This thesis aims to show how Hauerwas's ecclesiology, especially its critique of Constantinianism and liberal politics, offers a biblically defensible and christianly faithful way of being a church for the churches of the developed world, including Japan. The first part (Ch. 1-5) outlines a definition of the term Constantinianism as well as Hauerwas's counter-Constantinian theology. It clarifies one of the most frequently used terms by Stanley Hauerwas, Constantinianism, and sets out his counter-Constantinian ecclesiology (Ch. 1-4). Chapter five defends his position from one of its central critics and of the most ardent and robust Constantinian proponents, Peter Leithart, by showing how the kind of theology that pursues power and control in the world must do so by bypassing Jesus' servanthood as revealed in his death on the cross, and how this elision clouds the eyes of Christians and entices the church to renounce her obedience and faithfulness to her Lord for securing a safe haven for her in this world. The second half of the dissertation (Ch. 6-9) deploys these theological considerations in order to analyze Japanese Christianity and suggest that there are strong cultural trajectories named basso ostinato by Maruyama Masao that render Japanese churches especially vulnerable to Constantinian temptation. The concise Christian history narrated in Ch. 7-9 substantiates the relevancy of Maruyama's analysis and reveals how the Japanese church was turned into a docile servant of the Empire of Japan with merging the Lordship of Jesus Christ with that of tennō, the kingdom of God with the tennō's empire. I conclude that Hauerwas's warnings about Constantinianism remain pertinent today in reminding the Japanese church, along with all the churches of the developed world, that the business of the church is the creation of a new people who live out the politics of Jesus.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:707498 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Tsukada, John Jutaro |
| Publisher | University of Aberdeen |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=231632 |
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