Journal: Trinity Journal
Volume: TRINJ 21:1 (Spring 2000)
Article: The Cross And The Cherry Blossom: The Gospel And Japanese Culture At A Crossroads
Author: Tadataka Maruyama

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TrinJ 21:1 (Spring 2000) p. 45

The Cross And The Cherry Blossom:
The Gospel And Japanese Culture At A Crossroads

Tadataka Maruyama

Tadataka Maruyama of Tokyo Christian University presented this paper at The Kane Lectures at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, January 26–27, 1999. Special thanks to Dr. Harold Netland of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School who assisted in the editing of this article.

In recent decades much attention has been given to the issue of the relation between the gospel of Jesus Christ and particular cultures. Whereas missiology has traditionally addressed the question in terms of the gospel and non-Western cultures, the late Bishop Lesslie Newbigin and others have pressed the urgency of the issue for European and North American cultures as well.1 But issues of gospel and culture have always been significant for Christians in Japan, since Christianity was introduced to Japan from the outside as a foreign religion and thus has had a somewhat uneasy relationship with Japanese culture. In this essay I wish to explore some aspects of this through a comparison of two powerful symbols—the cross and the cherry blossom. But two points should be noted briefly at the outset.

First, we should observe that there is a subtle but significant difference between the West and Japan in the language typically used to articulate the problem. In the West it is customary to speak of the problems of “Church and State,” “Christianity and Society,” and “Christianity and Culture.” But when the same topic is discussed in Japan it will likely be expressed in terms of “Japan and Christianity” or “Japanese Culture and Christianity,” so that the subject is Japan and its object is Christianity. This tendency is natural and quite understandable, for it is Japan which receives Christianity as a foreign religion. However, the difference here is of more than merely linguistic significance, for it illustrates part of the missiological challenges of Japan. A biblical understanding of gospel and culture will begin with the scriptural portrayal of God as the creator of the universe, the gospel as the good news for the entire world, and Christians as the commissioned witnesses to the nations. In other words, the biblical view starts with God’s commission and

TrinJ 21:1 (Spring 2000) p. 46

proceeds to the reception by nations, a perspective which might conflict with the typical Japanese tendency to speak in terms of “Japan and Christianity.” In this light, I have chosen to speak about “The Cross and the Cherry Blossom” rather than “The Cherry Blossom and the Cross.”

Second, we should note that any Christian, whether he or she be a mi...

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