Search Results (26)

This study examines the role of Christian missionary interpreters from the Open Port Period to the Japanese colonial era, highlighting their historical significance and influence. During the Open Port Period, missionaries relied on Korean language teachers to serve as interpreters, translators, evangelists, and preachers. Although their English proficiency was often limited, they played a crucial role in early Christian missions. In the Japanese colonial era, elite intellectuals who had studied abroad increasingly assumed interpretation roles, actively contributing to theological education and social reform. This study analyzes historical records, newspaper articles, and existing research to reconstruct the evolving role and broader impact of Christian interpreters. The findings suggest that missionary interpreters were not merely linguistic mediators but key figures in evangelism and social transformation. Furthermore, the study highlights the historical transition from consecutive interpretation to simultaneous interpretation in Korean churches and underscores the need for systematic training programs. Given the growing linguistic diversity in Korean congregations, churches must recognize the importance of trained interpreters in ensuring effective multilingual worship and uphold the legacy of missionary interpretation. Full article

When the historical past in the study of Chosŏn Buddhism is unearthed, one would discover that Buddhist studies was in fact closely tied to Korea’s recent history of colonization by Japan and to the postcolonial influences of the West. This paper is an effort to re-examine the modern study of Korean Buddhism to trace the effects of past colonial forces that Korean Buddhist studies have experienced. The process of Japanese colonization of Korea was similar to the pattern of subjugation initially adopted by the early European discoverers, where academic developments synchronized with the colonizing process—the labeling of the subject culture as primitive and inferior as a basis and justification for colonization. In the past, it was claimed Korean folk religions and Buddhism were rife with cultic and superstitious practices, signs of backwardness, which coincided with the view that Korean society and people were underdeveloped and uncivilized. This paper, after discussions of the colonization process and its connection to the study of Korean Buddhism, makes an argument for a shift in the methodological approach to the study of Chosŏn Buddhism from an etic to an emic approach by taking into account how Buddhism was practiced on the ground and situated within the historical context of the Chosŏn period. Full article

The question, “Is religion personal or social?” prompts a profound reflection on the essence and role of religion. The personal and social aspects of religion are clearly inseparable and inherently complementary. However, in an era where the privatization of religion is increasingly prevalent, if religion remains confined to providing psychological comfort or moral edification for individuals, it risks losing its fundamental meaning. In this context, Yanaihara’s case serves as a significant study of the dual nature of religion—both personal and social. Yanaihara argued that religion must play a pivotal role not only in individual salvation but also in advancing social responsibility and justice. While his faith was rooted in personal intuition, it led him to challenge the subordinate peace enforced by submission to strong state authority and to critique the wars waged under Japanese imperialism. This paper explores the role of religion and its responsibilities toward both individuals and society through an analysis of Yanaihara’s “The Ideal of the State”. Full article

This paper explores the scholarly discourse on the divinity of the emperor in postwar Japan to better understand Japanese conservative nationalism, which has been regaining momentum since the 1990s. Viewing the idea of the divinity of the emperor as ideologically fundamental to Japanese conservative nationalism, this paper looks at how conservative scholars from the 1970s developed a culturalist argument for the divinity of the emperor, first to negate the “humanity declaration”, i.e., the New Year’s greeting by the Showa emperor on 1 January 1946 renouncing his divinity, and then to reconfigure conservative ideology into a popular discourse on Japanese identity (i.e., the Nihonjin-ron), thereby making it more easily accepted by postwar society. Key to this culturalist argument is an essentialized dichotomy between Japanese culture and Western culture, more specifically a binary between Shinto kami and the Christian God—that the Japanese concept of kami is qualitatively different from that of the Christian God, so the emperor is not God but is kami; therefore, the emperor’s divinity is not really denied and he remains the spiritual pillar of the Japanese nation even under the postwar constitutional regime. Refashioning itself as part of the increasingly popular but depoliticized Nihonjin-ron discourse, the culturalist argument on the divinity of the emperor helped make the imperial house a popular topic of the discourse on Japanese identities, even while it completely circumvented the very issues of war responsibility and historical memory which gave rise to the “humanity declaration” in 1946 in the first place. In its depoliticized, popularly appealing form, the culturalist argument played a role in legitimating the regressive conservative nationalism that seeks to revive the pre-1945 divine emperor-centered political regime. Exploring the scholarly discourse on the divinity of the emperor, then, helps shed light on how and why conservative nationalism could persist and gain momentum in the 21st century. Full article

Beyond the once dominant secularization thesis that anticipated the decline of religion in the modern era, the academic study of religion has in recent decades revisited secular as one of the factors that shape religion and religions in the globalized world. Against this theoretical backdrop, in this article, I use the case of South Korea to explore how secular and religion interact in contemporary global society. It focuses on describing the postcolonial reformulation of secularity and the corresponding transformation of religious diversity in Cold War South Korea. The Japanese colonial secularism rigidly banning the public and political engagement of religion was replaced by the flexible secular-religious divide after liberation of 1945. The porous mode of secularity extensively admitted religious entities to affect processes of postcolonial nation-building. Religious values, interests, and resources have been applied in motivating, pushing, and justifying South Koreans to devote themselves to developing the national community as a whole. Such a form of secularity became a critical condition that caused South Korea’s religious landscape to be reorganized in a vertical and unequal way. On the one hand, Buddhist and Christian populations grew remarkably in the liberated field of religion, while freedom of religion was recognized as a key ideological principle of the anticommunist country. On the other hand, folk beliefs and minority religious groups were often considered “superstitions”, “pseudo religions”, “heretics”, or even “evil religions”. With the pliable secularity at work, religious diversity was reconfigured hierarchically in the postcolonial society. Full article

The Jesuit mission to East Asia highlights the polemical difficulties inherent in the process of introducing, translating, and creating a new theological paradigm within a host culture without a common religious worldview. Both Matteo Ricci in China and Ricci’s erstwhile teacher, Alessandro Valignano, in Japan, both inveighed against Buddhism for positing a “void” as the Absolute rather than God. The East Asian Jesuit mission had an incomplete understanding of what emptiness/nothingness/void referred to until the native Japanese convert and former Zen monk, Fukansai Habian, took up the mantle as the Jesuit polemicist against native systems of thought, in particular, Buddhism. Whereas Ricci and Valignano attacked the “void” within the context of a negation of “something”, Habian correctly understood the void as akin to the pleroma, the fullness of possibility, and the creative principle, but used his more nuanced understanding as a polemical expedient to deny or negate all Buddhist doctrines as expressing nothingness (which he erroneously equates with the void), even such form-affirming schools as the Pure Land school with its clearly defined goal of a physical post-mortem Pure Land. The polemical paradigm engendered by this encounter also served as the starting point for Buddhism’s appearance in the Western imagination. This paper will make a comparative investigation of the polemical discourse between the Jesuits and Buddhists regarding the Absolute and demonstrate how this historical instance would have far-reaching consequences that have ongoing relevance regarding the interplay of Christian and Buddhist teachings. Full article

Recent research has played a pivotal role in advancing our understanding of cloisonné enamel production in China during the 19th and 20th centuries. However, Christian workshops, whether operating under missionary subcontracting or owned by the Catholic Church, have yet to be accurately identified and contextualized. This article delves into three significant contexts. Firstly, it identifies and contextualizes the Christian connections and interactions of the Decheng private cloisonné workshop, involving the French Lazarist Bishop Alphonse Favier, in Beijing. Secondly, it identifies the cloisonné workshop stablished by the Lazarists in the Beitang complex in Beijing and elucidates the role it played. Finally, this paper presents new evidence concerning cloisonné Christian objects crafted by the Tushanwan Jesuit workshop in Shanghai. Some of the primary works of these three workshops are identified for the first time. Additionally, this paper shows that certain cloisonné crosses, some of them thought to be originally Japanese, including those referred to as Namban, were, in fact, crafted in Beijing during the 1920s. These preliminary results will contribute to placing Chinese Christian cloisonné within the history of Chinese Art and its interactions at a global level in the context of evangelization in China, the production of the so-called export art, and the processes of indigenization carried out by the Lazarists and the Jesuits. Full article

The Western is, in many respects, the essential American film genre, “a cornerstone of American identity” (Kitses). Yet, despite its distinctly American character, the genre has exerted a fascination all over the world. This contribution examines the Western as a site of transnational cultural exchange and as an illustration of what Stephen Greenblatt calls cultural mobility. In the work of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954) and Yojimbo (1961), Western elements are evoked, which provide complex comments on the influence of American culture on Japan in the post-WWII years. While Seven Samurai appears to embrace the promise of class eradication as a result of Westernization, its American remake The Magnificent Seven (1960) shows a particular fascination for the decidedly Japanese aspects of the material, namely the idea of a warrior class dissociated from society. The Italian remake of Yojimbo, Fistful of Dollars (1964), shows how the Western can function not only as an external comment on American culture, in its cynical redefinition of the cowboy hero, but also as an amalgam of cultural practices and symbols, reaching from Japanese samurai codes to Christian Catholic redeemer imagery, that through their stylization expose the performativity of culture as such. Full article

This article reflects on post-WWII developments and the current state of church-related diaconal initiatives in Japan. Pioneering Christians have made significant contributions to the development of social welfare since the Meiji Era (1868–1912). Despite still being a radical minority of around only 1 percent of Japan’s population, the nationwide network of Japanese Christian churches, educational institutions, and social welfare organizations makes Christianity’s presence felt on a much wider scale. With its focus on postwar efforts, this article gives a brief overview that ranges from education to social reform and medical care, all of which were traditionally incorporated under the notion of “Christian Social Welfare” (Kirisutokyō Shakai Fukushi). The research integrates Japanese and English sources in a methodical, rigorous literature study in response to the following main question: Why is there a complicated relationship in postwar Japan between church practices defined as diakonia and the work of Christian-based social welfare organizations? This article discovers how diakonia as a theological concept is re-orientating the core identity and mission of churches in Japan. A case study from the Reformed Church of Japan’s diaconal activities is presented to highlight the conclusion that a complex relationship remains between social welfare organizations and wider church practices enacted under the rubric of diakonia. Full article

The Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society (WFMS) (1897–1909) and the Woman’s Missionary Council (WMC) (1910–1940) of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South (MECS) worked in Korea from 1897 to 1940. Their work used a distinctive mission philosophy, hermeneutics, and implementation of strategies in their encounters with Korean women. Over the course of their years in Korea, Southern Methodist missionary women initiated the Great Korea Revival, established the first social evangelistic centers, educated the first indigenous female church historian, and ordained women for the first time in Korea. This article argues that, even though the missionary activities of the single female missionaries occurred in the context of “Christian civilization” as a mission theory, their holistic Wesleyan missiology departed from the colonial theory of mission as civilization. The first section of the article offers background information regarding the single female missionaries to help understand them. What motivated these females to venture in foreign lands with the Gospel? What was their preparation? The second section presents the religious, cultural, social, and political background of Korea during the time the missionaries arrived. The third section describes and analyzes the evangelistic and social ministries of the female missionaries in the nascent Korean mission. The final section describes and analyzes the appropriation and reinterpretation of the Bible and Christianity by Korean women, especially the work of Korean Bible women and Methodist female Christians in the quest for independence from Japanese control in the Independence Movement of 1919. Full article

In 1984, professional wrestler Hulk Hogan defeated the Iron Sheik to win the WWF Heavyweight Title. Thus marked the birth of ‘Hulkamania’, a near-decade-long period when Hulk Hogan (real name Terry Bollea) crossed over into American popular culture. In the following years, Hogan battled a series of proxies for America’s enemies, from the Soviet rival in Nikolai Volkoff, Iranian sympathizer Sergeant Slaughter, and the Japanese sumo wrestler Yokozuna, among other opponents. More importantly, Hogan appeared on American talk shows, the front of magazines, had his own children’s cartoons, and marketed workout devices, toys, food, and a host of other ephemera. Existing in a liminal space between sport and entertainment, professional wrestling allows athletes/performers far more opportunities to cultivate messages and meanings through their bodies. Using film, wrestling magazines, and wrestling broadcasts, this article argues that Hogan’s body and his use of his body were paramount to his success. More than that, the use of his body embodied ideals about American masculinity. It embodied all-American strength, an ability to succeed no matter the odds, and a fierce Christian patriotism. Hogan was one of the biggest stars of the 1980s, inside and outside of sport. His body and its representation are thus worthy of study. Full article

This article explores the personal encounters between the Swiss–German missionaries and their Japanese students through their school projects in the late nineteenth century, as a fresh approach to disclose an entirely new analytical angle to mission education and the production of otherness. By examining the personal encounter of missionaries with their students, it problematizes scholars’ reliance on the concept of otherness as a unidirectional transfer of knowledge from West to non-West. Instead, this study argues, that the process of “othering” should be looked at as a negotiation beyond an East–West hierarchical divide, in which new forms of beliefs and practices for Japanese converts emerged. An analysis of relevant missionary sources reveals that in the period 1885 to 1893 the missionaries’ work with the Japanese students evolved into a seemingly contradictory state. On the one side, the missionaries devoted a great number of resources and time in educating their Japanese subjects into what they perceived to be true Christians. On the other side, they repeatedly expressed deep doubts about their students’ potential to become the type of Christians they envisioned. Focusing on three cases of missionaries’ encounters with Japanese students, this article argues that the attempts and results of negotiating otherness in the Swiss–German mission school projects opened new possibilities for identity formation among Japanese Christians. Full article

During the Korean War, conflicts between right-wing Protestants and radical socialists escalated and erupted into massacres, killing thousands of Korean civilians. Such extreme violence and tumultuous events afterwards—including Korea’s division into two separate states and the Cold War system—eclipsed the imbricated interactions between Protestant Christianity and socialism under Japanese colonial rule. While focusing on Korean Protestantism and socialism to probe their contest and compromise for survival, this article traces the tripartite relationship among the followers of Protestant Christianity, Marxist socialism, and Japanese imperialism as it evolved throughout colonial Korea between 1910 and 1945. These 35 years comprised a period of multiple possibilities for interaction among Korean Protestants, socialists, and Japanese authorities in the changing global environment. The international organizations with which they were associated influenced Korean Protestants and Marxist socialists while facing the common crisis of Japan’s assimilation. Namely, the Korean Protestant churches affiliated with Western missionaries’ denomination headquarters in their home countries and world Christian conferences, while the Korean socialists allied with Moscow’s Comintern and other radical political movements abroad. Within this broader context, these two religious and ideological forces competed for supremacy, cooperated in a joint struggle against the colonial regime, and antagonized each other over their divergent worldviews. By examining their complicated tripartite relationship, this essay comprehensively depicts the dynamic history of the Western-derived religious and political doctrines meeting a non-Western empire in a foreign land. Full article

This presentation examines the history of duckweeds in Chinese, Christian, Greek, Hebrew, Hindu, Japanese, Maya, Muslim, and Roman cultures and details the usage of these diminutive freshwater plants from ancient times through the Middle Ages. We find that duckweeds were widely distributed geographically already in antiquity and were integrated in classical cultures in the Americas, Europe, the Near East, and the Far East 2000 years ago. In ancient medicinal sources, duckweeds are encountered in procedures, concoctions, and incantations involving the reduction of high fever. In this regard, we discuss a potential case of ethnobotanical convergence between the Chinese Han and Classical Maya cultures. Duckweeds played a part in several ancient rituals. In one, the unsuitability of its roots to serve as a wick for Sabbath oil lamps. In another reference to its early use as human food during penitence. In a third, a prominent ingredient in a medicinal incantation, and in a fourth, as a crucial element in ritual body purifications. Unexpectedly, it emerged that in several ancient cultures, the floating duckweed plant featured prominently in the vernacular and religious poetry of the day. Full article

Marina Pak (c. 1572–1636) entered Christian history as Korea’s first significantly cloistered individual, but researchers know almost nothing about her twenty-two years in the Philippines because of the scarce primary source testimonies. On the other hand, through interdisciplinary reflections on Marina’s pluralistic religious background, the influence of the Japanese state, the significance of the Pasig River, and her relationship in the Philippines with Miyako no Bikuni foundress Naitō Julia (c. 1566–1627), one can reconstruct the steps that Marina might have undertaken to navigate a Christian vocation in a foreign land. This article explores the ways in which Marina might have tried to reconcile three different cultural factors (the Korean identity of her birth, Japanese influences arising from her involuntary sojourn in Japan, and the Filipino culture of her final destination), and despite the tentative nature of the study’s conclusions, these findings may offer paths for future scholars to follow. Full article