Idei (Apr 2014)
Kanzo Uchimura, a Japanese Kierkegaard
Abstract
The article is dedicated to Kenso Ushimura, a well-known Japanese spiritual leader, Christian and Bible admirer who, on the one hand, is the founder of Mukiokai, a Christian "non-church" movement "in no way connected with the West" and "having no other mentor other than the Bible" , and on the other hand, he is known as "the Japanese Kierkegaard." The philosophical and theological views of Kanzo Ushimura, outlined in his main work "How I Became a Christian" (1895), are analyzed. Particularly closely examined is the deeply and vividly described by the philosopher the process of the formation and development of his own faith. The connection and interdependence of the "apocalyptic" faith of Kanzo Ushimura and the "paradoxical", "absurd" faith of Sjoren Kierkegaard are traced. It is proved that the book of Kanzo Ushimura "How I Became a Christian" in a meaningful and ideological way reminds us of the direct purpose and meaning of the religious creativity of S. Kierkegaard, represented by the Danish thinker in his work "How to become a Christian", and the spiritual quest of the Japanese thinker is aimed at developing a special (new ) of ethics, which "Danish Socrates" tried to create. A common idea for both philosophers in assessing the Christian world is the rigid separation between Christianity, primordial, pure and simple, and Christianity, adorned and dogmatized by professors of theology. The direct influence of the Bushido moral code on the formation and development of such a phenomenon as "Japanese Christianity" is considered and justified
