對話的成本：蒙兀兒帝國皇帝阿克巴案例與宗教對話

The Cost of Dialogue: Emperor Akbar of the Mughal Empire and Interfaith Dialogue

本文以16世紀的蒙兀兒帝國君主阿克巴（Akbar 1542-1605）的宗教對話與政策為案例，嘗試補充近年宗教對話研究的局限，補充學者所鮮有留意，發生於16世紀南亞次大陸，以伊斯蘭教與印度教對話為主調的一場長時間跨宗教對話。主導人阿克巴對宗教對話產生超越政治利益的熱情，可說是近世宗教對話的一個特殊而重要案例。我們將先釐清近年宗教對話的討論方向，說明宗教對話具有不同維度（dimension）與目標，也因此要令參與者背負不同成本（cost）並影響討論的特徵與成效；由於華語學界對阿克巴的研究難稱充分，我們隨後將會由其時代背景與生平開展引紹的工作，並在最後的部分思考阿克巴所主導的宗教對話於蒙兀兒帝國及後世宗教對話倡導者的意義。

This article studies the series of religious dialogues and policies of Emperor Akbar (1542-1605), the 16th-century monarch of the Mughal Empire. This article is a response to recent scholarship on interfaith dialogue within a larger context of religious dialogue that took place in the 16th century in the South Asian subcontinent which was dominated by Islamic-Hindu dialogue but that was also engaged in by Sikhs, Buddhists, and Christians. The monarch Emperor Akbar developed a passion for religious dialogue that transcended political interests, making it a unique and important case of interfaith dialogue in the early modern era. This article begins with a review of recent discussions of religious dialogue among theologians and scholars of religion. Within this review, it is revealed that religious dialogue has multi-dimensions and multiple goals and therefore contains different costs for its participants which affects the nature and effectiveness of the discussion. Next, the background of the Mughal Empire and Emperor Akbar is introduced, followed by a discussion of the significance of Akbar’s leadership of religious dialogue for the Mongol empire and for contemporary interfaith dialogue advocates.