saturday lectures
Saturday, 7 August, was the day I was scheduled to give two lectures on open theism, as well as hear a response and participate in a question and answer session. While my two lectures were only 45 minutes or so apiece, with translation they would each be an hour-and-a-half. Along with a lunchbreak and the Q&A, this made for a 6-hour day, consisting mostly of teaching.
The Covenant Worldview Institute had rented some seminar space on the 7th floor of the Mitaka Sangyo Plaza building in the central part of Mitaka in order to have a comfortable space for the lectures, with ample seating and tables for notetaking or laptops. Signs marked the rooms as reserved for the purposes of the lectures:
There were, I think, around 40-50 mostly Japanese Christians in attendance and they were an attentive audience, asking many thoughtful and thought-provoking questions afterwards, despite the difficulty of translation and the complexity of what I said.
The topic, as I've noted, was the "openness of God" theology that is making significant inroads into American evangelicalism, particularly as books advocating it are published by Baker, Eerdmans, and, especially, IVP. While this theology has had little impact thus far in Japan, the potential for its influence is there, particularly among Christian seminarians and university students. As far as we know, my talk was the first Japanese language attempt at a response, sympathetic or critical, and certain the first evangelical response from the standpoint of Trinitarian theology (though more mainline process theology and Moltmann have been topics of discussion in Japanese theology).
The issue of the language, however, proved a difficult one, particularly since my response to open theism is profoundly Trinitarian in shape. As you may know, speaking of the Christian God, particularly in a precise and reflective way, is something that most languages lack native terminology for doing. Even in the west, Greek and Latin did not come with ready-made words for the expression of our Trinitarian faith (e.g., ousia and hupostasis were virtual synonyms). Rather, the theological reflection of the Christian church led to a transformation of language and the introduction of new ways of understanding and speaking of reality.
As westerners, of course, we take much of this for granted since we stand in a 2000 year process of reflection and engagement. While there have been Christians in Japan for many centuries, the Faith has never had the kind of ascendency here that it has had in the west and thus the language remains resistant to speaking the Christian God in a clear way. Theological notions such as "Person," "pure actuality," "impassibility," "eternally begotten," and the like either lack terminology or would suggest terminology that makes little sense in application to the divine.
There was a flurry of activity, therefore, leading up to my talk, attempting to translate my lectures into Japanese (with Berek showing some brilliant and sensitive skills in so doing), requiring at times some degree of consultation and dispute among various persons (Sylvia Smith prominent among them) regarding how to best express the categories of classical Christian theology.
Speaking of the Smiths, below is a picture of the family, showing Berek, Emeth, Ben, Ralph, and Sylvia, from left to right:
They have spent over two decades in Japan, often on a theological journey themselves, attempting to evangelize the Japanese and to build a vibrant church of Christian people, growing in their faith, understanding, and community. But more on that later.
With the lectures occurring the 7th floor of a building, the venue afforded some very nice views of the Mitaka area, particularly given one large wall of glass windows, flanking the side of the room:
Again, you can see the hodge-podge of different housing and architectural styles--apartments, townhouses, single-family homes, highrises--that is typical of much of urban Japan. This is a picture looking east, towards downtown Tokyo, the skyscrapers of Shinjuku just visible on the horizon:
We had lunch that day at a local Chinese restaurant, right next door to another Chinese restaurant, owned by two sisters who had some kind of falling out. I had gyoza and kimchi, which of course is Korean and not Chinese, but I love kimchi and get it whenever I get a chance.
(continue to next post: sunday church)
The Covenant Worldview Institute had rented some seminar space on the 7th floor of the Mitaka Sangyo Plaza building in the central part of Mitaka in order to have a comfortable space for the lectures, with ample seating and tables for notetaking or laptops. Signs marked the rooms as reserved for the purposes of the lectures:
There were, I think, around 40-50 mostly Japanese Christians in attendance and they were an attentive audience, asking many thoughtful and thought-provoking questions afterwards, despite the difficulty of translation and the complexity of what I said.
The topic, as I've noted, was the "openness of God" theology that is making significant inroads into American evangelicalism, particularly as books advocating it are published by Baker, Eerdmans, and, especially, IVP. While this theology has had little impact thus far in Japan, the potential for its influence is there, particularly among Christian seminarians and university students. As far as we know, my talk was the first Japanese language attempt at a response, sympathetic or critical, and certain the first evangelical response from the standpoint of Trinitarian theology (though more mainline process theology and Moltmann have been topics of discussion in Japanese theology).
The issue of the language, however, proved a difficult one, particularly since my response to open theism is profoundly Trinitarian in shape. As you may know, speaking of the Christian God, particularly in a precise and reflective way, is something that most languages lack native terminology for doing. Even in the west, Greek and Latin did not come with ready-made words for the expression of our Trinitarian faith (e.g., ousia and hupostasis were virtual synonyms). Rather, the theological reflection of the Christian church led to a transformation of language and the introduction of new ways of understanding and speaking of reality.
As westerners, of course, we take much of this for granted since we stand in a 2000 year process of reflection and engagement. While there have been Christians in Japan for many centuries, the Faith has never had the kind of ascendency here that it has had in the west and thus the language remains resistant to speaking the Christian God in a clear way. Theological notions such as "Person," "pure actuality," "impassibility," "eternally begotten," and the like either lack terminology or would suggest terminology that makes little sense in application to the divine.
There was a flurry of activity, therefore, leading up to my talk, attempting to translate my lectures into Japanese (with Berek showing some brilliant and sensitive skills in so doing), requiring at times some degree of consultation and dispute among various persons (Sylvia Smith prominent among them) regarding how to best express the categories of classical Christian theology.
Speaking of the Smiths, below is a picture of the family, showing Berek, Emeth, Ben, Ralph, and Sylvia, from left to right:
They have spent over two decades in Japan, often on a theological journey themselves, attempting to evangelize the Japanese and to build a vibrant church of Christian people, growing in their faith, understanding, and community. But more on that later.
With the lectures occurring the 7th floor of a building, the venue afforded some very nice views of the Mitaka area, particularly given one large wall of glass windows, flanking the side of the room:
Again, you can see the hodge-podge of different housing and architectural styles--apartments, townhouses, single-family homes, highrises--that is typical of much of urban Japan. This is a picture looking east, towards downtown Tokyo, the skyscrapers of Shinjuku just visible on the horizon:
We had lunch that day at a local Chinese restaurant, right next door to another Chinese restaurant, owned by two sisters who had some kind of falling out. I had gyoza and kimchi, which of course is Korean and not Chinese, but I love kimchi and get it whenever I get a chance.
(continue to next post: sunday church)
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