（每日好书）权力与荣耀 The Power and the Glory

尽管《权力与荣耀》受到了评论界的认可，也引发了许多争议。一方面文学评论家认为这部小说旨在宣扬现代人心中映失的“宗教感”；另一方面部分宗教人士却认为此书是对传统天主教教义和体制的抵制。

The Power and the Glory

权力与荣耀

格雷厄姆·格林 Graham Greene

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格雷厄姆·格林最受专家推崇也最受读者赞誉的小说之一，也是他最不“英国”的一部小说，以作者1938年三、四月间在墨西哥度过的两个月经历为基础创作，而这两个月中有五星期是独自一人、筋疲力尽的穿梭于南部塔巴斯科和恰帕斯两周。包含着非英国式的罗马天主教因素，同时又满浸摩尼教式的黑暗和对磨难的忠实描绘，堪称格林最具雄心的作品。

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How does good spoil, and how can bad be redeemed? In his penetrating novel The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene explores corruption and atonement through a priest and the people he encounters. In the 1930s one Mexican state has outlawed the Church, naming it a source of greed and debauchery. The priests have been rounded up and shot by firing squad--save one, the whisky priest. On the run, and in a blur of alcohol and fear, this outlaw meets a dentist, a banana farmer, and a village woman he knew six years earlier. For a while, he is accompanied by a toothless man--whom he refers to as his Judas and does his best to ditch. Always, an adamant lieutenant is only a few hours behind, determined to liberate his country from the evils of the church.

On the verge of reaching a safer region, the whisky priest is repeatedly held back by his vocation, even though he no longer feels fit to perform his rites: 'When he was gone it would be as if God in all this space between the sea and the mountains ceased to exist. Wasn't it his duty to stay, even if they despised him, even if they were murdered for his sake? even if they were corrupted by his example?'

As his sins and dangers increase, the broken priest comes to confront the nature of piety and love. Still, when he is granted a reprieve, he feels himself sliding into the old arrogance, slipping it on like the black gloves he used to wear. Greene has drawn this man--and all he encounters--vividly and viscerally. He may have said The Power and the Glory was 'written to a thesis,' but this brilliant theological thriller has far more mysteries--and troubling ideals--than certainties.

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《权力与荣耀》所铺展的“神父”经受的磨难苦楚和心路历程，正隐喻了传统天主教受难与救赎之间辩证共存的神学观点。小说所传达的这种宗教倾向，即文本主题对传统天主教主题的继承，正是当时天主教复兴社会背景下天主教哲学，尤以纽曼天主教神学观为代表的意识形态与作者主体所进行的宗教思考相“协合”的产物。小说将其主人公塑造成一名犯“守独身”戒律的神父。

天主教教会规定中愿意担任圣职者，同时也必须接受独身的条件。发过“贞洁圣愿”的神父若是犯戒不贞，便会失去“独身”的荣光，无法维持对天主忠贞不二的爱。但是，格林通过“神父”的例子为传统天主教教义所反对的人性欲望做了辩护。对于《权力与荣耀》中的主人公“神父”而言，他的“犯戒”不仅没有成为他远离宗教的源头，反而加深了他的信仰，帮助他真正认识了上帝的悲悯和爱。

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