An Odd Couple: Did Economic Prosperity Lead to the Emergence of World Religions?
奇异的组合：经济繁荣导致世界宗教的兴起？
Nearly 2500 years ago, in three different areas of the world, the Yangtze and Yellow River Valleys, the Easter Mediterranean, and the Ganges Valley, conditions were ideal for the emergence of a number of religious traditions, ones which would shape the future of human life to this very day. This 200-year period is called the “Axial Age,” and these doctrines would later become the world’s major religions, including Buddhism, Daoism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The history of this process is well documented, but a key question remains unanswered: why did these similar movements emerge simultaneously?
大约2500年前，在长江和黄河流域、地中海东部及恒河流域这三个世界不同地区，数个宗教传统的兴起遇到了理想的条件，它们将会塑造人类的未来生活，直至今日。这个长约200年的时间段被称为“轴心时代”，其间诞生的教义日后逐渐衍变成了世界上的主要宗教，包括佛教、道教、犹太教、基督教和伊斯兰教。这段被详细记录的历史中有一个关键问题尚未探明：为什么相似的宗教运动会同时兴起？
Prior to the Axial Age, in hunter-gatherer societies, early chiefdoms and archaic states, religions were focused on rituals, sacrifices, and respecting taboos, practices that were believed to ensure prosperity. However, the new doctrines were extremely different. Now, “personal transcendence” was valued.
“轴心时代”之前，在狩猎-采集社会中，在酋邦和原始国家里，宗教活动侧重于能够确保社会繁荣的仪式、献祭与图腾崇拜等实践。，然而，后来兴起的新教义与这些非常不同。如今，“个人超越”变得重要起来。
Human existence was believed to have a purpose, distinct from the material world, and it lay in a moral existence and control of one’s material desires through moderation, asceticism, and compassion. Central importance was placed on the idea that human beings have a soul that can survive the mortal world; only moderation of these material desires, asceticism, and moral behavior can guarantee the salvation of that soul in the afterlife.
人类的存在被认为具有目的，与物质世界有所不同，而这在于道德生活和通过节制、禁欲和怜悯而实现对自身物质欲望的控制。至关重要的是这样一种观念：人类拥有超越有朽世界的灵魂；只有对物质欲望的节制、禁欲和道德操守能够确保灵魂在死后得到救赎。
In a 2015 publication in Current Biology, researchers in the United States and France, led by Nicolas Baumard, compared the political and economic conditions at that time in order to determine what led to the Axial Age. The religious movements were too innovative to be accounted for through the emergence of large empires, which tended to have organized religions, but lacked the essential focus on asceticism and morality.
在《当代生物学》2015年所登的一篇文章中，以Nicholas Baumard为首来自美国和法国的研究者试图通过对比同时期的政治与经济情况来解释轴心时代出现的原因。当时的宗教运动高度创新，不能用大型帝国的出现来解释，后者趋向于形成有组织的宗教，但禁欲与道德操守却不是其本质重点。
Drawing on recent evidence from evolutionary psychology that suggested that affluence has a predictable effect on human motivation and reward systems, Baumard and colleagues hypothesized that increased affluence was the major factor in all three areas (the Yangtze and Yellow River Valleys, the Easter Mediterranean, and the Ganges Valley). They used energy capture as a marker of affluence. Quantitative studies had already shown that, at the time, there was a sharp increase in energy capture occurring in exactly those three areas.
进化心理学的近期研究表明，富足的社会对人类的刺激与奖励系统有着可预测的影响，受此启发，Baumard和同事们假设财富增长是上述地区（长江和黄河流域、地中海东部及恒河流域）的重点因素。他们用能量获取作为富足的标识。量化研究已经表明，正是上述三个区域，当时在能量获取方面均曾有过突然的增长。
The researchers tested this link by developing and comparing statistical models in which the likelihood of the emergence of a religion was dependent on a single factor. The models either used the level of affluence or political success as a factor. Their results confirmed that affluence markers provide very good indicators for the emergence of axial religions, whereas political success markers did not.
研究者通过开发和比较统若干计模型来测试上述联系，每一种模型均将宗教兴起的可能性设置为依赖于单一因素。模型使用的因素或者是经济富裕水平，或者是政治成功。研究结果证实，经济富裕标志为轴心宗教的出现提供了非常好的指标，而政治成功标志则没有。
History would agree with these results as well; religious historians have noted that Axial Age movements did not appear in the largest states at the time (eg. Assyria, Egypt, Persia), but in smaller prosperous polities such as Greek city-states, Mahajanapada, and the most developed of Chinese states. However, the authors noted that a number of questions remain. More data on affluence and political success, both in these societies and in other non-Eurasian empires, is needed to test the robustness of the conclusions and would strengthen the model.
历史也会同意以上结论；宗教历史学家已经指出，轴心时代运动并没有在当时最大的国家（如亚述、埃及、波斯）出现，而是在类似希腊城邦、印度列国和最发达的中国诸侯等较小的繁荣政体中兴起。然而，文章作者们认为一些问题仍旧存在。为检验结论的稳健性并且巩固模型，需要有更多这些社会和其他非亚欧帝国在经济富裕和政治成功方面的数据。
In addition, though the analysis presented here suggests a general set of conditions, which led to the emergence of these religions, the more specific mechanism remains unknown. Was it a new class of priests or scholars who now had the time and resources to develop more abstract religions? Did economic prosperity lead to an increase in literacy among the believers? Did affluence promote a more cosmopolitan society in which generosity, universality, and self-control were more attractive? The answers to these questions may well explain some of our most basic current beliefs, and shed light on our shared history.
此外，尽管这些分析展示了一组导致上述宗教涌现的一般条件，更具体的机制则尚不清楚。是由于出现了新的祭司阶级或者学者，有时间和资源来发展更为抽象的宗教？经济繁荣是否令更多信徒识字？经济繁荣是否促成了一个更加趋于世界主义的世界，其中慷慨、普世性与自控更具吸引力？这些问题的答案可能有助于更好解释我们当下一些最基本的信仰，并照亮我们的共同历史。
翻译：李九喻( @李九喻)
校对：沈沉（@你在何地-sxy）
编辑：辉格@whigzhou