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viii, 169 p. / The Jesuit mission to Japan (1549-1639) has long attracted the attention of historians because it coincided with a number of developments in Japanese history: increasing contact with Western powers, political reunification, and the transition to early modernity. However, few historians have placed the Jesuit mission in the wider context of Christianization, a process that many different peoples and cultures globally experienced during the premodern and early modern periods. This study examines Japan's participation in the world-historical process of Christianization during the first thirty years of the Jesuit apostolate. Making extensive use of Jesuit documents written between 1548 and 1561, this study demonstrates how the Japanese of the sixteenth century experienced Christianization and how that experience connected them to other missionized peoples and cultures across time and space. / Committee in charge: Jeffrey Hanes, Chairperson; Andrew Goble, Member; Robert Haskett, Member / 10000-01-01

This thesis explores the history of Christianity and conversion to it in 16th and 17th Century Japan. It argues that conversion is a complex phenomenon which happened for a variety of reasons. Furthermore, it argues that due to the political context and limitations acting upon the mission, the majority of conversions in 16th and 17th Century Japan lacked an element of epistemological change (classically understood). The first chapter explores theories of conversion suggesting that conversion in 16th and 17th Century Japan included sorts of religious change not usually encapsulated in the term conversion including adhesion, communal and forced conversion. Moreover, it argues that contextual factors are the most important factors in religious change. The second chapter explores political context contending that it was the political environment of Japan that ultimately decided whether conversion was possible. This chapter charts the evolution of the Japanese context as it became more hostile toward Christianity. In the third chapter, the context of the mission is explored. It is argued that limitations acting upon the mission shaped post-conversion faith, so that changes to practice and ritual rather than belief became the mark of a successful conversion. The fourth chapter explores methods of conversion, the factors influencing it, and post-conversion faith more directly. It argues that Christianity spread primarily through social networks, but that conversion was also influenced by economic incentive, other realworld benefits, and Christianity's perceived efficacy. Building on Chapter Three, the final chapter also seeks to illustrate that the missionaries were not successful in their attempts to spur epistemological change or instil a detailed knowledge of theology or doctrine amongst their converts.