Despite famously small numbers Christians have had a distinctive presence in modern Japan
particularly for their witness on behalf of democracy and religious freedom. A translation of
Ken'i to Fukuju: Kindai Nihon ni okeru R ma-sho Jusan-sho (2003) Authority and Obedience is «a
personal pre-history» of the postwar generation of Japanese Christian intellectuals deeply
committed to democracy. Using Japanese Christians' commentary on Paul's injunction in Romans
13: 1-7 the counsel to «let every person be subject to the governing authorities for there is
no authority except from God...» Miyata offers an intellectual history of how Japanese
Christians understood the emperor-focused modern state from the time of the first Protestant
missionaries in the mid-nineteenth century through the climax and demise of fascism during the
Pacific War. Stressing verse 5's admonition to «conscience» as the reason for obedience Miyata
provides a clear and political perspective grounded in his lifelong engagement with German
political thought and theology particularly that of Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer as he
calls for a conscientious citizenry in his modern society. Showing both Christians' complicity
with the state and the empire - including the formation of a unified church the Nihon Kirisuto
Ky dan - and their attitude toward Christians in Asia and the complexity of the critical
voices of Christians like Uchimura Kanz Kashiwagi Gien Nanbara Shigeru and many others less
well known - Miyata's work aims not at exposing cultural particularity but at showing how the
modern Japanese Christian experience can give meaning to a theology and a political theory of
how to live within the «freedom of religious belief».
