{"product_id":"authority-and-obedience","title":"Authority and Obedience","description":"Despite famously small numbers, Christians have had a distinctive presence in modern Japan, particularly for their witness on behalf of democracy and religious freedom. A translation of \u003ci\u003eKen’i to Fukujū: Kindai Nihon ni okeru Rōma-sho Jūsan-sho\u003c\/i\u003e (2003), \u003ci\u003eAuthority and Obedience\u003c\/i\u003e is «a personal pre-history» of the postwar generation of Japanese Christian intellectuals deeply committed to democracy. Using Japanese Christians’ commentary on Paul’s injunction in Romans 13: 1-7, the counsel to «let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God…», Miyata offers an intellectual history of how Japanese Christians understood the emperor-focused modern state from the time of the first Protestant missionaries in the mid-nineteenth century through the climax and demise of fascism during the Pacific War. Stressing verse 5’s admonition to «conscience» as the reason for obedience, Miyata provides a clear and political perspective grounded in his lifelong engagement with German political thought and theology, particularly that of Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as he calls for a conscientious citizenry in his modern society. Showing both Christians’ complicity with the state and the empire – including the formation of a unified church, the Nihon Kirisuto Kyōdan – and their attitude toward Christians in Asia, and the complexity of the critical voices of Christians like Uchimura Kanzō, Kashiwagi Gien, Nanbara Shigeru, and many others less well known – Miyata’s work aims not at exposing cultural particularity but at showing how the modern Japanese Christian experience can give meaning to a theology and a political theory of how to live within the «freedom of religious belief».","brand":"Peter Lang Publishing Inc","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54223688106328,"sku":"9781433106798","price":86.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9781433106798.jpg?v=1779162345","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/authority-and-obedience","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}