Faith Yielding to Nationalism: The Nationalistic Turn of the Japanese Christian Church During the Meiji Period—Centering on Yōitsu Honda

Centering on Yōitsu Honda, a leading figure in the Japanese Christian Church during the Meiji era, this paper examines how he actively sought to reconcile Christian doctrine with nationalist ideology in the context of the formation of the modern emperor-centered state and Japan’s overseas expansion. Honda’s thought and practice illustrate the adaptive reconfigurations of faith and the corresponding shifts in political orientation undertaken by some Japanese Christians under the pressures of the period, as they sought to secure space for the church’s survival and development. Although Honda’s strategy temporarily enhanced the social standing and political influence of the church he served, it also, to some extent, eroded the critical capacity and moral autonomy of his religious thought. Over time, his Christian faith increasingly aligned with Japanese state policy and, under specific historical conditions, became implicated in Japanese militarism. This case thus illuminates the dilemmas confronted by imported religions in contexts characterized by intense nationalism.