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‘Self-Support’: The Episcopal Mission and Nationalism in Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

William L. Sachs
William L. Sachs
Affiliation:
Mr. Sachs is a visiting professor in Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia.
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Extract

Japan offers a profound instance of the encounter between culture and Christian mission. From 1859 to 1940 American Protestant missionaries encountered powerful cultural shifts as Japan modernized. Public enthusiasm for Western ways in the late nineteenth century tempted missionaries and some Japanese to believe that Christianity was Japan's greatest resource for national development. However, the rise of nationalism made the role of churches and missionaries in Japanese life problematic. Scholars have not examined closely the Protestant missionary adaptation to Japanese nationalism. The missionaries of the Episcopal church provide an important instance of such response.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 58 , Issue 4 , December 1989 , pp. 489 - 501
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1989

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