在研究前現代帝國時,西方學術界傾向于強調前現代帝國較之民族國家對治下不同宗教和文化具有更大的包容度。本文提出,前現代帝國對國教以外的宗教的政策其實大不相同:有些帝國允許各種宗教自由實踐和傳播;有些帝國卻嚴厲打擊"異端"和"異教徒",并強令統治下的人群改信國教。本文有以下兩個貢獻:一是按照對國教以外的宗教的"寬容度"對23個前現代帝國的宗教政策進行了區分,并將它們劃分為6個梯隊;二是對帝國寬容度的不同提出社會學的理論解釋。這一理論的關鍵是"零和擴張"這一概念。本文的核心論點是:前現代帝國所尊奉的國教越具有零和性和擴張性,教權對政權的牽制越大,帝國就越不可能實行容忍多元、靈活變通的宗教政策,越傾向于打擊"異端"和"異教徒"。或者說,決定前現代帝國宗教寬容程度的最重要因素不是國家能力,而是帝國所尊奉的國教的性質以及在此基礎上形成的政教關系。

Recent scholarship of pre-modern empires likes to compare pre-modern empires with modern nation-states and stresses the propensity of pre-modern empires to tolerate diverse religions and cultures under their control. This emphasis,however,belies the fact that the religious policies of pre-modern empires differ significantly:While some allowed all kinds of religions to exist and flourish,others persecuted heretics and non-believers,and carried out forced conversions. This article examines the religious policies of 23 pre-modern empires and ranks them into six tiers according to their degree of toleration towards non-state religions. Arguing against the existing theory that highlights state capacity of empires as the key to explain their religious toleration,it proposes a new theory that stresses the nature of the state religion and the related statereligion relations. More specifically,it argues that pre-modern empires associated with a state religion that had a zero-sum mentality towards other religions and a strong drive to convert people tended to be intolerant towards non-state religions. Among these empires,those whose political power was more circumscribed by the power of the state religion are found to be even more religiously intolerant.