More on Uchimura Kanzo.

Kanzo published "Tokyo Independent Magazine" from June 1898 to July 1900. He criticized the corruption, mammonism, narrow-minded patriotism and imperialism of Japan's upper echelon of society and that of a government that was deeply influenced by the Samurai system, the army and the wealthy aristocracy. He was an advocate of freedom, equality, high ethics and morals, and made friends with many common people, such as farmers, fishermen, merchants and rikisha drivers.

Gutsy for those times.

And I thought this was kind of entertaining. His first trip to America in the late 19th century. He had learned English by reading Christian literature, and the only white folk he had ever met were missionaries, so he was expecting something akin to the promised land. But...

Yes, Hebraism in one sense at least I found to be a common form of speech in America. First of all, everybody has a Hebrew name, and even horses are christened there. The words which we have never pronounced without the sense of extreme awe and reverence are upon the lips of workmen, carriage-drivers, shoe-blacks, and others of more respectable occupations. Every little offence is accompanied by a religious oath of some kind. In a hotel-parlor we asked a respectable-looking gentleman how he liked the new president-elect (Cleveland), and his emphatic answer was strongly Hebraic. "By G-" he said, "I tell you he is a devil." The gentleman was afterward known to be a staunch Republican. We started in an emigrant train toward the East, and when the car stopped with a jerk so that we were almost thrown out of our seats, one of our fellow-passengers expressed his vexations with another Hebraism, "J- Ch-," and accompanied it with a stamping. And so forth. All these were of course utterly strange to our ears. Soon I was able to discover the deep profanity that lay at the bottom of all these Hebraisms, and I took them as open violations of the Third Commandment, of whose special use and significance I have never been able to comprehend thus far, but now for the first time, was taught with "living examples."

So universal is the use of religious terms in every-day speech of the American people, that a story is told of a French immigrant who carried an English-French dictionary in his pocket, to which he referred for every English word that he heard from the very beginning of his departure from Havre. On his landing at the Philadelphia wharf, the commonest word that he heard the people spoke was "damn-devil." He at once went to his dictionary, but failing to find such a word therein, he threw it away, thinking that a dictionary that did not contain so common a word must be of no further use to him in America.

The report that money was the almighty power in America was corroborated by many of our actual experiences. Immediately after our arrival at San Francisco, our faith in "Christian civilization" was severely tested by a disaster that befell one of our numbers. He was pick-pocketed of a purse that contained a five-dollar-gold piece! "Pick-pocket-ing in Christendom as in Pagandom," we cautioned to each other; and while in dismay and confusion we were consoling our robbed brother, an elderly lady, who afterward told us that she believed in the universal salvation of mankind, good as well as bad, took our misfortune heavily upon her heart, and warned us of further dangers, as pick-pocketing, burglary-ing, high-way-ing, and all other transgressions of the sinful humanity were not unknown in her land as well. We did only wish, however, that that crank who despoiled us of that precious five-dollar-piece would never go to heaven, but be really damned in everlasting hell-fire...

He founded the Mukyokai, the non-church movement in Japan. Sounds a lot like Japan's original Christian anarchist:

Non-Church Christians are known in Japan particularly for their uncompromising stand against social evils. Because they are not part of a religious institution, they are not concerned with institutional survival during times of turmoil and therefore feel free as individuals to speak out against moral and political corruption. They have maintained their spiritual and theistic perspective against the invading forces of materialism since the Meiji Era.

I remember when I came to Japan around five years ago, a lot of people hadn't even heard of email. But now, I go to a internet shop like this and pay two bucks an hour. And they let you watch DVD's or whatever you want in these little rooms. I tell ya, these folks are all about catching up...

Politics trumps Morality

... John Stewart and the Daily Show are still cracking me up. God bless them for streaming it on the internet...

Study: Stretching Doesn't Prevent Injuries

... settling an argument...

WWII bomb disposed of in Nagoya, 2,600 evacuated

Sunday, March 28, 2004 at 12:40 JST
NAGOYA — About 2,600 Nagoya residents were evacuated Sunday morning as a Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) unit disposed of an unexploded bomb apparently dropped by the U.S. military during World War II.

The bomb squad defused the 1-ton bomb, which was about 180 centimeters long and roughly 60 cm in diameter, GSDF officials said. It contained about 500 kilograms of explosives. (Kyodo News)

This looks interesting. Try before you buy music. Think I will give it a try.

Lots of new pictures from Hiroshima...

Tonight one of my students was talking about a well-known Japanese Christian who he deeply respected, Uchimura Kanzo. So I googled him and, well, looks like he might be my kinda guy:

He became concerned for the poor and handicapped, concerns which would stick with him through life. Back in Japan, he shied away from formal church settings, preferring what he called the "non-church." Believers need each other, yes, but not necessarily in the context of a brick or wood sanctuary.

Uchimura's confession of Christ cost him several jobs that he took rather than accept mission funds. He edited a Christian magazine of Bible studies, took a pacifist stand in the Japanese war with Russia, outraging his homeland. For years he preached to 500 or more people in a rented hall. His endeavors in behalf of the poor the suffering, and small nations won him worldwide recognition. Among his many books was How I Became a Christian. As a teacher, he influenced an entire generation of Japanese intellectuals, some of whom became Bible readers if not Christians.

He sounds a bit like a Japanese Kirkegaard...

Another renowned Japanese Christian I have come across, Kagawa Toyohiko, had some very similar elements in his biography. If these are the heroes of Japanese Christianity, Lord, I think you sent me to the right place.

For Kagawa, the cross symbolized the power of the love of Christ and the power of suffering for righteousness' sake. That is why he chose Japan's worst slums as his field of labor and lived among those he sought to help. Kagawa was not highly regarded in theological circles in Japan. Here is his own explanation. "There are theologians, preachers and religious leaders, not a few, who think that the essential thing about Christianity is to clothe Christ with forms and formulas. They look with disdain upon those who actually follow Christ and toil and moil, motivated by brotherly love and passion to serve. . .They conceive pulpit religion to be much more refined than movements for the actual realizations of brotherly love among men. . .The religion Jesus taught was diametrically the opposite of this. He set up no definitions about God, but taught the actual practical practice of love."

I like to read on the train, and recently I read mostly Japanese history. I know that reveals a bit of a nerdy tendency in me but hey, some people are fascinated by John Grisham, I am fascinated by history. So sue me.

Anyway, about two months ago, I had decided that all my train reading would be dedicated to studying Japanese. I am at stage of ability in Japanese that allows friendships to be built, but only in spite of embarrassingly poor Japanese. But it is a funny thing how a person can have so much motivation to read one thing that so many people find boring (history) while being unable to muster any focus for language learning. I read history because I just flat out like it; I can relax and enjoy it. Japanese I only learn because it is the path to communication with people I wish I knew better. If I could just download it into my brain and skip the learning process I very would.

So yesterday in Hiroshima I changed my mind. I quit with the only-Japanese-study-on-the-train bit, because I think the one helps the other along, makes it feel less like a chore.

So for those who care, you can likely expect a few history related posts...

Went to the Hiroshima Peace Museum on the weekend...



Masatada Asaeda

3rd Grade Student in 1945

When we were playing in the school ground, an airplane came, but we kept on playing, only saying "Why did they give the all-clear?" All of a sudden, there was something like lightening and I covered my face with my hands. When I opened my eyes and looked around, it was dark and I couldn't see anything. While I was feeling around in the darkness, it became light. I was thinking of going home, and I found that all the houses around me had been destroyed and fires were burning here and there.

I started running home, crying and calling, "Mother! Mother!" But I couldn't tell where my house had been. I just went around this way and that, and then I heard my sister calling my name. I was shocked when I saw her, because she was stained with blood all over. I looked at myself; the skin of both my arms and feet had peeled away and was hanging off. I didn't know what all this meant, and I was frightened, so I burst into tears. Meanwhile, Mother had crawled out from the pile of tiles and dragged an overcoat and Father's cloak out of a trunk and wrapped us in them.

We spent the night in Yasu Shrine in Gion. Because of their burns, everyone was crying for water all night. The next morning, we were taken by truck to a Buddhist temple in Kabe. That night, my sister died. How can I describe Mother's grief? How can I describe the horrible scenes I saw in the temple then? Who can imagine the miseries we went through except those who were there themselves? It is entirely beyond my power to put the terrible sight into words. Countless people suffering from burns and wounds, groaning with pain, their bodies covered with maggots, and dying in delirium, one after another. It was hell on earth.

Walking through the museum, I couldn't help but think, wow, this is how the "good guys" fight a war. If there was any doubt, this place helps to drive home the point that there are no good guys in war.

Hmmm. This article gives a pretty clear picture of what it means to be kingdom people living within various other kingdoms:

Politics per se are not the church's business. The church is not to preoccupy itself with results. It has not even to practice "pacifism," that is, reject arms with the object of stopping war. No, God expects only one thing of it: that it walk in obedience to the gospel, refusing violence in whatever form because of that obedience, without concerning itself with the consequences, good or bad, that such refusal may involve. Such faith puts into practice the justice that marks God's kingdom. The church's business is not to establish peace between the nations, but to bear witness to the love of God, to live in his peace and righteousness...

One might well imagine a scene at the Last Judgment, before the throne of God. There, side by side in the dock, are the state and the church. God addresses the state first, demanding an account of its crimes: "Why did you tolerate the exploitation of the poor? Why have you oppressed, persecuted, tortured, and murdered? Why did you make war on other nations, devastating their cities and killing by the millions?" The state will bow its head, knowing it has sinned, and will ask for pardon. It will also plead an extenuating circumstance. "The church here," it will argue, "never translated your commandments into practical deeds. It never prophesied or showed the way. Instead it became rich. It became an institution where earthly concerns tempered its zeal. It collaborated with me and gave me its blessing. It was because of its blindness that I went astray. I accept your judgment, but also ask that the church be more severely condemned."

Then God will turn to the church and say, "Why did you say nothing when you saw the rich in your midst exploiting the people? Why did you pretend not to know what the state was doing, how it was oppressing, imprisoning, and torturing? Why did your members take part in its wars? It was not your part to be the soldier's foot, the hand or the brain of the nuclear technician, the arm of the artilleryman or the pilot, but the clear-sighted eye, alert and ready to give the body of the state warning of the abyss toward which it was moving."

God will not relent. "You were my chosen one, but you have renounced your vocation. You were charged with a special mission, but you cast it aside. Like Jonah, it was your fault that the storm broke loose and the ship almost foundered. If Jonah had not repented, Nineveh would not have heard his message, would not have repented, and would have been destroyed. Now you have not followed Jonah on the path of repentance, and because of you I am obliged to condemn the state..."

I have been reading around different places about the emerging church etc etc but not posting any opinions here. That is because I am undecided on the value of the blogosphere discussion regarding such things. Does the conversation move beyond the high response, hot-button issues toward more depth, honesty, and substance? I think we are waiting to find out.

One thing I have found valuable, and perhaps does move things in a good direction, are the email conversations that can result from all the heat generated. I have had a few good ones. And in an email you can take a few more risks in what you express without it blowing up in hurt and misunderstanding so easily. Because part of clear thinking, I think, is being able to say risky things that you are not even sure you agree with 100% yourself; you need to be able explore avenues of alternative thinking, see where they go, and have the option of turning back if the road turns out to be a bad one. But in a very public forum, that is very rarely a safe thing to do.

Anyway, the one question that my surfing of emerging-type blogs raises in my head, in conjunction with some stuff going on here recently, is the one of the need to name and label ourselves. I am chewing on whether or not it is a positive thing or not, and leaning toward not. It is the old argument of function vs. position. We seem to want to give ourselves a name to define what we are rather than acting out our most important values, and letting that define who we are. If we are too quick to give ourselves a name, don't we risk erecting a facade that in reality has not very much to back it up?

A friend of mine used to say, "beware the prophet who calls himself a prophet". That kind of captures it. Even the early Christians didn't attach the label to themselves; they were given it by the people who were around them watching.

To the point. A quote from a book by J. Denny Weaver, and a story from Hauerwas:

Influenced by Lindbeck, Hauerwas argued that it is not the case that we develop a theology, and then move on to develop the ethical implications of that theology. On the contrary, ethics, or the way one lives, gives expression to the ultimate values, that is, the theology to which one is readily committed. Hauerwas related the oft-repeated legendary story of a resident of Shipshewana, Indiana who was confronted by an evangelist and asked if he was saved. After some thought, the farmer wrote out a list of ten people who knew him. The man suggested that the evangelist ask these people whether he was saved, since he would not presume to answer for himself.

The point is that Christian faith is lived, and that theology emerges as the Christian community's reflections on what it means to live under the reign of God...

Continuing with my committment to annoying Rob, I will be posting this quote with no commentary:

Where was God on the 11th September ? Why did he allow these terrible events to happen to innocent people?

This is of course a variation on a much bigger and well known question of the same form. It implies, of course, that it's God's job to step in and stop people doing radically wicked and inhumane things; and, since we know about the Holocaust etc., we know that this isn't in fact how God works. Actually, most of us wouldn't want to live in a world like that, since it would mean that every time we were exercising our free choice in a way which went even a little against God's will he would put up an invisible wall to prevent us doing so. That would make us puppets, not people.

In fact, of course, people inother parts of the world have been asking Britain, America, Japan etc. for the last fifty years: why doesn't God step in and stop the wicked exploitation we suffer from the North and West? Why does God allow us to get hooked into massive unpayable debt? Why are our fisheries being destroyed by global pollution? As soon as we ask those questions we see that there are uncomfortable answers coming from a quite different angle.

Of course, in relation to Sept 11 and every other asking of this kind of question, the greatest biblical answers are:

a. the book of Job: no easy answer, just a fresh and bigger revelation of the true God;

b. the death of Jesus: God taking the very worst that inhuman humans can do, taking it upon himself, exhausting its force and power. Somehow as Christians we are bidden to see these awful, terrible events in the light of those two texts.

Tom Wright answering various questions.

People tend to think of nonviolence as a choice between using force and doing nothing. But for Jesus, the real choice takes place at another level. Nonviolence is less a matter of "not killing" and more a matter of showing compassion, of saving and redeeming, of being a healing community. One must choose between doing good to the person placed in one's path, or the evil which one might be doing by mere abstention. For Jesus, there is no no-man's-land, enabling us to portion our attitudes, to do a little good to our neighbor without taking the risk of becoming involved for his sake, or to do him a little harm while still remaining charitable... To do good is to save a person; not to do him good is to kill him. To save someone is to restore that person physically, socially, and spiritually. To neglect and postpone this restoration is already to kill.

Another reason to use that xml newsreader I was talking about earlier. I found this daily minute thing from the Bruderhof. A fantastic little meditation. I need something just like this...

"vampire Christians." "They only have use for Christ's blood, but not for Him."

I have mixed feelings when I hear of more talking being done at more conferences, but hey, sounds like they are talking about some good stuff ... I should just chill...