p. 10 | The Trend of Christianity in Japan

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 1, 1908

The Trend of Christianity in Japan

In a series of articles which appeared recently in the Tokyo Mainichi, the author treats of “The Phases of Christianity During the Meiji Era.” He divides its history into four decades, from 1867 to 1907. With the first period are associated the foundation of three Christian schools, at Yokohama, Kumamoto, and Sapporo, from which have issued most of the prominent Japanese Protestants.

The period 1877-1887 was marked by movements opposed to independence; everywhere there were attempts at fusion with American and English churches. The author of these articles says that at that time he and his fellow students felt such confidence in their foreign teachers that they scrupulously observed the restrictions imposed by them as to smoking, sake drinking, amusements, and Sunday observance, to the degree that they considered the least infraction of these rules as a sin.

During the period 1887-97 the traditional theology and the Puritan morality began to be shaken. Until then, thanks to the prevailing infatuation for Western things, the evangelists enjoyed unquestioned authority. But at this time the Darwinian doctrines began to spread in Japan, and Christianity began to be denounced as unscientific. It was a period of lectures and ardent discussions between missionaries and students, and, notwithstanding the best efforts, the reading of Darwin, Spencer, and Mill shook the old beliefs of many. Other relaxing influences contributed to this result. Unitarian missionaries arrived from America; German theology took root in Japan; many young pastors, returning from their studies in Europe and America, spread the disquieting news that the old doctrines were felt to be outworn, and that most professing Christians were by no means so strict as to smoking, drinking, and Sabbath observance as they were expected to be in Japan. It was generally felt that a revision of doctrine was necessary, in order to try to settle what and how much should be desirable or possible to believe.

At the same time, dissensions among the already numerous Christian sects represented in Japan were on the increase. All these motives worked together to strengthen the desire for independence on the part of the Japanese. Some schools such as the Doshisha in Kyoto, achieved this end; the Congregationalist churches all passed into the hands of Japanese pastors; and other churches, especially the Presbyterian, united to form the Nihon Kirisuto Kyokwai. The general struggles and ferment of this third period brought about the present condition of things by the practically complete surrender by the foreigners of the claims to direct the Japanese churches. The timid Puritanism of the earlier period, which had proscribed all secular music and other harmless amusements, now disappeared. Darwin, Spencer, and Mill were no longer spoken of as deadly enemies, and rival sectarian systems came to be looked upon merely as matters of personal inclination.

But even if the outward aspect is more peaceful, questions of the first importance still remain unsettled. The very question, “What is Christianity?” is harder to answer than ever. Is it the religion of Pius X., or of Dr. Parker, or of W. E. Channing, of “General” Booth, or of Count Tolstoi? Even the disciples of Joseph Smith claim to be the genuine church of Christ, and have their missionaries in Japan. Over forty sects are represented in this small archipelago. It is an embarrassment of riches. In this conflict of opinions, it is only natural for the Japanese to think that they are capable of evolving a new form of Christianity, perhaps as good as any other, and certainly better suited to their mental and social conditions than any importation could be.

The bishop of South Tokyo, in an article contributed last year to the Guardian, took the same position. Before long, he declared, the foreign missionaries will be obliged to remit all their powers into the hands of the independent Japanese pastors, and to retire from the country. There will then remain only a few as professors of theology. As long as the present state of things continues, there are not likely to be great changes in the doctrines, constitutions, or ceremonies of the church. But once the foreign influence is finally eliminated, we may expect a series of profound changes, and an elaboration of doctrines tending to fuse the ideas of the Orient and the Occident.—The Kobe (Japan) Chronicle.