Description
Book SynopsisJapanese 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. Takakura thus faced the challenge of absorbing numerous lines of influence and re-articulating the Christian faith within his own generation''s distinctly Japanese linguistic and religio-cultural context. His personal religious experience was a microcosm of the universalization of Christian theology during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Despite having played important leadership roles within the Protestant Church in Japan during the 1920s and early 1930s, Takakura''s name is scarcely known outside limited Japanese theological circles. This study lends recognition to his influential role in the Christian Church. It also utilizes Takakura''s example to provide further insight into the universalizing trend in Christian thought that continues even today.
Trade ReviewJennings...has done a fine job with this comprehensive study of Takakura Tokutaro, a Japanese Christian theologian.... Japanese Christian thought has been mostly unknown overseas. Jennings's work is therefore a significant breakthrough. -- Ken Christoph Miyamoto, Kobe Shoin Women's University * International Bulletin of Mission Research *
Takakura's is an important voice that needs to be heard again in ecumenical theological discourse. Dr. Jennings' exposition of Takakura has clarity, erudition and passion, and deserves to be read by all who claim to be systematic theologians. -- John Parratt, University of Birmingham * From The Foreword *
Table of ContentsChapter 1 List of Figures Chapter 2 Foreword Chapter 3 Preface Chapter 4 Acknowledgments Chapter 5 Introduction Chapter 6 Endnotes Chapter 7 Part I: The Life Context that Shaped Takakura's Thought: Takakura the Human Being: Home and Family; Personality and Character; Experience of Meiji, Taisho, and early Showa Japan; Conversion and Career; Death; Endnotes Chapter 8 Part II: The Christian Faith Conveyed to Takakura through the Church in Meiji Japan: Meiji Christianity's Socio-political Context; Organizational Developments; Theological Understandings; Uemura Masahisa; Endnotes; The Christian Faith Conveyed to Chapter 9 Takakura's Articulation of the Christian Faith Within His contemporary Situation: Japanese Language and Context; Fukuinteki Kirisutokyo; The Historical Context of Fukuinteki Kirisutokyo; Endnotes Chapter 10 Analysis of Takakura's Thought: The Development of Takakura's Thought; Takakura's Thought in Relation to Western Systematic Theology; Structural Elements in Takakura's Thought; Endnotes Chapter 11 Conclusion Chapter 12 Endnotes Chapter 13 Appendix: Items for Further Research Chapter 14 Endnotes Chapter 15 Bibliography Chapter 16 Author Biographical Sketch Chapter 17 Index
