Christian Feminism in Japan
“Minoritarian” and “Majoritarian” Tendencies, Struggles for Self-Assertion, and Multiple “Lines of Flight”
In: Journal of Religion in JapanSearch for other papers by Mira Sonntag in
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By analyzing video interviews with proponents of Christian feminism, as well as literature stemming from their movement in Japan, this article explores the contemporary approaches of Japanese women to theology and practical faith. While tracing their discourses over the last sixty years, the article focuses on the existing variety of perspectives, as well as on the problems that have emerged from the intentional embrace of multiple voices. Drawing on Deleuze and Guattari, I identify “majoritarian” tendencies in these feminist approaches. However, the sources used here also show that Christian feminism in Japan has considerable potential for “becoming-minoritarian.” Furthermore, I argue that the situation of Christian feminism differs from those of feminist movements in the major religions of Japan in so far as Christian feminists comprise a sub-minority of a religious minority that naturally needs to reach out to other minority groups, both within and outside Christian feminism. At the same time, these attempts at outreach tend to provoke criticism from fellow Christian believers, reinforcing the marginalization of Christian feminism in Japan.
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See Yamaguchi (2015). In the New Testament, the parables of Jesus function to explain the concept of “God’s Kingdom” that “has already begun, but is not yet completed.” Yamaguchi focuses on metaphors with originally negative meanings that are transformed to express the unexpected and uncontrollable, the rapid extension of “God’s Kingdom.” The mustard seed has been synonymous with something “small” and the mustard plant of something with the fast-growing properties of a “malignant weed.” Leaven is also used as a metaphor for bad influences (see Luke 12: 1), that is, “something corrupting the whole” though it has a positive meaning when connected to the concept of “God’s Kingdom.” Other theologians like Michael F. Bird (2006: 73–77) and Shane Claiborne (Claiborne and Wallis 2006) provide similar interpretations.
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Christian Feminism in Japan
“Minoritarian” and “Majoritarian” Tendencies, Struggles for Self-Assertion, and Multiple “Lines of Flight”
In: Journal of Religion in JapanSearch for other papers by Mira Sonntag in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
By analyzing video interviews with proponents of Christian feminism, as well as literature stemming from their movement in Japan, this article explores the contemporary approaches of Japanese women to theology and practical faith. While tracing their discourses over the last sixty years, the article focuses on the existing variety of perspectives, as well as on the problems that have emerged from the intentional embrace of multiple voices. Drawing on Deleuze and Guattari, I identify “majoritarian” tendencies in these feminist approaches. However, the sources used here also show that Christian feminism in Japan has considerable potential for “becoming-minoritarian.” Furthermore, I argue that the situation of Christian feminism differs from those of feminist movements in the major religions of Japan in so far as Christian feminists comprise a sub-minority of a religious minority that naturally needs to reach out to other minority groups, both within and outside Christian feminism. At the same time, these attempts at outreach tend to provoke criticism from fellow Christian believers, reinforcing the marginalization of Christian feminism in Japan.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 577 | 71 | 6 |
| Full Text Views | 228 | 12 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 96 | 30 | 0 |