What is it about?
Japan is often toted as one of the few countries where Christianity failed to have a significant impact on the population or culture. However, this article demonstrates that Japan is a Christian nation in its own right. Japan is home to a form of Christianity integral to the experience of marriage. These Christian wedding celebrations are a product of Japan's wartime political history and postwar innovations by the Christian Churches that sought to transform "nonreligious" Japanese into Christian converts.
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Why is it important?
This work explores for the first time the intimate relationship between "nonreligious" attitudes in contemporary Japan and the historical rise of Christian weddings within that context. It takes the reader behind the scenes to show how Christian Churches leveraged the rite of marriage as a religious ritual and into the religious spaces unique to Japanese Christianity.
Perspectives
Japan remains home to some of the most interesting and vibrant religious cultures in the world. Although more traditionally associated with Buddhism and Shinto, Japan also boasts a unique culture of Christianity that is every bit as fascinating as the other religious movements or traditions the archipelago has to offer. These are the kinds of things that await a reader, scholar, or traveler who takes seriously the idea that Japan, too, is a Christian nation.
Jesse LeFebvre
Harvard University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Rise of Wedding Churches, Journal of Religion in Japan, May 2022, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/22118349-20221001.
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