Tag: Japan

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Love Unrelenting: documentary and video channel

About a year ago, Steven HAuse interviewed me at Universalist National Memorial Church as part of his project to make a documentary — Love Unrelenting — about the theology and history of universal salvation. He gave me a head’s-up when he separately published the clips that didn’t fit into the documentary and then the film itself. But being sensitive about how I sound and look on video, and knowing that I would be sharing airtime with some of the leading figures of a revived universalist work, I just couldn’t watch it.

But I owed it to him to watch it, and used the cold weather to pull it up on YouTube; I’m glad I did. HAute set out the three usual Christian doctrines of human destiny: the “traditional option” eternal conscious torment, conditional immortality (also know as annihilationism) and universal reconciliation, and let proponents of each speak from their convictions. But the goal was to highlight universal reconciliation and so wrestled with the biblical, theological and ethical dimensions, introducing them in an approachable manner.

The audience is not Unitarian Universalists, or even our remaining Universalist Christians, but potential members of new generation of believers in universal reconciliation, many of whom come out of Evangelical backgrounds, and may or may not be interested in particular Universalist churches. (None I’ve seen express an interest in the UUA, and they often make the point to distinguish themselves from it.) The arguments and approaches are very familiar to any student of pre-1920s Universalism, which makes perfect sense as so many of those long-past Universalists would have walked the same path. Plus, it’s heartening to me to hear the same affirmations that God has both the desire and the power to save all; it can be lonely in this part of the vineyard. Like Simeon (today’s lectionary gospel), I know that this hope will never perish.

Also, I was cheered to see friends, colleagues, a seminary mate (not then universalist) and others I’ve corresponded with over the years. I saw for the first time footage and interviews from the Doujin (Dojin) Christian Church, Tokyo (Japanese language site): the last survivor of the Universalist Japan mission. In the extra clips, I saw for the first time video and interviews with Primitive Baptist Universalists. I am so happy and cheered. HAuse has made an incredible document; you should subscribe to his channel and watch these videos.

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A (sad) reminder of faith from Japan

Like many of you, I’ve been watching video of the tsumami that destroyed towns in northeastern Japan, and have been stunned by the immensity and power of the water. Pray for the people; their anguish will last a long time.

The loss of life is devastating and the lost will be mourned. More than 11,000 have been confirmed dead. Perhaps it seems in poor taste to recall the houses, vehicles, businesses and whole towns lost, but walk with me. First, they will be bitterly missed by those who lived a long time in those communities, and especially by those who depended on the security of a home and have no equal resources. So, too, as we age, it’s hard not to think about the items, places and thing we’ll leave behind: these are our visible legacy, and tied up with the idea of “leaving the world better than I found it.” The houses, street life and communities washed away destroyed the accomplishment of generations that died long before the earthquake and tsunami. Time and fortune are the great destroyers.

As a Christian, and a Protestant at that, it’s hard not to think about what has been lost in the faith but, unlike a natural disaster, the losses are of our own making. To try and overcome the errors and abuses in the middle ages, Protestants have developed a particular attitude towards it. In short, remove anything that stands between us and an imagined, pure, undivided Apostolic Age. For many low-church Protestants, God revealed all that was necessary for salvation in the scripture, and then has been curiously mute since. Or perhaps God is heard to speak, but centuries of Christians past are thought corrupt, superstitious and untrustworthy. Few would say as much, but the implication is there when “the truth” is carefully traced through a particular line down the ages. Universalists, too, have been guilty of this.

But our tradition also offers some ways, here in the form of question, to make some sense of the enormous and ambiguous past. (I’m thinking of the touching stories of “memorabilia” hunters who glean the ravaged areas for photos and other irreplaceable artifacts.) First, does the thrust of a particular Christian community honor God’s love and glory, or obscure God’s being? Next, do the virtues cultivated in a particular Christian community lead to happier and richer lives in its members, and non-members nearby? Also, is a particular Christian community able to allow predictable — it need not be limitless — spectrum of views without coercing minority opinions? And, last for now, does a particular Christian community value a reasonable and practical approaches to measuring claims to truth? With these ways in mind, it’s possible to step back and now ask: what guideposts should we first put back up? what lost homes restored?

(As for Japan: keep up with the news at NHK World.)

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Is this the Dojin Christian Church in Tokyo?

Can anyone tell if this is the Dojin (Universalist) Christian Church, in Tokyo? There’s been so little contact between this one-time foreign mission — long independent — and Universalists in the United States, with a language barrier (and I bet a theological barrier) long in evidence.

The known church address is 3-10-9 Mejirodai, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 166-0012. I don’t read any Japanese and would appreciate the help of anyone who can, or — better still — from someone who has visited the church.
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Book on the Japanese Universalists

The Universalist Japanese mission is one of those episodes in denominational history that perplexes those who might be interested in it. It flourished through the twenties, barely survived the War (I gather) but a single congregation of it — the Doojin Christian Church, Tokyo (no Web site) — remains today.

There’s little one can read about it, but aha! I found 1890-1915: twenty five years of the Universalist Japan mission for download at Archive.org that fills in some details. Go thou and download.

And use it to prepare something for Japan Sunday in November (or not.)