纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 068湿婆与雪山女神像（7）

It's the presence of Parvati, the female aspect of God, that's perhaps most disconcerting to a non-Hindu viewer, especially to one raised in monotheism, because this is a very particular view of the divine. A monotheistic god is, by definition, alone - cannot engage with other gods, cannot be part of a dynamic sexual relationship, and in Judaism, Christianity and Islam that monotheistic god is not just single but has, by long tradition, been male. In the Hindu tradition, by contrast, Shiva needs Parvati. Here's Karen Armstrong, historian of religion:

"In the monotheisms, particularly in Christianity, we've found questions of sex and gender¹ difficult, and some of them that start out with a positive view of women - like Christianity and also Islam - get hijacked² a few generations after the foundation, and get dragged back to the old patriarchy. I think there's a big difference, however, in the way people view sexuality. When you see sexuality as a divine attribute, as a way in which one can apprehend³ the divine, that must have an effect - you see it in the Hindu marriage service, where this is a divine act. Questions of gender and sexuality have always been the Achilles heel of Christianity, and that shows that there's a sort of failure of integration⁴ here, a failure to integrate a basic fact of life."

正是神的女性分身雪山女神的存在让非印度教徒感到困惑，尤其是那些从小被灌输一神论思想的人。这是一种独特的看待神的视角。一神论的神当然是独立存在的，不能与其他神发生关系，不能成为活跃的性关系中的一方—一犹太教和基督教不但只信奉唯一的神，而且在它们悠久的历史中，神一直都是男性。而在印度教传统里却相反，湿婆需要雪山女神。宗教史学者凯伦·阿姆斯特朗解释说：

在一神论宗教，尤其是基督教中，要解释性与性别的问题十分困难。个别宗教，如基督教和伊斯兰教，初期肯定女性，但类似观点在发展过程中遭到劫持，乃至退守旧有的父权制。我认为人们对性的看法存在巨大差异。如果你认为性是神圣的，是人理解神意的方式，那一定会引发某种结果一你会发现印度教的婚礼便是一种神圣的行为。性与性别的问题一直是基督教的死穴，体现了一种调和的失败，没有把一项人类生活中的基本事实与宗教成功地结合。

 

1 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

2 hijacked   

劫持( hijack的过去式和过去分词 )； 绑架； 拦路抢劫； 操纵（会议等，以推销自己的意图）

参考例句：

• The plane was hijacked by two armed men on a flight from London to Rome. 飞机在从伦敦飞往罗马途中遭到两名持械男子劫持。
• The plane was hijacked soon after it took off. 那架飞机起飞后不久被劫持了。

3 apprehend   

vt.理解，领悟，逮捕，拘捕，忧虑

参考例句：

• I apprehend no worsening of the situation.我不担心局势会恶化。
• Police have not apprehended her killer.警察还未抓获谋杀她的凶手。

4 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。