Theology in Japan Takakura Tokutaro (1885-1934)

by Jennings, Nelson J.

• ISBN13: 9780761830498
• ISBN10: 0761830499
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-01-04
• Publisher: UPA

Summary

Japanese Christian leader Takakura Tokutaro, 1885-1934, is the focus of this exhaustive historical and theological study. Takakura's life spanned a critical period in developing Japan, a new member of the "modern family of nations." At the age of 21, through the preaching of the immensely influential church leader Uemura Masahisa, Takakura converted to the Christian faith. He later spent over two years in the West, reading extensively in British and German theology.

Author Biography

J. Nelson Jennings is Associate Professor at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri

Table of Contents

List of Figures	ix
Foreword	xi
Preface	xiii
Acknowledgements	xv
Introduction	xix
Endnotes	xxvi
Part I. The Life Context That Shaped Takakura's Thought: Takakura the Human Being	1	(76)
Home and Family	1	(6)
First Five Years	1	(3)
Two Stepmothers, Relationship with Father	4	(1)
Marriage and Children	5	(2)
Personality and Character	7	(1)
Experience of Meiji, Taisho, and early Showa Japan	8	(34)
Education - National System	9	(5)
Japan's International Standing - War and Nationalism	14	(4)
Political Ethos - Imperial Consolidation and Democratic Tendencies	18	(6)
Socio-economic Trends - Growth and New Problems	24	(5)
Intellectual Currents - Philosophy and Literature	29	(7)
Religious Developments - Organisations and Unstructured Movements	36	(6)
Conversion and Career	42	(6)
Baptism	42	(2)
Church Ministry	44	(4)
Death	48	(29)
Endnotes	51	(26)
Part II, Chapter 1. The Christian Faith Conveyed to Takakura Through The Church in Meiji Japan	77	(76)
Meiji Christianity's Socio-political Context	78	(12)
First Two Decades of Meiji	79	(4)
Nationalist Challenge	83	(3)
End of Meiji	86	(4)
Organisational Developments	90	(8)
Kumiai	91	(2)
Nihon Kirisuto Kyokai	93	(2)
Other Developments	95	(3)
Theological Understandings	98	(17)
Apologetic Writing	101	(3)
Japanised Christianity	104	(1)
New Theology	105	(4)
Ebina-Uemura Debate	109	(6)
Uemura Masahisa	115	(38)
Theological Concerns	115	(9)
The Question of Clarity	116	(6)
The Question of Classification	122	(1)
Development	122	(2)
Socio-political Vision	124	(3)
Organised Efforts	127	(26)
Endnotes	130	(23)
Part II, Chapter 2. The Christian Faith Conveyed to Takakura Through the Western Church	153	(68)
Before Takakura's Time in Britain (Before Mid-1921; Taisho 10)	154	(5)
Western Christianity as Mediated through the Meiji Church	154	(3)
Western Christianity as Encountered Through Reading	157	(2)
During Takakura's Time in Britain (Mid-1921 - Early 1924; Taisho 10-13)	159	(28)
Nine Months in Edinburgh - New College	159	(4)
Travels on the Continent and in England	163	(1)
One Year in Oxford - Mansfield College	164	(13)
Baron Friedrich von Hugel	166	(2)
Ernst Troeltsch	168	(3)
Peter Taylor Forsyth	171	(6)
One Term in Cambridge - Westminster College	177	(4)
Summary	181	(6)
After Takakura's Time in Britain (After Early 1924; Taisho 13)	187	(34)
Reading	187	(1)
Crisis Theology	188	(2)
Personal Contacts	190	(31)
Endnotes	193	(28)
Part III. Takakura's Articulation of the Christian Faith Within His Contemporary Situation	221	(76)
Japanese Language and Context	222	(3)
Fukuinteki Kirisutokyo	225	(37)
Preliminary Observations	225	(3)
Chapter-by-Chapter Examination	228	(31)
The Bible and its View of God	228	(8)
View of Christ	236	(7)
View of the Atonement	243	(7)
View of the Life of Faith	250	(6)
Special Characteristics of Evangelical Christianity	256	(3)
General Reflections	259	(3)
The Historical Context of Fukuinteki Kirisutokyo	262	(35)
Takakura's Life Context	262	(4)
Meiji Christianity	266	(3)
Western Christianity	269	(28)
Endnotes	272	(25)
Part IV. Analysis of Takakura's Thought	297	(104)
The Development of Takakura's Thought	297	(20)
Birth Until Conversion	299	(6)
Conversion Until Overseas Study	305	(6)
Overseas Study Until Death	311	(6)
Takakura's Thought in Relation to Western Systematic Theology	317	(22)
Takakura and Other Theologians	318	(6)
Takakura and Selected Theological Topics	324	(15)
Christology	326	(1)
Justification and Sanctification	327	(2)
Ecclesiology	329	(4)
Atonement	333	(3)
Ecclesiology, Atonement, and Christology	336	(3)
Structural Elements in Takakura's Thought	339	(62)
Conceptual Pairs	340	(7)
Fundamental Notions	347	(54)
Endnotes	352	(49)
Conclusion	401	(5)
Endnotes	406	(3)
Appendix. Items for Further Research	409	(3)
Endnotes	412	(3)
Bibliography	415	(62)
Author Biographical Sketch	477	(2)
Index	479