‘大秦景敎流行中國碑’ 新譯

Abstract

The discovery during the 17th century of a Christian headstone from the Tang dynasty had a great historical, religious, philosophical and cultural impact and reverberation for both China and the Western world. The great interest raised by this Christian Tang headstone led various scholars from the East and the West to formulate in-depth studies regarding the content and thoughts of the epitaph. Nevertheless, as a result of various conflicting ideas regarding the basic research of interpreting the epitaph, they have yet to offer a unified authoritative translation. Comparative to the extent to which Christianity had spread and disseminated in Korea, there is a dearth of research on Tang Christianity. This is due to the fact that past studies had been piecemeal resulting in a lack of comprehensive research on the literature, doctrine and thoughts of Tang Christianity. Thus, the purpose of this study is to attempt a linguistic approach towards understanding the epitaph, the representative literature of Tang Christianity, in order to uncover mis-translations and problems in existing translations and offer corrections and supplements for a more resonable and complete translation. Correct translation of Tang Christianity scripture can be invaluable basic material for scholars of Tang Christianity. Therefore, prior to an ideological or philosophical approach, I believe this lingistic approach has ample scholarly merit.