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Notto R. Thelle* in Memoriam Harry Thomsen (1928–2008) Dialogical Missionary and Research Facilitator

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Notto R. Thelle* in Memoriam Harry Thomsen (1928–2008) Dialogical Missionary and Research Facilitator Notto R. Thelle* In Memoriam Harry Thomsen (1928–2008) Dialogical Missionary and Research Facilitator Harry Thomsen came to Japan in 1956 with a strong commitment to the missionary vision of Karl Ludvig Reichelt (1877-1952).1 Reichelt was a pioneer of the early Buddhist-Christian dialogue in China, and founded The Christian Mission to Buddhists with its centers in Nanjing in the 1920s and in the New Territories of Hong Kong from the early 1930s. The beautiful center of Tao Fong Shan in Hong Kong, built according to traditional Buddhist style and with a Christian spiritual life adapted to Buddhist conventions, was a classical expression of the ambition to be in dialogue with Chinese religion and culture.2 Thomsen had a strong sense of being Reichelt’s spiritual heir and successor – he even referred to Reichelt’s direct challenge to him about such a calling – and dreamt about establishing a “Tao Fong Shan” in Japan. Thomsen’s lasting contribution to interfaith dialogue was, on the one hand, The Christian Center for the Study of Japanese Religions, established in Kyoto in * Notto R. Thelle, senior professor of theology at the University of Oslo, served from 1974 to 1985 as Associate Director of the NCC Study Center. He is the author of numerous books and articles dealing with interfaith dialogue, spirituality, and missions, including Buddhism and Christianity in Japan: From Conflict to Dialogue (University of Hawaii Press, 1987). 1. In addition to references in the notes, I have had access to the following documents: Harry Thomsen’s “Reminiscences of the NCC Study Center’s Founder,” published in Japanese Religions no. 33 (July 2008: 1-2); obituary in The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Nov 11, 2008); and corresponding notes “Til avisen” for Danish newspapers, written by Thomsen and his family. 2. See my articles, “Karl Ludvig Reichelt 1877-1952: Christian Pilgrim of Tao Fong Shan,” in Gerald H. Anderson et al. (eds.), Mission Legacies: Biographical Studies of Leaders of the Modern Missionary Movement. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Press, 1994, pp. 216- 224; “A Christian Monastery for Buddhist Monks 1: Karl Ludvig Reichelt’s Sacred Mountains,” Ching Feng ns no. 6/1 (2005: 1-35), and “A Christian Monastery for Buddhist Monks 2: Buddhist Rhetoric in Karl Ludvig Reichelt’s Christian Liturgies,” Ching Feng ns no. 6/2 (2005: 131-177); and in addition “‘The Conversion of the Missionary’: Changes in Buddhist-Christian Relations in the Early Twentieth Century,” Ching Feng ns no. 4/2 (2003: 131-156); “Changed by the East: Notes on Missionary Communication and Transformation,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research no. 30/3 (July 2006: 115-121). Japanese Religions, Vol. 34 (1): 1-6 2 Japanese Religions 34 (1) 1959, which soon after, in 1960, was reorganized as the NCC (National Christian Council) Center for the Study of Japanese Religions; and, on the other hand, his pioneering study of Japanese new religions. This combination of being an organizer and a researcher was one of the characteristics of Thomsen; and it is a testimony to his energy, competence, and ability to establish relationships that he managed to implement some of his visions so soon after his arrival in Japan. I will deal with Thomsen’s contribution in this phase of research and dialogue in more detail below, but need to add a few comments about his choice to withdraw from this work in order to commit himself to other – for him more prominent – projects. The fact that Thomsen left the leadership of the Study Center to competent Japanese academics in 1960, when he returned to Denmark on home leave, was probably a wise policy in a time when missionaries tended to dominate such ventures. The fact that he never resumed his work there, however, suggests that he was more a missionary initiator or innovator than a patient researcher. Returning to Japan in 1961 he was eager to pursue what in his imagination was to be the fulfillment of Reichelt’s missionary vision for Japan: a new Tao Fong Shan adapted to Japanese circumstances. The vision required a large tract of land, preferably a hill like Tao Fong Shan, where one could build a Christian center with guest facilities, a church, a “brother home” for religious seekers, a library with a research center, and facilities for conferences and retreats. The expectation was that people with backgrounds in Buddhism and the new religions would be attracted and guided towards Christian faith. One new project was added to the traditional strategy, partly as a means to obtain the necessary land: a dairy farm with a farming school inspired by Grundtvig’s folk high-school principles and introducing Danish agricultural methods. It was argued that a “Danish farm” would enhance the work of the mission and open the doors to the Japanese farming community that was still deeply rooted in Buddhism and traditional religions.3 The new center was established in 1963, named Shin Rei San (The Mountain of the New Spirit), and located in Fukuroi City in Shizuoka Prefecture. The Danish farm aroused a lot of publicity, the agricultural school was run for a few years with a limited number of students, a congregation was established and is still active, an interesting project with school dropouts was started at a later stage, and the Lutheran Church has since the 1980s remained involved with various types of work. Apart from the personal efforts of a few Scandinavian missionaries assigned to work at Shin Rei San between 1963 and 1972, however, the original intention of interfaith encounter and dialogue was never realized there. Thomsen returned to Denmark in 1967 for health reasons, and in 1970 he moved to Colorado Springs, USA, where he established a company dealing with 3. Thomsen’s plans are thoroughly documented in his report, “Shin Rei San Projektet” (The Shin Rei San Project), submitted to The Mission to Buddhists, Nov. 1961–Jan. 1962. Thelle: In Memoriam Harry Thomsen 3 Oriental art and antiques, an interest that he had developed during his time as a missionary. One may find it strange that Thomsen after 1967 – in spite of frequent visits to Japan – never had any formal contact with the work he initiated in Kyoto and Shizuoka. It may indicate that he was primarily an initiator who left to others to follow up the visions; one might also assume that he perhaps understood that the ambitious plan to create a new Tao Fong Shan was based on shaky assumptions and could never be realized. Those who had close connections with Thomsen’s work during his Japan years have also observed that he had a series of conflicts with coworkers who – one by one – had to withdraw from the mission. That is not an uncommon aspect of skillful pioneers with visions and ambitions. Anyway, it is regrettable that Thomsen’s creativity and ability for missionary work in Japan were limited to the few years he invested there. As already mentioned, the lasting contribution of Harry Thomsen was the establishment of the Study Center in Kyoto and his involvement in the study of the Japanese new religions. The missionary tradition to which he belonged had from the very outset emphasized study of Eastern religions. The first Scandinavian missionary to initiate a similar work in Japan, Ragnvald Hemstad, had already arrived in 1953, devoting much time to the study of Buddhism and practicing Zen meditation under Japanese masters. In those years trends in international ecumenical and missionary circles were increasingly emphasizing the need for new approaches to other religions. The well-known Dutch missiologist, Hendrik Kraemer – famous in the 1930s for his Barthian exclusivism that refused to see the relationship with non-Christian religions in terms of continuity – was now challenging the churches to prepare for “the coming dialogue” with the world religions.4 The International Missionary Council and the World Council of Churches were actively promoting the establishment of Christian study centers in Asia in order to meet the new strength and confidence of Asian religions. Such centers were established in the Middle East, West Pakistan, India, and Hong Kong. The latter had actually been established at Tao Fong Shan, with Gerhard Reichelt, Karl Ludvig Reichelt’s son, as the first director. It seemed quite natural to invite The Christian Mission to Buddhists to establish a similar institution in Japan, and Harry Thomsen was an obvious choice for this task. Thomsen had studied English and Christianity, including comparative religion, in Denmark, and had demonstrated his interest in Japan by publishing a popular introduction to Japan even before leaving Denmark.5 On his way to Japan, he spent a year at Chicago University, studying Japanese religions with Joseph Kitagawa. Arriving in Japan in 1956, he combined language studies with the study of Japanese 4. Hendrik Kraemer, World Cultures and World Religions: The Coming Dialogue, London: Lutterworth Press, 1960. 5. Den opgående sols land (The land of the Rising Sun), Århus: Aros Forlag, 1954. 4 Japanese Religions 34 (1) religion and culture, and was particularly impressed with the new religions. He mentions that he visited forty centers of the new religions during the spring of 1958, and became convinced that there were many “truth-seekers,” for whom “the barren facades of Shintoism and the empty rituals of Buddhism” were insufficient, and who might be open to the Christian message.6 In this way his research and his missionary commitment, even in the preparatory stage of work, seemed to be directed towards the new religions rather than Buddhism. The first preparatory meeting of the Study Center was held at the missionary resort at Nojiri, Nagano Prefecture, in August 1958, just before the 9th International Congress for the History of Religions in Tokyo.
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