The perspective of Asia 5

4. Theology in Japan

Now how can we be Lutheran, though we are in 21st century in Asia, far from 16th century Germany? Certainly, it is not only holding on to the old confessional writings. Rather the problem is how we confess our faith in Christ which was also confessed by 16th century Lutherans in the 21st century in an Asian context. Luther’s spirit of confession in the reformation context of the 16th century was to fight against a situation that hid Christ’s Gospel. Following God’s Word, Luther knew the situation in which God’s love revealed in the cross was darkened and then called the church to reform the situation. It was not just his inner reformation of faith, but also the expression of that faith in the reformation of the church, and therefore reformation of the world.
That is to say, “confessional” means to be responsible for the situation in which the theological subject is actually engaged. That is, Lutheran theology takes both the church and the world as the object of its theology. In this sense, theology in Japan has to cope with Japan as the object of theology, critically. And also theology must send messages to Japan in order to share the Gospel, to establish the order of God’s creation, and to accomplish the kingdom of God.
The message of Lutheran Church, therefore, must be the word of God; Law and Gospel. The word of God critically reveals how we are, what Japan is before God, on the one hand, and points out God’s gracious work in the world for sharing the gospel with people. After we changed the name of the department from theology to Christian Studies, we realized that Lutheran theology has such a task to the world, and that this task is carried out through Law and Gospel.
According to this perspective, our department of Christian Studies of Japan Lutheran College decided to focus on the problem of life and death in our actual context from this year. We just started a new curriculum consisting in 15 courses. We call this new curriculum “Life Studies (inochi-gaku 命学)”. Today, problems concerning life and death are so serious in Japan as well as all around the world. It seems very important to learn and to show the Christian understanding of human beings, and life and death, to the world. From all theological perspectives: biblical theology, historical theology, Christian ethics, pastoral theology, and apologetics, the issue of life and death is now examined and learned. In addition, we also learn what kind of thinking and religious understanding and wants are really in Japan both traditionally and in modernized society. In such a project, as Lutherans, we want to be responsible and to give contributions to our churches and even to the non-Christian world
Now, I want to list what we need to be aware of, concerning doing theology in Japan.

(1) In order to do theology in Japan, we must learn the traditional western theology, especially from the theological history, first. It is because there are many fruits and treasures that come from struggles already done between the Word of God and the world in the theological history in the west. Moreover, it should be believed that the living God has led Christian history though human beings who always opposed the will of God.

(2) It might be important not to use the baptized and non-baptized distinction here and now but to see the salvation work of God on the cross for all sinners, including the baptized and non-baptized. Of course, the baptism is the sacrament of God’s promise of salvation and the eschatological event of death and resurrection for the Christian. Luther sees the sacrament as the beginning of the God-justifying work for sinner throughout life until death and resurrection. If so, in the non-Christian context of Japan, it is important to see Christ as the core of God salvation work more than to make clear the border of the sphere of salvation.

(3) When we think of Japan, it is necessary to see Japanese culture in layers. Japanese people have the traditional thoughts and religions on the one hand, and the modernized, rational way of thinking on the other hand. Japan has developed and urbanized on the one hand and still values nature, rural community, and culture on the other. In Japan there are wealthy and poor also. Japanese is of course Asian, but is also westernized so much. Japanese people seems be homogenous but there are minorities like Ainu, Okinawans, etc.. In order to grasp Japan, we need to have compound eyes to see this complex world.

(4) There are people and lives who are weakened, discriminated against, and made poor in Japan today. Theology in Japan must deal with this problem seriously. Luther eliminates the distinction between priests and lay people by the priesthood of all believers. The principle means that there is no distinction between holy and secular, between clean and non-clean, between noble and humble, and between high and low, before God. This principle must criticize a social situation that makes such distinction.

(5) In this sense, the Tenno (Japanese Emperor) system must be closely examined from the Christian view. The system has distinguished between noble and humble among all nations and functioned as a quasi-religion. In addition, the Tenno system invaded Asian countries and tried to exert Japanese supremacy over them during World War II. If theology in Japan wants to be also theology in Asia, it is necessary to answer the problem of this Tenno system.

(6) Having a close relation with Japanese things and favoring them brings the danger of syncretism and nationalism. In order to share the Gospel of Christ with Japanese people it is important and necessary to take Japanese culture and values seriously in the context in which they actually live. At the same time, we should know that we could be at a risk of losing something important for Christianity.

(7) At the same time, we should know the possibility of theology in Japan or other non-western context could challenge the theology in the western culture. The challenge could deepen the understanding of the Gospel from a different perspective from that of the west.

These seven points are just a kind of memo for further study. These particular viewpoints come from the theology in Japan, but could contribute to theology in Asia, and also in the different context from the west. At least, I hope this presentation will be useful for dialogue in this conference.