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Theology of Culture in a Japanese Context: a Believers' Church Perspective

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Theology of Culture in a Japanese Context: a Believers' Church Perspective Durham E-Theses Theology of culture in a Japanese context: a believers' church perspective Fujiwara, Atsuyoshi How to cite: Fujiwara, Atsuyoshi (1999) Theology of culture in a Japanese context: a believers' church perspective, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/4301/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 1 Abstract Theology of Culture in A Japanese Context: A Believers' Church Perspective Atsuyoshi Fujiwara This thesis explores an appropriate relationship between Christian faith and culture. We investigate the hallmarks of authentic theology in the West, which offer us criteria to evaluate Christianity in Japan. Because Christian faith has been concretely formed and expressed in history, an analysis and evaluation of culture is incumbent on theology. The testing ground for our research is Japan, one of the most unsuccessful Christian mission fields. Thus this is a theology of culture in a Japanese context. Through a dialogue with H. Richard Niebuhr, John Howard Yoder, and Stanley Hauerwas, we embrace a believers' church perspective as our basic vision. The believers' church critically evaluates culture and seeks to transform it by standing on the boundary between the Kingdom of God and the world, and voluntarily participates in the redemptive suffering of God with the creature. It strives to be faithful to God and to imitate Jesus Christ, instead of seeking to control the world. It trusts in God; for it is He, and not we, who is in charge of history. Examination of Japanese Christian history is conducted in the light of the criteria above, in order to consider how Japan responded to Christianity. The criteria help us see the problem of nationalism both in superficial Christianity in Japan and in Constantinian Christianity in the West. We discuss three major Japanese theologians: Kazoh Kitamori, Y asuo Furuya, and Hideo Ohki. They help us refine our criteria for suffering, for theological assessment of Japan, and for the nature of believers' church as covenant community. We find in our investigation that although Christianity has always been in a minority in Japan, the church in Japan-- like the church in the West -- inclines to be eo-opted by political powers, which is a core problem. 2 Theology of Culture in A Japanese Context: A Believers' Church Perspective Atsuyoshi Fujiwara Ph. D. University of Durham Department of Theology 1999 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without the written consent of the author an information derived from it should be acknowledged. 2 4 AUG 1999 3 Acknowledgements I have received support from numerous people and organisations in the writing of this thesis. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Alan M. Suggate, for guiding me through this research. The completion of the thesis would have been impossible without his patient, encouraging, and careful supervision. He and his wife, Dr. Jennifer Suggate, continually looked after me and my family, and consequently made our life in Durham exceedingly pleasant. I truly appreciate their generous support. The Revd. Hiroyuki Akae ofSaidaiji Christ Church (Okayama, Japan) led me to the Christian faith when I was seventeen years old with enormous patience and love. He has directly and indirectly encouraged me to investigate the problem of culture and Christian faith. Saidaiji Church, as my mother church, committed themselves to support my family and me throughout my theological education from 1990 until the completion of this thesis with prayer and finances. Berkland Baptist Church (Oakland, Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, and Seattle, U.S.A.), of which I am on the pastoral staff, has given me the vision of costly grace and of transforming culture with radical obedience to Christ. Amongst many brothers and sisters, I owe particular gratitude to the Revd. Paul Kim, Mrs. Rebekah Kim JDSN, the Revd. Dr. Andy Pak, the Revd. Ed Kang, and the Revd. Daniel Y.B. Im. Their prophetic challenges and concerns about my family and me were most invaluable. The earlier part of this thesis, where I advocated the believers' church perspective, was written in the seventeenth century Bishop Cosin's Library, which, ironically, epitomises the State Church heritage, being located between Durham Cathedral and Durham Castle. I do acknowledge the value of it. The remainder was written in Kepi er Court of the Graduate Society when my wife started working as 4 Academic Registrar of Teikyo University in Durham and I became a house husband. Kepier Court became an ideal research environment when many colleagues from the Department of Theology started living in close proximity. I particularly cherish the friendship with my Mennonite colleague, Jerry D. Truex. Our dialogue covered a wide rage of topics, including ecclesiology, communion, and pacifism, and occurred in a variety of situations, including sharing coffee, bringing our daughters to school, and looking after them in a park. This enormously benefited me not only in my theological inquiry but also in my spiritual life. Professor James D.G. Dunn, Dr. Stephen C. Barton, Dr. Alan Ford, and the Canon Professor David Brown ofthe Department of Theology gave me helpful suggestions and comments. Professor Hideo Ohki of Tokyo Union Theological Seminary, Professor Yasuo Furuya of the International Christian University, Professor Masao Takenaka ofDoshisha University, and Professor Teruo Kuribayashi ofKwansei Gakuin University kindly gave me of their precious time for interviews in Japan. My former teacher, Professor Stanley A. Nelson, continually paid interest to my research and life, even visiting us in Durham during his research leave to Oxford to encourage me. I am grateful to the libraries ofDurham University and to the Inter-Library Loan Service, which was indispensable in this research. I am also grateful to the libraries of Oxford University, Doshisha University, Tokyo Union Theological Seminary, and the Graduate Theological Union for assisting me in my research visits. My friends, the Revd. Naoto Yasuda and the Revd. Masaru Asaoka ofKobe Reformed Theological Seminary also helped me obtain Japanese materials. I am also grateful to the British Government for the Overseas Research Students Award (ORS), to the University of Durham for the Durham Postgraduate Research Award, and to the Department of Theology for the Postgraduate Scholarship in Theology for Overseas Students for their financial support. Finally, I would like to thank my mother, Misako, and grandmother, Sadae, for supporting my family and me in every way possible. 5 To my wife KIYOMI who has supported me throughout the writing of this thesis, and to our daughter ELLIE who tried to help me in her own way 6 'fable of Contents Introduction 12 Chapter 1 H. Richard Niebuhr: Transformation Approach I. Introduction 16 11. Christ and Culture 18 A. Two Extremes 19 1. Christ against Culture: Exclusivist Approach 19 2. Christ of Culture: Inclusivist Approach 20 B. Moderate Answers 22 1. Christ above Culture: Synthesist Approach 23 2. Christ and Culture in Paradox: Dualist Approach 24 3. Christ the Transformer of Culture: Conversionist Approach 25 Ill. Assessment 27 A. Theocentric Relativism 27 B. Culture 34 C. Christ 38 1. One of Two Poles? 39 2. Reduction of New Testament Christ? 40 D. Transformation Revisited 45 1. Radical Monotheism 46 2. Yoder's Approach: Selective Discernment 50 3. Discernment of Culture 52 4. Three Factors for Transformation 55 5. Community Approach 59 6. Corporate-Personal Model 63 7. Christian Community with Distinctiveness 68 IV. Conclusions 72 Chapter 2 John Howard Yoder and Stanley Hauerwas: Believers' Church Approach :n:. Introduction 75 A. Life 75 B. Basic Theological Claim 78 11. The Narrative Approach 79 A. Why Narrative? 80 1. Narrative as an Essential Form in Human Understanding 80 2. Narrative as an Essential Form in Christian Theology 81 B. Christian Story: The True Story 82 1. True-ness 83 2. Relativity with Other Religions 84 3. Relativity within Christianity 87 C. Conclusions: Distinction of Understanding and Genre 89 7 HI. Ethics of Character 92 A. Rejecting Foundationalist Ethics 92 B. Character 94 1. Character, Virtue, and Virtues 94 2. Habits 96 C. Conclusions: Both Character and Decisionist Ethics 97 IV. Christian Community 100 A. The Church Should Become the Church 102 1. Community of Character 103 2. Against Constantinian Christianity 105 3. Jesus and Other Authorities 110 4. Problems: Pacifism, Revelation, and Monotheism ofthe Son 116 B. Alternative Polity 126 1. The Church as Polity 127 2. Imitating Jesus 128 a. Over-bridging the Abyss 128 b. Jesus Whom We Imitate 129 c. The Church as the Imitator of Jesus 131 d. Trusting in God: Faithfulness over Effectiveness 132 C. Community which Transforms Culture: Offering a Real Option 136 1. Contrast Model 136 2. Pioneering 141 3. Truth in Relativity: Binding and Loosing 145 a. Similarity of Y oder and Niebuhr 146 b. Truth, Relativity, and Mutual Support 148 c. Differences ofYoder and Niebuhr 148 D. Conclusion: From Alternative Polity to Normative Polity 151 V. Conclusions 153 Chapter 3 Christianity in Japan 1: Sixteenth And Seventeenth Century Catholicism in Japan I.
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