The Prewar Legacy and Postwar Epiphany of International Christian University
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The Prewar Legacy and Postwar Epiphany of International Christian University Hallam C. Shorrock, Jr. When International Christian University ³elds of graduate study, ICU is dwarfed by (ICU) opened its doors as a liberal arts col- other Christian universities. There are now lege in April 1953, it became the newest of other Christian universities that have the Japan’s 226 universities, the only one at that word kirisutokyõ as a part of their of³cial time formed from the beginning as a four-year titles, and many other universities have university. From its inception ICU was “dif- added the word, kokusai (international) to ferent” from either prewar Christian uni- their of³cial nomenclature. versities or other Christian colleges that The aim of this article is to show the con- became universities as a result of the 1947 tinuity of the Japanese-American connec- educational reforms. It was different for a tion both in the legacy and in the epiphany number of reasons. Unlike the others, ICU did of ICU. Following a pro³le of the universi- not exist as an institution in any form before ty, the story will turn back to the prewar 1949, though it was a ³fty year-old dream. legacy of the “union Christian university Also, it was formed under ecumenical concept,” cite the factors that brought about rather than denominational sponsorship; a the special postwar moment in which ICU year before the university was established in was born, and outline ICU’s development. 1949, an interdenominational American The author will conclude with some per- foundation was organized to aid in its sonal thoughts on the future of ICU. founding and development. Moreover, the university’s distinctive Christian character ICU: A PROFILE was evidenced by its 100 percent Christian full-time faculty and the fact that the name, ICU is an ecumenically sponsored universi- kirisutokyõ (Christian) became an of³cial ty located on a 156-acre wooded campus in part of its title, which was not the case of any Mitaka, Tokyo. It also owns and operates a other university at the time. study facility adjacent to the Cambridge Today ICU is recognized as one of the University campus. The thirty-member leading private universities in Japan. In a board of trustees is advised by a somewhat 1991 survey of senior students in 212 larger board of councilors composed of edu- national and private universities, ICU cational, cultural and business leaders from ranked ³rst in terms of student satisfaction.1 within and outside Christian circles. It must be admitted, however, that in many The university consists of a liberal arts col- respects ICU has not yet achieved the status lege and a graduate school with a combined envisioned by its founding visionaries. In student body of 2,850: 2,600 in the college student and faculty size, the number and and 250 in the graduate school; it has a full- scope of academic courses offered at both the time faculty and academic staff of about undergraduate and graduate levels and the 170. ICU’s College of Liberal Arts opened in 79 JAPAN CHRISTIAN REVIEW 59 1993 April 1953. Within the college are divisions THE PREWAR LEGACY of education, humanities, languages, natur- In 1875 Niishima Shimeta, more common- al sciences, social sciences and internation- ly known abroad as Joseph Hardy Niishima al studies. The college is chartered by the (also transliterated as Niijima), cofounded Ministry of Education to train high school Doshisha University with American teachers of social studies, science, mathe- Congregational missionary Jerome D. matics, English and religion. Davis.2 Niishima’s dream was to establish a The Graduate School, accredited in “true liberal arts college” that would produce 1957, has four divisions: education, public men “who shall be regarded as the con- administration, comparative culture and science of the nation.” Later he proposed natural sciences. All programs except the the establishment of a three-faculty com- last offer doctoral degrees. Closely allied prehensive university. Nearly sixty years with the graduate school are ³ve research later, Yuasa Hachiro, twice the successor of units: the Integrated Learning Center, the Niishima as president of Doshisha, brought Center for the History of Science, the Niishima’s dreams with him, when in 1949 Research Center for Japanese Language he became ICU’s founding president.3 Education, and the Sacred Music Center. The interest by Christian leaders abroad, ICU maintains two lifelong education pro- especially in the United States, provided grams, one in Japanese literature and the strong psychological and spiritual support for other in environmental studies. Its library proponents of a Christian university in contains nearly 425,000 books and approx- Japan. For example, the proposal by Re- imately 5,400 periodicals. formed missionary Albertus Pieters at the ICU High School, established in 1978, is 1900 General Conference of Protestant located within the campus but adminis- Missionaries in Tokyo that the “mission tered separately from the university under the boards should cooperate in establishing an jurisdiction of the university’s board of ‘undenominational’ but ‘thoroughly Christ- trustees. The school enrolls about 720 stu- ian’ college…”4 was reµected in the delib- dents, most of whom are children of erations of the 1910 World Missionary Japanese who are working or have worked Conference in Edinburgh. abroad. These “returnee” children have Nearly three years later the Edinburgh come back to Japan to complete their high Continuation Committee convened the school education and to prepare for univer- April 9–11, 1913, “Japan National Con- sity study either in Japan or abroad. ference” in Tokyo. Forty-one Japanese At the center of the campus is the ICU Christian leaders and ³fty-four American, Church, an international and ecumenical Canadian and British missionaries recog- congregation that is independent from the nized university. The ICU Church and its kinder- garten serve students, faculty and staff the establishment of a central Christian members and their families, as well as the university….distinctively Christian in local community. Approximately 10,500 character…of ³rst rank…standing on a graduates are located throughout Japan and par with the imperial universities…as the the world. supreme need of Christian education in Japan.”5 The 1992 ICU operating budget, includ- ing both the university and the high school, Conference chairman John R. Mott met was the equivalent of approximately ³fty-six again in 1929 with Japanese Christian edu- million American dollars. The university’s cators, leading to the formation of a endowment fund is about U.S.$488 million. “Commission on Christian Education in 80 SHORROCK: International Christian University Japan” that met in Japan in 1931.6 More Committee for an International Christian than half of the members were ultimately University. involved in the founding of ICU or of its supporting foundation in the United Support of American Christians States.7 The second factor in the special moment was the commitment of many Americans, par- THE SPECIAL MOMENT OF ICU’S BIRTH8 ticularly Christians, to help heal the The Great Depression and escalating mili- wounds of war and to assist in the rebuild- taristic nationalism in Japan from the early ing of Japan. 1930s put a hold on plans for the new union The unprecedented interdenomination- Christian university until the end of World al support for what soon became known in War II in 1945. This special “moment” of sev- the United States as the “Japan Christian eral years’ duration after World War II was University Project,” was sparked by a sermon brought about by a conµuence of the ³fty delivered in January 1946 by the Rev. John year-old dreams of Japanese and missionary A. MacLean, a Presbyterian minister in educators and a set of four interrelated fac- Richmond, Virginia. In his sermon, which tors. was entitled, “Love Thy Neighbor,” Rev. MacLean expressed sorrow over the suffer- Japanese Christian Leadership ing that had been caused by the dropping of The ³rst factor was the vision, faith and per- the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Naga- severance of key Japanese Christian leaders. saki, and called upon American Christians Less than a month after the Paci³c War to help rebuild Japan. ended in mid-August 1945, a group of ³ve The combination of the public response Japanese Christian educators and a leading to the press reports concerning the Mac- layman met in Tokyo to discuss the future Lean sermon, and the priority that Christian of the Christian movement, and particular- leadership in Japan were reported to place ly of Christian education, in their devastat- on the establishment of the long hoped-for ed nation. Christian university, prompted North High on the group’s agenda was the rais- American church and mission leaders to ing of the Tokyo Women’s Christian College adopt the “Christian University Project” as (TWCC) to university grade. Their agenda the postwar reconciliation project of was expanded, however, when in October American and Canadian churches. This led 1945 two of the members met with a four-per- to the formation in November 1948 of the son deputation from the then Federal Japan International Christian University Council of Churches of Christ and the Foundation, Incorporated (hereafter to be Foreign Missions Conference of North referred to as the Foundation) by twelve America (now amalgamated to form the mission boards and the Federal Council of National Council of Churches of Christ in the Churches, which represented more than U.S.A.).9 When the deputation returned to the thirty denominations. The Foundation’s United States, the hope for the establish- organization and work represented the ment of a Christian university received spe- largest interdenominational undertaking in cial emphasis in their report. As a result of the annals of North American Protestantism subsequent discussions on both sides of the for the establishment and support of a sin- Paci³c, in June 1946 the existing committee gle educational institution anywhere in the was reorganized as the “Organizing world.