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 , and founded The Christian Mission to Buddhists with its centers in in the 1920s and in the New Territories of from the early 1930s. The beautiful center of 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 , 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 and 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).

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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 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. That was a convenient occasion for two of the members of the first Advisory Board to attend, Joseph Kitagawa from Chicago and Gerhard Reichelt from Hong Kong. Japanese Lutheran leaders and representatives of American and Norwegian missions were also present, in addition to Harry Thomsen. The board unanimously recommended that financial support should be sought from the International Missionary Council and the Lutheran World Federation, and that the mission on this basis should establish a Study Center in Japan. It was recommended that the Study Center initially should start an information service about religious matters, collect material, and publish pamphlets and a journal. The Mission to Buddhists would initially provide facilities for an office and a library, in close relationship with the Lutheran Church, but one would seek cooperation with other churches and agencies in order to make it an ecumenical project, with a board of ten representing different Christian denominations. The purpose of the Center would be “to bring the gospel of Christ to the non-Christian world of Japan, and as an important part of this task to bring the Christian gospel to Buddhist monks and priests.”7 Harry Thomsen was a key figure in this period. He arranged seminars and workshops on Japanese religions for missionaries and Japanese pastors, edited the first issues of the new quarterly journal, Japanese Religions, and continued his study of the new religions. The missionary purpose was clearly expressed in the characteristic cover picture of the first two volumes of the journal: a large shining cross planted on the top of Mount Fuji. Bringing a large group of missionaries to visit several centers of the new religions, Thomsen summed up his intention in a greeting to the leaders of Tenri-kyō: “We have neither come here as tourists nor in order to study something ‘interesting’ – but we have come as delegates for Jesus Christ in whom we believe, with the burning wish to get to know the Japanese better, so they may receive the message we bring.”8 Two booklets issued along with

6. Den Nordiske Kristne Buddhistmisjon (hereafter NKBM, journal of The Mission to Buddhists) 1958: 113. 7. The above is based on excerpts from Thomsen’s report in NKBM 1968: 128–130. 8. NKBM 1959: 68. Thelle: In Memoriam Harry Thomsen 5 the journal clearly show Thomsen’s interest in the new religions: A Religious Map of Japan (1959) and Bibliography of the New Religions (1960). These studies prepared the ground for his monograph, The New Religions of Japan (Rutland, Vermont: Tuttle, 1963), which was one of the first attempts to provide a general overview of the most important new religions. The book was to a great extent based on Thomsen’s own material, collected during visits to the centers and headquarters, where he combined study with the attempt to establish friendly relations with the founders or leaders of these religions. His concern in the book was primarily to allow these religions to speak for themselves, and in that way to prepare Western readers, notably missionaries, to understand the importance of these religions. Rather than as a work of critical scholarship it might be characterized as a well-studied and well-written report by a competent observer. It remained for many years one of the best introductions to Japan’s new religions. When the second meeting of the provisional committee of the Study Center was convened in March 1959, the ecumenical basis was broadened, with prominent representatives of academics and church leaders, among others the General Secretary of the NCC, Hirai Kiyoshi, and professor of Kyoto University, Ariga Tetsutarō. In March 1960 the annual meeting of the NCC unanimously voted that the center should be accepted as a NCC Study Center as of April 1960. The missionary purpose of the center was still quite obvious: “The purpose of this Center is to promote a study of Japanese religions for the sake of an effective witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” In order to accomplish this general purpose the Center should supply information concerning Japanese non-Christian religions, provide a meeting place for dialogue, and produce Christian apologetic literature directed toward adherents of non-Christian religions.9 The leadership of the Center was taken over by a Special Committee under the NCC Department of Church Affairs, with Kobayashi Sakae of Kwansei Gakuin as Secretary, and an Editorial Board composed of Ariga Tetsutarō, Kobayashi Sakae, L. Newton Thurber, and Robert W. Wood. When Thomsen returned to Japan in 1961, Kobayashi resigned, and Thomsen committed himself to other projects as described above. In 1962 Ariga Tetsutarō was officially appointed Director of the Center, which was then moved to an annex built next to his house as its office. Under his leadership the apologetic and missionary character of the Center was redefined in a somewhat more dialogical spirit, emphasizing the mutual freedom of thought and speech when religious people meet.10 One may wonder why Thomsen totally abandoned the work which he so skillfully had initiated in Kyoto. In addition to what I have already described about his

9. Japanese Religions no. 2/1 (April 1960: 1-3). 10. See notably Ariga’s comments in Japanese Religions no. 3/1 (Spring 1963: i-ii); for other details, see Japanese Religions no. 2/2-3 (May 1961: 1-2), and Japanese Religions no. 2/4 (March 1962: 1-3). 6 Japanese Religions 34 (1) preference for other projects, I might add one comment by Thomsen himself which throws light on his understanding of himself as a missionary evangelist. Reporting about the first preparatory meeting of the Study Center in 1958, he comments, “For me personally it is the practical evangelical work among ‘the seekers’ in the religious world which has the strongest attraction.” He admits that he is more “called to become a pastoral counselor than researcher,” but argues that both may be combined, as was the case with Karl Ludvig Reichelt. At this early stage he was convinced that a study center might provide opportunities for combining these options. The fact that Thomsen later chose to leave the Center he had established in order to initiate other projects might suggest that he opted for a more pastoral type of outreach. It remains to be evaluated whether or not that was a wise choice, but his lasting contribution as a missionary was undoubtedly the work he initiated during his first years in Kyoto: The Study Center and his pioneer study of the new religions.