從閱讀史的角度看,甲午之前,傳教士創辦的中文報刊不多,其讀者數量也較為有限。但這些刊物的思想價值卻值得高度重視,它的內容與中國早期現代化思想有著直接的關聯。無論是開明官紳還是口岸文人,他們閱讀宗教報刊所獲得的西學知識,在一定程度上改變了晚清社會的知識架構,盡管西學觀念還普遍地受到傳統士大夫的抵制,但宗教報刊對科學和人文知識傳播的強化,迎合了開明官紳"睜眼看世界"的需要。因此,"報刊"的啟蒙意義重于神學價值。從這個層面上看,早期宗教報刊的閱讀,可以看作是中國讀者對西學認知與想象的社會化進程。

From the perspective of the history of reading,before the Sino-Japanese War(1894-1895),the numbers of both religious publications by missionaries and their readers were relatively small.However,the ideological value of these journals deserves a high degree of attention because their content was directly related to China’s early modernization ideas.Knowledge from the west gained by enlightened officials and port literati reading religious publications changed the knowledge structure of the late Qing society to a certain extent.Although western concepts were still generally resisted by traditional scholar-officials,the enhanced dissemination of scientific and humanistic knowledge by religious journals met the enlightened officials and gentry’s needs to "see the world with their eyes open".Therefore,the enlightening significance of religious journals is greater than their theological value.From this perspective,reading of early religious publications can be regarded as a socialization process of cognition and imagination of western learning by Chinese readers.