East Asia
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Mediators between Kami and the People: What is the position of the Shinto priests?
Shinto is a unique polytheistic religion in Japan based on ancestral rituals and nature worship. According to Japanese mythology, the Imperial Family and many other clans are descended from the kami 神, so successive emperors have important roles as the priest-kings. Shinto shrines have a strong regional character, and unlike monotheistic churches, each has its own traditions and ways of thinking, which are completely different from those of monotheistic churches. As Shrines Shinto, the most common and traditional Shinto, has no specific doctrines or scriptures, no absolute precepts and no guru, so understanding the reality of the faith can be difficult, especially for people who have never visited Japan. Kami…
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Refreshments, Art, and Play: Reflections on Community Service
When visiting the UK last summer my wife was surprised by our experience of churches. They had art exhibitions, offerings of cake, tea and coffee, and perhaps the most impactful for my wife were the areas within church buildings where children could play with toys and read. One church we visited was running a Beatrix Potter exhibition – by its very nature child-centric – that combined many of the above noted elements (refreshments, art, and play) leaving a deep impression. These features appeared to the two of us to be services for the public good, which were offered regardless of the religious beliefs or intentions behind the organisers or the…
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Wang Yi’s Prophetic Practice
In 2004 a human rights lawyer named Wang Yi made the list of 50 Most Influential Public Intellectuals of China. In 2005 he became a Christian and joined the persecuted church in China as an outspoken advocate not only for human rights, but for the cause of Christ. In 2006 he was invited to Washington D.C. to speak with President George W. Bush about the issue of religious freedom. And in 2008 this young, distinguished, legal scholar resigned his university position to pastor a church in Chengdu, China.[1] As a pastor, Wang Yi drew attention from government officials for allegedly distributing Christian content, leading a school and seminary that were…
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Health Crises, Medicine, and Religion
In 1862, a measles epidemic swept across Japan infecting more than 60% of people with a case fatality rate of almost 20% in some areas.[1] In response, people turned not only to the science of the day, but also to religion in their search for answers and remedies. Prints about measles known as hashika-e offered the general public advice on diet and lifestyle encouraging the afflicted to refrain from sexual intercourse and oily foods, for example. These documents simultaneously depicted deities such as Mugidono Daimyōjin (the god of wheat), whom people would attempt to ‘transfer the disease to…or…invoke…to lessen the severity of a case.’[2] In other words, religion and contemporary…
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Reflections on Dochirina Kirishitan and Foundational Instruction in Christian Practice
Basic instruction in Christian doctrine and practice, whether in the form of a catechism, a class before or after baptism or confirmation, or individual instruction from a clergyperson or layperson at another time, is common in many churches and Christian traditions. Such instruction arguably plays a foundational role in the trajectory of the life of faith for those who receive it. In so far as receiving such instruction is a shared experience of the members of a particular church community, it also serves to shape the character of a church as a whole. Through my university teaching and a travel opportunity, I was recently prompted to think again about the…
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Valuing St Mary’s Cathedral (Urakami Cathedral) in Nagasaki
Recently I lectured at the University of Tokyo on my recent article published by the Journal of Cultural Economy. It proved to be an excellent opportunity for me to take stock of my work on this since late in 2018, thanks to a workshop at the University of Copenhagen and to the editors: Jane Caple and Sarah Roddy. The new article was published in the Journal of Cultural Economy, “Valuing the Urakami Cathedral after the Atomic Bombing: Fundraising and Social Rupture in Nagasaki.” Some questions I considered within this article included whether or how, experiences of communally shared disaster may lead to shared ownership of ruins such as that of…
