A Free Church in a Free State

Surya Harefa

Description

How does Christ call his people to engage the societies, cultures, and politics of the nations they call home? From prioritizing patriotism over faith to withdrawing from the public sphere entirely, the struggle to navigate the intersection of an earthly and heavenly kingdom remains an ongoing challenge for Christians around the world.
Bridging cultures and time periods, Dr. Surya Harefa brings Abraham’s Kuyper’s ecclesiology to bear on questions of Japanese Christian engagement within the political sphere. Harefa offers a contextually robust exploration of evangelical Japanese approaches to ecclesiology and political involvement. Taking care to place Kuyper’s conception of the church within Kuyper’s own political and historical context, careful lines of application are drawn between Kuyper’s theological perspectives and the need for an active Japanese church engaged in all spheres of life.
This book is an excellent resource for those seeking to equip Christians to engage politically as followers of Christ for the good of the church and their nations. It also provides an example of the rich and powerful insight offered by exploring Western and non-Western theologies within their diverse contexts and in conversation with each other.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Philosophie et théologie
• Christian Church
• History

Informations

• Publié par: Langham Creative Projects
• Date de parution: 30 juin 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781839738883
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

In this groundbreaking book, Surya Harefa shows how Abraham Kuyper’s ecclesiology, rooted in his robust theology of culture, can effectively address the uniquely Japanese understanding of “communal authority” – often seen as an obstacle to the spread of the gospel in Japan. As an additional benefit for those of us in the global neo-Calvinist movement, Harefa provides us with a much-needed wisdom regarding how to bring Kuyper’s thought to non-Eurocentric contexts.
Richard Mouw, PhD
President Emeritus and Senior Professor of Faith and Public Life,
Fuller Theological Seminary, California, USA
Challenged by the political situation in Japan and the anonymous role of Japanese Christians in politics, Surya Harefa proposes in this thorough study of Abraham Kuyper’s ecclesiology to equip Christians in Japan to engage in politics as Christians. By comparing the Dutch situation in which Kuyper developed his ecclesiology and the present Japanese context dominated by Shinto civil religion, he discusses the preference of Japanese Christians for a strict separation of religion and state. Surya disagrees and argues convincingly for another strategy, based on Kuyper’s ecclesiology: by distancing all religions from the state and treating them in an equal way, for the best of a free and flourishing Japanese society.
George Harinck, PhD
Director of the Neo-Calvinism Research Institute (NRI), Kampen
Professor of History, Free University in Amsterdam
Dr. Surya Harefa grew up in Indonesia and had experience studying theology and pastoring churches in Japan. He understands Japanese church history objectively and existentially. Christianity is a minority in Japan, and thus, political involvement is difficult and tends to be defensive. The achievement of this book is showing how Christianity in Japan can have a sound political contribution by applying Kuyper’s ecclesiology.
Yamaguchi Yoichi
President and Professor of Japanese Church History,
Tokyo Christian University, Japan
Although Abraham Kuyper’s ecclesiological perspective was forged in the context of nineteenth-century Dutch Reformed church politics, academic theology, and pastoral ministry, his insights continue to have important resonance. Harefa’s work illustrates the dynamism in Kuyper’s thought, applying it fruitfully in a seemingly unlikely but ultimately entirely appropriate context – contemporary Japan. Harefa’s work is a salutary model of intercultural and constructive theological retrieval, as he carefully examines Kuyper’s thought in its original setting, and with sensitivity and wisdom applies insights gained from this study to the challenges facing Japanese Christians today.
Jordan Ballor, PhD
Kuyper Conference Coordinator and Director of Research,
The Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy
This book by the Indonesian theologian living in Japan, Surya Harefa, fits in with a trend. Notwithstanding that it is surprising at the same time. There is currently worldwide attention on the originally Dutch neo-Calvinist tradition. Abraham Kuyper is the central thinker within that tradition. Non-European evangelicals, in particular, expect his thoughts to provide inspiration to interpret and stimulate their Christian public responsibility. Several studies have been published that link elements of Kuyper’s theology to the context of a specific country. Harefa’s study is part of that nascent tradition because he makes Kuyper’s ecclesiology fertile for the Japanese context.
At the same time, Harefa’s study surprises because it avoids two risks that easily arise. In the first place, he avoids a direct transplantation of Kuyper’s ideas to Japan without sufficient contextual awareness. He shows insight into the character of Kuyper’s activities and thoughts, which are strongly related to the Dutch context. He accurately describes that context. At the same time, he offers a well-informed and instructive analysis of the Japanese context. This strong contextual awareness enables him to draw lessons in a nuanced way from Kuyper’s thinking that can be of value in the Japanese context.
Second, non-Western Christians interested in Kuyper often belong to a relatively large Christian minority or substantial minority in their own country. This often means that they mainly use Kuyper’s thinking to increase the Christian impact on their societies. Then even the risk arises that they will use public and political power to enhance this Christian influence. That causes tension with the priority to the gospel message which first wants to conquer hearts. After all, this has also proven a risk in the Netherlands itself since the secularizing context of the nineteenth century. Because of the number of Christians, then a cultural-Christian bridge between church and society could become possible, especially in former Christian societies of the West but elsewhere too. In Japan, however, Christians form a tiny segment of the population, while the public religion of the country is outspokenly non-Christian. The more cultural-Christian approach of neo-Calvinism would not be appropriate there, nor would it work. Harefa knows how to use Kuyper to equip the Christian public calling in an outspoken minority situation that turns out to be sometimes difficult for or even downright mistrustful of Christianity.
In addition, Harefa’s analysis presents another surprise. While other theologians who reflect on a minority situation often tend to fall back on the church as an institution, Harefa considers Kuyper’s view of the church as an organism to be of value. This emphasis on the church as an organism is usually considered appropriate in contexts where Christianity still has social impact. Harefa, however, shows that the church in Japan is so small and divided institutionally that it would be difficult for it to act effectively publicly. The realization that there are also forms of Christian community that are not directly ecclesial increases the possibilities for this. Here a difference emerges between recent theories for a minority situation that have developed in a Western context that is still Christian, and the views of a theologian who already lives in such a minority context.
In addition to these substantive reasons, I heartily recommend Harefa’s study for its carefulness and clarity. It offers an excellent introduction to Kuyper’s thinking about church and society and is written with momentum and conviction. Not only in Japan but in all contexts, Christians who reflect on their public vocation and Christians who feel related to neo-Calvinism can learn a lot from it.
Ad de Bruijne, PhD
Professor of Ethics and Spirituality,
Theological University of Kampen/Utrecht, Netherlands

© 2023 Surya Harefa
Published 2023 by Langham Monographs
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ISBNs:
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Surya Harefa has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the Author of this work.
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ISBN: 978-1-83973-652-0
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Contents

Cover


Acknowledgments


Chapter 1 Introduction


1.1 Japanese Christians’ Political Engagement and Ecclesiology


1.2 Ecclesiology and Abraham Kuyper


1.3 Appropriating Kuyper’s Ecclesiology into the Japanese Context


1.4 Research Methodology


Chapter 2 Christian Responses to Sociopolitical Issues in Contemporary Japan


2.1 Yasukuni Shrine


2.2 Constitutional Amendment


2.3 The Countermeasures to the 2011 Great Eastern Japan Disaster


Conclusion


Chapter 3 The Context of Japanese Christians’ Political Engagement


3.1 Early Modern Period (Sixteenth to Early Nineteenth Century)


3.2 Imperial Period (1868–1945)


3.3 Post-war Period (1945–present)


Conclusion


Chapter 4 Kuyper’s Concept of the Church


4.1 The Organism-Institution Distinction


4.2 The Believers’ Church


4.3 A Free Church


4.4 The Pluriformity of the Church


Conclusion


Chapter 5 The Context of Kuyper’s Ecclesiology


5.1 The Church Elections


5.2 The School Struggle


5.3 The Doleantie of 1886


Conclusion


Chapter 6 The Possibilities of Kuyper’s Ecclesiology for Japanese Evangelical Christians


6.1 The Organism-Institution Distinction


6.2 The Believers’ Church


6.3 A Free Church


6.4 The Pluriformity of the Church


Conclusion


Bibliography


About Langham Partnership

Endnotes
Acknowledgments
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