Protestantism in Japan is the largest Christian movement in the country. According to the Pew Research Center in 2010, 910 thousand Protestants lived in Japan, which made up 0.7% of the population of this country [1] . There are other estimates; So in the reference publication Operation Peace contains information about 929 thousand Protestants, Anglicans and parishioners of independent churches [2] . According to the "Encyclopedia of Religions" by J. G. Melton, in 2010 in Japan there were 1.177 million traditional Protestants and believers of independent churches [3] .
In 2010, 10.9 thousand Protestant parishes operated in Japan. Organizationally, Japanese Protestants are united in 193 unions (including the Anglican and associations of independent churches) [2] .
Ethnically, most Protestants in this mono-ethnic country are Japanese . There are many Protestants among the Japanese-Brazilians, Koreans , Chinese, and Filipinos living in Japan. More than half of the Americans and British living in Japan are also protestants.
Historical Review
The first Christian missionary in Japan is considered the Jesuit Francis Xavier , personally sent to the mission by Ignatius de Loyola . Francis Xavier, often called the "Apostle of Asia," became the first bishop of Japan. As a result of the vigorous activity of the Portuguese and Spanish missionaries, by the beginning of the XVII century. the number converted to Catholicism reached several hundred thousand people. In 1614, the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu issued decrees prohibiting the Christian religion, in 1639 the practice of Christianity was finally banned. The Christian community, subjected to persecution and persecution, ceased its organized existence.
19th Century Protestantism in Japan
In 1854, with the signing of the Kanagawa Treaty between Japan and Matthew Perry , representing the United States, voluntary isolation of Japan was terminated. In 1858, an agreement signed with Japan by Townsend Harris provided for the possibility of opening Christian churches in the country. The first to seize the opportunity were Anglicans , Presbyterians, and Reformats . So, already in 1859 the missionaries of the United States Episcopal Church (Rev. John Liggins and Channing Moore Williams), the Presbyterian Church in the USA (James Hepburn), the Reformed Church of America (Guido Verbeck) and the Dutch Reformed Church (S. R. Brown) arrived in Japan. . They began translating the Bible and other religious literature into Japanese and devised their first strategies for penetrating closed Japanese culture. In 1869, the Congregationalists joined them. The first decade of Protestant activity was limited to the cities of Yokohama and Nagasaki . In 1872, the first Protestant (Reformed) temple was built in Yokohama. In 1876, the communities created by American Presbyterians, Dutch Reformed and Scottish Presbyterians united into a single organization [4] . In an attempt to prevent denominational divisions in Japan, the first groups of converts united into communities that were simply called the "Church of Christ." In 1877, the first united Protestant seminary was opened, many churches created hospitals, schools, orphanages.
Back in 1854, on one of the ships of Commodore Matthew Perry who visited Japan, Baptist Jonathan Scobie served as a sailor. Scooby returned to Japan in 1860 and served here for over 10 years with the support of the American Baptist Free Missionary Society. In 1873, another Baptist missionary Nathan Brown opened the country's first Baptist church in Yokohama; three years later, a Baptist church appeared in Tokyo. In 1884, a Baptist theological school began to function in Yokohama. At a mission conference in 1890, most Baptist communities united into the Japan Baptist Union. Since 1889, Southern Baptists have served in the country; their activities led to the creation of the Japan Baptist Convention in 1947. After the Second World War, a number of American Baptist organizations sent their missionaries to Japan, which led to the creation of a number of new Baptist unions [5] .
Since 1878, the Methodists began missionary work in the country. In 1884, a Quaker missionary couple, Joseph and Sarah Kosand, arrived in Japan [6] .
In 1889, the Adventist preacher Abram La Rue visited Yokohama and Kobe. When Stephen Haskell visited Japan the following year, he found several people interested in the Sabbath questions and baptized one person. In 1896, the first permanent Adventist missionaries arrived in the country - W. Granger and Teruhiko Okohira, a Japanese emigrant to the United States. Missionaries opened a Bible school in Tokyo. In 1899, 25 believers organized the first Adventist church. In 1917, Adventist churches organized the Japanese Conference of Churches [7] .
On Palm Sunday in 1893, the American Lutherans held their first service in the city of Saga . Later, Lutherans from Denmark and Finland joined them, and in 1900 the first Lutheran church was built in the Saga. In 1922, the Lutheran ministry took shape in the creation of the Japanese Evangelical Lutheran Church. After the Second World War, other Lutheran unions were created in the country - the Japanese Lutheran Church (1948, associated with the Missouri Synod ), the Japanese Lutheran Brotherhood Church (1949), the Western Japanese Evangelical Lutheran Church (1949). Norwegian Lutheran missionaries deported from China in 1951 moved to the Kinki area and founded the Kinki Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1963.
In 1895, "General" William Booth sent 13 Salvation Army officers to Japan led by Colonel Edward Wright. During the Second World War, the Japanese branch of the Salvation Army was forced to cease foreign contacts; After the war, “Salvationists” was led by team leader Charles Davidson [8] .
By the end of the 19th century, there were 100,000 Protestants in Japan [9] .
Japanese Protestants in the 20th Century
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, three perfectionist churches entered Japan - the Christian and Missionary Alliance (1891) [10] , the Nazarene Church (1905) and the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) (1908) [11] . In 1945, David Tsudata founded the perfectionist mission Emmanuel, which became an independent church.
At the beginning of the XX century, the Japanese Christian K. Yukimura (1861-1930) became the source of the so-called. Out-of-Church Christian Movement. Assuming that Japanese churches make a mistake by copying the theology, liturgy, and order of Western churches, Yukimura created an organization in which there were no pastors and which was run by lay people [12] .
In 1909, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Korea Khan Sok-Po began ministry among the Korean minority (mainly students). In 1934, the ministry took shape in the Korean Christian Church of Japan.
In 1913, Karl Jurgenson and his family moved to Japan and began preaching Pentecostalism . The following year, missionaries of the Assemblies of God arrived in the country. By 1940, the Assemblies of God totaled 15 churches. By this time, several local Pentecostal churches were born in Japan itself - the Glorious Evangelical Christian Church (founded in 1936 by Sugita Kotaro, pastor of the Holiness Movement ), the Church of the Ear of the Living Christ (founded in 1939 by Matsubara Kazuhito, who left the Holiness Movement ), Christian Canaan the church (founded in 1940 by Taniguchi Toku, converted by Plymouth missionaries), the Japanese Church of Christ (founded in 1940 by Koyke Tasuo, who left the Extra-Church Movement) [13] .
The Plymouth brothers established a mission in the country in 1925.
In 1940, the Japanese government, seeking to strengthen control over Christian communities, demanded that Protestants and parishioners of free churches enter the United Church of Christ in Japan . Anglicans , Adventists, and some churches of the Holiness Movement , which refused to unite, were subjected to systematic persecution. In 1946, part of the churches ( Baptists , Lutherans , Pentecostals , etc.) left the association and restored independent unions. At the same time, part of the Presbyterians broke away, creating the Church of Christ in Japan, the Presbyterian Church in Japan and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, as well as some reformers , creating the Reformed Church of Japan.
In 1941, the former pastor of the Assemblies of God, Jun Murai, after familiarizing himself with the Taiwanese communities of the True Jesus Church , renounced Trinitarianism and founded the Church of the Spirit of Jesus. The church significantly departed from classical Pentecostalism, adopted the doctrine of baptism for the dead ; In our days it is usually referred to as independent Protestant marginal denominations or even to new religious movements . After World War II, Pentecostals began to serve in Japan from the churches of the Open Bible (1950), the Quadrilateral Gospel Church (1951), the Church of God (1954), and others. In 1974, a branch of the Full Gospel Church of David Yoong Cho appeared in Tokyo. Since 1982, missionaries of the Church of the Prophecy God have been serving in Japan. At the same time, a number of Pentecostal movements arose in Japan itself - the Holy Church of Jesus (founded in 1946 by Otsuki Takezhi, who left the Holiness Movement ), the Sanctified Church of Christ (founded in 1948 by the Englishman Konmoto Kaopi), the movement of the real (original) Gospel or the Tabernacle of the real Gospel (founded in 1948 by Ikiro Teshima, left the Extra-Church Christian movement), the Japanese Pentecostal Church (1951), the Christian Gospel of Okinawa (founded in 1977 by Nakahara Macao, converted by the Plymouth brothers ) [13] .
In April 1949, the Mennonites Henry and Lydia Tilman arrived in the country. Their ministry resulted in the creation of the Japanese Mennonite fraternal conference. Over the next few years, other employees of various Mennonite organizations arrived in Japan.
In 1960, there were 394 thousand Protestants and 2649 Protestant churches in Japan [14] ; By the beginning of the 1980s, the number of Protestants had grown to 860 thousand. [15]
Statistics
The largest confessional group among Japanese Protestants is Pentecostal (257 thousand [2] ). The number of Pentecostals has grown significantly, in the early 1980s in Japan, there were 20 thousand believers of this denomination [15] . Most Pentecostals are parishioners of numerous local Pentecostal churches, such as the True Gospel movement (10 thousand in 2000 [13] ), the Holy Church of Jesus (8.4 thousand in 2010 [2] ), and the Independent Pentecostal Brotherhood (3.2 thousand in 2000 [16] ), the Christian Canaan Church (2.5 thousand in 2000 [16] ), the Christian Gospel of Okinawa (1.5 thousand in 1991), the Japanese Pentecostal Church (1 thousand in 2000 year [16] ) and other Assemblies of God in the country number 215 churches and 31 thousand parishioners (2010) [2] . The Full Gospel Church reports about 6.8 thousand parishioners (1999) [13] , the Quadrilateral Gospel Church - 1.3 thousand (2000), the Open Bible church - 1 thousand.
Adjacent to Pentecostals is the Church of the Spirit of Jesus, which is classified as an independent marginal Protestant denomination. The church declares 400 thousand believers [9] ; independent sources cite the figure of 125 thousand believers in 624 churches [2] . Perhaps church statistics include data on baptized dead Japanese. In the early 1980s, the church united 37 thousand parishioners [15] .
The largest Protestant union is considered the United Church of Christ in Japan . The church unites the communities of Presbyterians , Reformers , Congregationalists and Methodists . In the mid-1990s, it numbered more than 430 thousand believers [17] , but subsequently the number of its followers significantly decreased (to 196 thousand [18] ). Other Calvinist communities are very small - the Church of Christ in Japan (13 thousand [19] ), the Reformed Church in Japan (9 thousand [20] ), the Korean Christian Church in Japan (7 thousand [21] ), the Presbyterian Church in Japan (3 thousand [22] ), Cumberland Presbyterian Church (2 thousand [23] ).
The total number of Japanese Baptists is 63.2 thousand [24] (38 thousand [15] in the early 1980s). The largest Baptist unions are the Japanese Baptist Convention (326 churches, 35 thousand believers [2] , including 16 thousand baptized members [25] ) and the Japanese Baptist Union (73 churches, 7 thousand believers [2] , including number of 4 thousand baptized members [25] ). The Okinawan Baptist Convention (3.4 thousand members), the Japanese Conservative Baptist Association of Christians (2.6 thousand members) and the Japanese Baptist Conference (0.5 thousand members) also operate in the country [25] .
The Japanese holy Catholic Church , representing the Anglican community in Japan, has 57 thousand parishioners in the country [26] . In the early 1980s, this church united 55 thousand supporters [15] .
The out-of-church Christian movement has 47.3 thousand believers and 751 parishes [2] . At the peak of its popularity, in the early 1980s, the movement included 50 thousand Christians [15] .
Lutherans (32.6 thousand [27] ) are represented by the Japanese Evangelical Lutheran Church (22 thousand), the Western Japanese Evangelical Lutheran Church (4 thousand), the Kinki Evangelical Lutheran Church (2.7 thousand), and the Japanese Lutheran Church (2 , 7 thousand) and the Japanese Lutheran fraternal church (1.2 thousand) [27] . In the early 1980s, this denomination united 25 thousand believers [15] .
A separate group is represented by the faithful of perfectionist churches. These are the Japanese Church of Holiness (13.5 thousand [2] ), the mission "Emmanuel" (12.3 thousand [2] ), the Nazarene Church (4 thousand [28] ), the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana - 0, 5 thousand [11] ), the Christian and Missionary Alliance (3.5 thousand [10] ).
The largest of the 5 Mennonite organizations (3 thousand baptized members) is the Japanese Mennonite fraternal conference (1.8 thousand members).
Other Protestant communities in Japan are Seventh-day Adventists (17.1 thousand believers, including 15.3 thousand baptized members [29] ), Plymouth brothers (11 thousand), Salvation Army (4 thousand), Disciples of Christ (2.7 thousand), New Apostolic Church [16] . In the country there are 5 meetings of Quakers , uniting 161 people [30] .
Ecumenical Movement
In 1923, the National Christian Council of Japan was created in the country [12] . In 1937, an interfaith Bible society was created to translate and distribute the Bible in Japan. In 1968, the country's evangelical Christians formed the Japanese Evangelical Association. Currently, this association, associated with the World Gospel Alliance, includes more than 100 organizations and churches. Some Japanese Protestant churches are members of the Christian Conference of Asia. Members of the World Council of Churches , in addition to the Japanese Orthodox Church , are 3 Protestant organizations of the country - the Anglican Church in Japan , the Korean Christian Church in Japan and the United Church of Christ in Japan .
Notes
- ↑ Christian Population as Percentages of Total Population by Country (inaccessible link) . Pew Research Center (January 2011). Date of treatment March 15, 2014. Archived January 7, 2012.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Jason Mandryk. Japan // Operation World: The Definitive Prayer Guide to Every Nation . - 7th ed. - InterVarsity Press, 2010 .-- 978 p.
- ↑ Ian Reader. Japan // Religions of the World, Second Edition A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices / J. Gordon Melton , Martin Baumann . - 2nd. - Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO , 2010 .-- P. 1568 .-- 3200 p. - ISBN 978-1-59884-203-6 .
- ↑ Robert Benedetto, Donald K. McKim. Northeast Asia // Historical Dictionary of the Reformed Churches . — Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2009. — P. 340-343. — 790 p. — ISBN 0810870231 .
- ↑ William H. Brackney. Japan // Historical Dictionary of the Baptists . — Scarecrow Press, 2009. — С. 311-312. — 669 с. — ISBN 0810856220 .
- ↑ Margery Post Abbott. East Asia (China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan) // Historical Dictionary of the Friends (Quakers). — Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2011. — P. 107-110. — 592 p. — ISBN 0810870886 .
- ↑ Gary Land. Japan // Historical Dictionary of Seventh-Day Adventists . — Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2005. — P. 152. — 419 p. — ISBN 0810853450 .
- ↑ Nozomi Harita. Japan Territory // Historical dictionary of the Salvation Army . — Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, Incorporated, 2006. — P. 307-310. — 798 p. — ISBN 0-8108-5344-2 .
- ↑ 1 2 Melton JG Japan // Encyclopedia of Protestantism. — New York: Facts On File , Inc., 2005. — P. 305-307. — 628 p. — ISBN 0-8160-5456-8 .
- ↑ 1 2 Japan (Eng.) . The Christian and Missionary Alliance. Date of treatment May 28, 2014.
- ↑ 1 2 Japan (Eng.) . Church of God Global Ministries. Date of treatment May 28, 2014.
- ↑ 1 2 Mitsuo Miyata. Japan // The Encyclopedia of Christianity / Erwin Fahlbusch, Geoffrey William Bromiley. - Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2003 .-- Vol. 3 volume - P. 9-13. - 884 p. - ISBN 0802824153 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 D. Hymes. Japan // New International Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, The / Stanley M. Burgess, Eduard M. Van Der Maas. - Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan; Exp Rev edition, 2002 .-- S. 147-151. - 1328 s. - ISBN 0310224810 .
- ↑ William P. Woodard. A Statistical Survey of Religions in Japan // Contemporary Religions in Japan. - International Institute for the Study of Religions, 1961. - Vol. 2 . - P. 25-106 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Religion in the modern world. Japan // Handbook of an Atheist / S. D. Skazkin . - 9th. - M .: Politizdat , 1987 .-- S. 82-83. - 431 p. - 300,000 copies.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Patrick Johnstone, Jason Mandryk. Japan // Operation World 2001 . - London: Paternoster Publishing, 2001 .-- 798 p. - (Operation World Series). - ISBN 1-8507-8357-8 .
- ↑ United Church of Christ in Japan // / V.A. Tishkov . - M .: Big Russian Encyclopedia, 1998.
- ↑ United Church of Christ in Japan . World Council of Churches. Date of treatment May 28, 2014.
- ↑ Nippon Kirisuto Kyokai . Reformiert online. Date of treatment May 28, 2014.
- ↑ Nippon Kirisuto Kaikakuha Kyokai . Reformiert online. Date of treatment May 28, 2014.
- ↑ Korean Christian Church in Japan . World Council of Churches. Date of treatment May 28, 2014.
- ↑ Nihon Choro Kyokai . Reformiert online. Date of treatment May 28, 2014.
- ↑ Kambarando Choro Kirisuto Kyokai Nihon Chukai . Reformiert online. Date of treatment May 28, 2014.
- ↑ Flavius Raslau. The Baptist World: Part 2: Where are We? (English) (unavailable link) (May 13, 2011). Date of treatment March 15, 2014. Archived May 18, 2013.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Statistics (inaccessible link) . Baptist World Alliance. Date of treatment March 15, 2014. Archived on May 1, 2013.
- ↑ Anglican Church in Japan . World Council of Churches. Date of treatment May 28, 2014.
- ↑ 1 2 2011 World Lutheran Membership Details . Lutheran World Federation (January 15, 2012). Date of treatment March 15, 2014.
- ↑ Statistics by World Area (inaccessible link) . Church of the Nazarene. Date of treatment March 15, 2014. Archived March 10, 2014.
- ↑ Adventist Atlas - Japan . Adventist Atlas. Date of treatment March 15, 2014.
- ↑ Margery Post Abbott. Appendix B. Friends Worldwide: Membership of Yearly Meetings // Historical Dictionary of the Friends (Quakers). - Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2011 .-- P. 393. - 574 p. - ISBN 0810868571 .
Links
- Anglican Church of Japan
- God Assemblies in Japan
- Kinki Evangelical Lutheran Church
- Korean Christian Church in Japan
- National Christian Council in Japan
- Presbyterian Church in Japan
- Reformed Church in Japan
- Christ Church in Japan
- Japanese Baptist Convention
- Japan Evangelical Association
- Japanese Evangelical Lutheran Church
- Japanese Holiness Church
- Japanese bible society
See also
- Christianity in Japan
- Orthodoxy in Japan
- Japanese Baptist Convention
- Anglican Church in Japan
- Japanese bible society