探索秦家懿的學思歷程。對秦家懿而言，鄉愁是文化上的也是信仰上的；她僑寓中國之外，也是地上旅居者。作為旅居他鄉的儒者，以所從來的文化為研究主體，因其雙重身分，研究主體與其身分存在著一種「即離關係」。其儒學成為一種鄉愁書寫：面對傳統與近代儒家的漂泊離散，遊歷異鄉的她，藉此遙記對中國本鄉的愁緒，也在東西方宗教對話中，探問生命意義，雖旅居塵世，卻仰望天家，在地如同在天。

Centering on her published work, this paper discusses Julia Ching's (1934-2001) sinology, reconstructing her academic and spiritual journey under four themes: dual identity, double nostalgia, diaspora and return, and metamorphosis. Ching's nostalgia is both cultural and religious. As an overseas Chinese, she is far from China, her Earthly home; yet as a Christian, she is merely sojourning on Earth, separated from Heaven. She is a Confucian Christian in diaspora, residing in a distant country and studying the culture from which she came. Having this dual identity, Ching is simultaneously both close to and distant from the object of her research. Her sinology becomes a form of nostalgic writing. Faced with the scattering of Chinese tradition and of modern Confucian scholars, as a traveler in foreign lands she uses her writing to telegraph home her melancholy feelings about China, her homeland, and searches for life's meaning in East-West religious dialogue. Though living in the world, she ”live(s) like it's Heaven on Earth.”