著者

武田 清子

出版者

国際基督教大学

雑誌

国際基督教大学学報. I-A, 教育研究 (ISSN:04523318)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.3, pp.22-79, 1956-12

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Since Meiji Restoration the Emperor system was re-established and re-emphasized by the government along the line of the national policy to establish the absolute monarchy, and in order to mold the Japanese people as the obedient subjects of the Emperor, education was nationally organized under the authority of the Imperial Rescript on Education of 1890. Thus for the majority of the people the Emperor system has become not merely a political system but a kind of idol or absolute authority which gives the centre of value and meaning of life, and has determined the way of thought and the nature of personality development. Through the history of Protestantism in Japan, for Christianity the Emperor system has been one of the most serious obstacles to penetrate into the heart of the Japanese culture. Even the Christians themselves have been often tainted by this earthly authoriity in their way of thought and attitude towards community or national life, though at this point many felt contradiction and were impelled to struggle. Therefore how the Japanese Christians have struggled with and found solution to this problem is one of the crucial points in examining the nature and problem of their thinking. In order to examine this question I prepared questionnaire on this subject and asked about 200 the Japanese Christians of all generations (from those who were born in the early part of Meiji period to the post-war generation) and of various kinds of profession to answer. Fortunataly there was a very good response, and I recieved both answers to the questionnaire and the general remarks and opinions on Emperor system. Besides this I had personal interviews with some outstanding Christian leaders and common church members. The present paper is an analysis of the ideal types of the way of thought of the Japanese Christians with the use of these materials. Three general types were distinguished: (1) Traditional affirmative type (2) Co-existential type (a) Affirmative type with Christianity as medium (b) Negative type with Christianity as medium (3) Confrontational negative type.