Download or read book Japan s Modern Prophet written by John F. Howes and published by UBC Press. This book was released on 2010-10-01 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Uchimura Kanz was one of Japan's foremost thinkers. His ideas influenced contemporary novelists, statesmen, reformers, and religious leaders. The originator and proponent of a particularly "Japanese" form of Christianity known as mukykai, Uchimura struggled with the tensions between his love for the homeland and his love for God. Articulate, prolific, passionate, and profound, he earned a reputation as the most consistent critic of his society and knowledgeable Japanese interpreter of Christianity and its Bible. Through this exceptional man's life, John Howes charts what it meant to live during the introduction of Christianity to Japan.
Download or read book Prophets of Peace written by Robert Kisala and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 1999-10-01 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wars in the Persian Gulf and Yugoslavia have given new impetus to the ongoing debate in Japan concerning its postwar constitution and related issues of national security and world order. Although often overlooked in this debate, Japanese religious groups--especially some of the New Religions--have promoted peace as a major theme of their doctrine and activities, often explicitly supporting a pacifist position. This study, undertaken in the wake of the Persian Gulf War, looks at a representative group of New Religions and explores their concepts and practices of peace. Many of the Japanese New Religions draw on a tradition that emphasizes individual moral cultivation and use of prewar terms to describe their mission. One expression, hakko ichiu (literally, "the whole world under one roof") conveys the ideal of world unity under Japanese direction, leading to the establishment of peace. In this way it is a prime example of the prewar idea of establishing peace through the spread of Japanese civilization. The author cites evidence pointing to the prevalence of a mistaken notion of the implications of the pacifist position, a situation that both reflects and contributes to the confusion surrounding popular debates on pacifism in Japan. Prophets of Peace is an attempt to correct that misperception by providing a critical study of the social ethic of the Japanese New Religions--a topic that has been largely ignored in research on new religious movements worldwide. Professor Kisala draws on the literature that presents their doctrine and surveys their believers to describe their approach to the question of peace. The results of this fieldwork are placed within the dual framework of Western peace studies and the modern Japanese intellectual tradition, highlighting the issues of pacifism and the cultural approach to peace in Japan. In his analysis of these results, he offers some observations on the role of religion in contemporary Japanese society and advocates a more positive engagement in the debate on Japan's role in international security arrangements. By offering a representative sample of New Religion groups and focusing on their doctrines, Prophets of Peace provides a different perspective for those whose primary interest is the Japanese New Religions. Although students and scholars of Japanese religion will be the book's first audience, its accessibility and thematic approach also recommend it to readers with a broader interest in contemporary Japanese society, peace studies, and the role of religious groups in modern society.
Download or read book Prophet Motive written by Nancy Kinue Stalker and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 798 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Prophet Motive written by Nancy K. Stalker and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2007-10-31 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the 1910s to the mid-1930s, the flamboyant and gifted spiritualist Deguchi Onisaburô (1871–1948) transformed his mother-in-law’s small, rural religious following into a massive movement, eclectic in content and international in scope. Through a potent blend of traditional folk beliefs and practices like divination, exorcism, and millenarianism, an ambitious political agenda, and skillful use of new forms of visual and mass media, he attracted millions to Oomoto, his Shintoist new religion. Despite its condemnation as a heterodox sect by state authorities and the mainstream media, Oomoto quickly became the fastest-growing religion in Japan of the time. In telling the story of Onisaburô and Oomoto, Nancy Stalker not only gives us the first full account in English of the rise of a heterodox movement in imperial Japan, but also provides new perspectives on the importance of "charismatic entrepreneurship" in the success of new religions around the world. She makes the case that these religions often respond to global developments and tensions (imperialism, urbanization, consumerism, the diffusion of mass media) in similar ways. They require entrepreneurial marketing and management skills alongside their spiritual authority if their groups are to survive encroachments by the state and achieve national/international stature. Their drive to realize and extend their religious view of the world ideally stems from a "prophet" rather than "profit" motive, but their activity nevertheless relies on success in the modern capitalist, commercial world. Unlike many studies of Japanese religion during this period, Prophet Motive works to dispel the notion that prewar Shinto was monolithically supportive of state initiatives and ideology.
Download or read book Xavier s Legacies written by Kevin M. Doak and published by UBC Press. This book was released on 2011-03-01 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Japan has had three Catholic prime ministers, and its current empress was raised and educated in the faith. How did a non-Christian nation come to foster more Catholic leaders than the United States, particularly when Protestantism is said to define Christianity in Japan and Catholicism is believed to be but a fleeting element of Japan’s so-called Christian century? Far from being a relic of the past – something brought to Japan by sixteenth-century missionaries such as Francis Xavier and then forgotten – Catholicism offered, and continues to provide, an authentic way for Japanese believers to shape their cultural identities. This volume documents the appeal of Catholicism, not only among farmers and fishers but also among scientists, diplomats, novelists, and members of the imperial household who have found in Catholicism an alternative way to keep “tradition” and negotiate modernity since the late nineteenth century.
Download or read book Nichiren written by Masaharu Anesaki and published by Pantianos Classics. This book was released on 2020-09-07 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Japanese Buddhist priest and author Nichiren is one of the most significant spiritual figures of his time, elevating the status and sophistication of Buddhism in Japan. Through his writings and records of the era, we learn of Nichiren's deeply-held conviction that he was a reincarnated Bodhisattva sent by Buddha to further establish the religion in Japan. Nishiren's efforts led to his being the namesake for Japan's branch of the Mahayana school of Buddhists. He established methods of religious education, the zenith of which were a number of teachings unique to the faith. Nichiren also corresponded with followers, offering condolences, advice and wisdom to those who sought counsel. All of these deeds are recorded in this well-informed biography, which describes how Nichiren lived through a tumultuous time in Japanese history. Persecutions by non-believers, the invasion of the Mongols, plus periods spent in exile, made Nichiren's life difficult. Despite such obstacles he managed to found his school of Buddhism, introduce comprehensive doctrines for the temple, and convert a great many Japanese to the faith before dying at the age of sixty. Later judged to be an exceptional figure, he received posthumous honors from Japanese Emperors, and his teachings remain popularly studied by students and adherents to Buddhism in modern Japan.
Download or read book Christianity the Japanese Way written by Caldarola and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2023-07-31 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Darwin Dharma and the Divine written by G. Clinton Godart and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2018-03-31 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Darwin, Dharma, and the Divine is the first book in English on the history of evolutionary theory in Japan. Bringing to life more than a century of ideas, G. Clinton Godart examines how and why Japanese intellectuals, religious thinkers of different faiths, philosophers, biologists, journalists, activists, and ideologues engaged with evolutionary theory and religion. How did Japanese religiously think about evolution? What were their main concerns? Did they reject evolution on religious grounds, or—as was more often the case—how did they combine evolutionary theory with their religious beliefs? Evolutionary theory was controversial and never passively accepted in Japan: It took a hundred years of appropriating, translating, thinking, and debating to reconsider the natural world and the relation between nature, science, and the sacred in light of evolutionary theory. Since its introduction in the nineteenth century, Japanese intellectuals—including Buddhist, Shinto, Confucian, and Christian thinkers—in their own ways and often with opposing agendas, struggled to formulate a meaningful worldview after Darwin. In the decades that followed, as the Japanese redefined their relation to nature and built a modern nation-state, the debates on evolutionary theory intensified and state ideologues grew increasingly hostile toward its principles. Throughout the religious reception of evolution was dominated by a long-held fear of the idea of nature and society as cold and materialist, governed by the mindless “struggle for survival.” This aversion endeavored many religious thinkers, philosophers, and biologists to find goodness and the divine within nature and evolution. It was this drive, argues Godart, that shaped much of Japan’s modern intellectual history and changed Japanese understandings of nature, society, and the sacred. Darwin, Dharma, and the Divine will contribute significantly to two of the most debated topics in the history of evolutionary theory: religion and the political legacy of evolution. It will, therefore, appeal to the broad audience interested in Darwin studies as well as students and scholars of Japanese intellectual history, religion, and philosophy.
Download or read book Japan in the World written by Klaus Schlichtmann and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2009-06-16 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The twentieth century is as remarkable for its world wars as it is for its efforts to outlaw war in international and constitutional law and politics. Japan in the World examines some of these efforts through the life and work of Shidehara Kijuro, who was active as diplomat and statesman between 1896 until his death in 1951. Shidehara is seen as a guiding thread running through the first five decades of the twentieth century. Through the 1920s until the beginning of the 1930s, his foreign policy shaped Japan's place within the community of nations. The positive role Japan played in international relations and the high esteem in which it was held at that time goes largely to his credit. As Prime Minister and 'man of the hour' after the Second World War, he had a hand in shaping the new beginning for post-war Japan, instituting policies that would start his country on a path to peace and prosperity. Accessing previously unpublished archival materials, Schlichtmann examines the work of this pacifist statesman, situating Shidehara within the context of twentieth century statecraft and international politics. While it was an age of devastating total wars that took a vast toll of civilian lives, the politics and diplomatic history between 1899 and 1949 also saw the light of new developments in international and constitutional law to curtail state sovereignty and reach a peaceful order of international affairs. Japan in the World is an essential resource for understanding that nation's contributions to these world-changing developments.
Download or read book Brigham Young written by John G. Turner and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2012-09-25 with total page 511 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brigham Young was a rough-hewn New York craftsman whose impoverished life was electrified by the Mormon faith. Turner provides a fully realized portrait of this spiritual prophet, viewed by followers as a protector and by opponents as a heretic. His pioneering faith made a deep imprint on tens of thousands of lives in the American Mountain West.
Download or read book Japan and Korea written by Frank Joseph Shulman and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-23 with total page 923 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First Published in 1971. This annotated bibliography of doctoral dissertations on Japan and Korea grew out of a decision to expand and bring up to date an earlier list entitled Unpublished Doctoral Dissertations Relating to Japan, Accepted in the Universities of Australia, Canada, Great Britain, and the United States, 1946-1963, compiled by Peter Cornwall and issued by the Center for Japanese Studies in 1965.
Download or read book Nichiren written by Masaharu Anesaki and published by Kessinger Publishing. This book was released on 2008-10-01 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.
Download or read book The Friend written by Samuel Chenery Damon and published by . This book was released on 1928 with total page 746 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Religious Violence in Contemporary Japan written by Ian Reader and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-11 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Tokyo subway attack in March 1995 was just one of a series of criminal activities including murder, kidnapping, extortion, and the illegal manufacture of arms and drugs carried out by the Japanese new religious movement Aum Shinrikyo, under the guidance of its leader Asahara Shoko. Reader looks at Aum's claims about itself and asks, why did a religious movement ostensibly focussed on yoga, meditation, asceticism and the pursuit of enlightenment become involved in violent activities? Reader discusses Aum's spiritual roots, placing it in the context of contemporary Japanese religious patterns. Asahara's teaching are examined from his earliest public pronouncements through to his sermons at the time of the attack, and statements he has made in court. In analysing how Aum not only manufactured nerve gases but constructed its own internal doctrinal justifications for using them Reader focuses on the formation of what made all this possible: Aum's internal thought-world, and on how this was developed. Reader argues that despite the horrors of this particular case, Aum should not be seen as unique, nor as solely a political or criminal terror group. Rather it can best be analysed within the context of religious violence, as an extreme example of a religious movement that has created friction with the wider world that escalated into violence.
Download or read book The Pacific written by and published by . This book was released on 1915 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Handbook of Contemporary Japanese Religions written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2012-09-03 with total page 674 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Representing work by some of the leading scholars in the field, the chapters of this handbook survey the transformation and innovation of religious traditions and practices in contemporary Japan. Readers will find lively scholarly studies about changes in the traditional institutions of Buddhism and Shinto, vivid examples of social activism as well as the so-called “new religions,” examination of the relationship between religion and the state, and analysis of the religiosity of individuals encompassed by “spirituality,” pilgrimage and tourism, and the marketing of religions. This groundbreaking collection of scholarly papers helps to map out the fascinating complexity and dynamism of religion in contemporary Japanese society and culture.
Download or read book Prophet Motive written by Nancy K. Stalker and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2007-10-31 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the 1910s to the mid-1930s, the flamboyant and gifted spiritualist Deguchi Onisaburô (1871–1948) transformed his mother-in-law’s small, rural religious following into a massive movement, eclectic in content and international in scope. Through a potent blend of traditional folk beliefs and practices like divination, exorcism, and millenarianism, an ambitious political agenda, and skillful use of new forms of visual and mass media, he attracted millions to Oomoto, his Shintoist new religion. Despite its condemnation as a heterodox sect by state authorities and the mainstream media, Oomoto quickly became the fastest-growing religion in Japan of the time. In telling the story of Onisaburô and Oomoto, Nancy Stalker not only gives us the first full account in English of the rise of a heterodox movement in imperial Japan, but also provides new perspectives on the importance of "charismatic entrepreneurship" in the success of new religions around the world. She makes the case that these religions often respond to global developments and tensions (imperialism, urbanization, consumerism, the diffusion of mass media) in similar ways. They require entrepreneurial marketing and management skills alongside their spiritual authority if their groups are to survive encroachments by the state and achieve national/international stature. Their drive to realize and extend their religious view of the world ideally stems from a "prophet" rather than "profit" motive, but their activity nevertheless relies on success in the modern capitalist, commercial world. Unlike many studies of Japanese religion during this period, Prophet Motive works to dispel the notion that prewar Shinto was monolithically supportive of state initiatives and ideology.
