Japan's Modern Prophet
Uchimura Kanzô, 1861-1930
Format:Paperback
Publisher:University of British Columbia Press
Published:1st Jan '06
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Uchimura Kanzô was one of Japan’s foremost thinkers, whose ideasinfluenced contemporary novelists, statesmen, reformers, and religiousleaders. He lived at a time of increasing modernization and rapidsocial change. Known as the originator and proponent of a particularly"Japanese" form of Christianity known as mukyôkai, Uchimurastruggled with the tensions between his love for the homeland and hislove for God. Articulate, prolific, passionate, and profound, he earneda reputation as the most consistent critic of his society and the mostknowledgeable Japanese interpreter of Christianity and its Bible. Inaddition to teaching and giving public lectures, he wrote numerousbooks and articles -- in both English and Japanese -- edited newspapersand periodicals, and founded several magazines. Through the prism ofthis exceptional man’s life, John Howes charts, in this tour deforce, what it meant to live during the introduction of Christianity toJapan.
This huge, ambitious study is the final product of 50 years of research and reflection, and should become an indispensable first reference for anyone seeking detailed information in English about Uchimura. A welcome addition to the fast-growing body of valuable new writing on Japan. -- C.L. Yates, Earlham College * Choice *
In researching this masterful work, Howes delved deeply into Uchimura’s writings, diaries and letters in order to portray his subject as a passionate yet conflicted man influenced as much by internal pressures as he was by external forces ... With this book, Howes has made an important and detailed contribution to our understanding of Japanese Christians in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. -- Jeff Alexander, the University of British Columbia * Pacific Affairs, vol. 78, no. 4, winter 2005/2006 *
This long-awaited critical biography of Uchimura, by John Howes, professor emeritus of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia, represents over fifty years of dedicated study ... The book is skillfully structure, enabling Howes to link his sensitive analysis of Uchimura’s intellectual development to the major events in his life and the world around him. -- Helen Ballhatchet, Keio University, Tokyo * International Bulletin of Missionary Research, vol. 30, no. 3, July 2006 *
- Winner of Canada-Japan Literary Award, Canada Council for the Arts 2006 (Canada)
- Winner of Outstanding Academic Title, Choice Magazine 2006 (United States)
ISBN: 9780774811460
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 640g
464 pages