Sekino, Yuji. Translated by Gary Fujino. "Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism: The Problem of American Christian Fundamentalism for Japanese Evangelicalism." (原理主義と福音主義 -- 米国キリスト教原理主義に見る日本の福音派の問題). Japan Evangelical Association Theological Commission Pamphlet 6 (May 2006): 17-48.
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V. TOPICS FOR JAPANESE EVANGELICALISM REGARDING AMERICAN CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALISM
V.A. The Danger of a Movement Ruled by Anger and a Simplistic Dualism of Good Versus Evil
There is an ideology in the claims of the Religious Right in America that labels its opponents as devils and foments anger and enmity. This cannot be said to be a biblical way of looking at this world nor a correct worldview. At the center of Christian fundamentalism is the emotion of “anger”, an anger that runs counter to the act of loving others, the core of the gospel. A band of people united by anger is strong yet constructive, liberating emotion is not in that bond and there is the pursuant danger that some will try to rule over others by their own will with a desire that increases in strength. It is natural that a sense of absoluteness and of exclusivism accompanies the unique truth of salvation in the gospel in which we believe. But we who are Christians are no more than weak sinners who have been forgiven and entrusted with the gospel by the Lord Jesus, and it is easy to commit the error of making our ego the absolute. We must not mistake the privileges of our being chosen (as God’s people) for something different, and we must serve the world to cause the gospel entrusted to us to permeate this world.
V.B. Avoiding the Extreme Literal Interpretation of the Bible; Toward a Moderate Understanding of Biblical Inerrancy
Since the Reformation the foundation of evangelical biblical interpretation has been a literal hermeneutic but when this is taken too far we are in danger of (creating) a distorted interpretation to support our own theories or of extreme interpretations of prophecies. Because of this, in order to avoid barren radicalism, I believe that the evangelical churches of Japan should join to take a position of a moderating full inerrancy over absolute inerrancy in relation to their view of scripture. Full inerrancy says that the Bible does not try make matters proposed concerning science and history its first objective but that what is recorded in the scripture which describes things of science and history are sufficiently correct. However, these scientific and historical descriptions are phenomenological, written from the viewpoint of how people at that time saw it.
V.C. Biblical Eschatology and its Related Worldview and the Need to Study the Interpretation of the Kingdom of God
We need to know how much different eschatological theories (which include the dispensational view) we learn in our local churches have influenced our worldview as Christians. We should place import upon the fact of how great an influence the differences in understandings of eschatology has on the lives and politics of Christians in America. (As Japanese evangelicals) we should learn from the scriptures, from Genesis through Revelation, not only about the incarnation of the Lord Jesus and the history of the atonement but also of how the kingdom of God plunged into this world; how Christians should live who have been sent out into this world to take forth that kingdom of God; our motivation for maintaining relations with this world; and (to see) that the church’s responsibility to society is a different stance from traditional, pessimistic eschatology. Especially among Christian youth, the biblical value of work in this world should be taught. I believe that it is most important for them (to know) the meaning given by the motivation to work. This is a pressing need.
V.D. The Balance between God’s Transcendence and Immanence
In the relationship of God to His created world there is both “transcendence” and “immanence.” Traditionally, evangelicals have had a tendency to emphasize the former, liberals the latter. In other words, evangelicals see this world beginning as the supreme God’s supernatural and special creation, where all that is came about through God. In time, God intervened in this world through miracles. The miracles of God are especially considered to be a foundational doctrine of the gospel. On the other hand, liberals assume that God was within the natural world and believe that He was working through the process of nature. They don’t especially see miracles and make them a part of that process. Biological evolution is also seen as a means used by God. Thus, the liberal argued for the world to be Christianized by transformation of its social structures and by a social gospel. On the one hand, American Christian Fundamentalism excluded evolution and emphasized God’s special creative act and “transcendence.” On the other hand, they emphasized reaching God’s objective with a warped “immanence” through the just war that America is involved in. One can see here confusion and poor balance in the understandings of transcendence and immanence. A sense of balance for understanding God’s transcendence and immanence is the key by which we Christians decide in what aspects we should see God’s workings in this world (e.g., it is the balance between praying for the Lord’s healing and making use of the help of physicians and medicine when someone is sick).
V.E. The Certainty of Correct Biblical Hermeneutical Methodology at the Level of the Local Church
Hidden at the roots of both apocalyptic, sensationalist eschatology and creation science are problems with biblical interpretation. It is easy to fall into extreme claims with a literal biblical hermeneutic, lacking in covenantal and atoning consideration American Christian Fundamentalism, especially in the South where it has widely infiltrated its background with simple-minded (thinking), avoids intricate methods of biblical interpretation and has an abusive trend particular to evangelicalism that simplifies the reading of scripture. Accordingly, for we Japanese as well, there is a need for clear leadership and education in the local church that does not incline toward a mistaken reading when the Bible is read, exegeted, interpreted and applied on a daily basis. We can wait for publications in Japanese made for lay persons with a new and practical biblical hermeneutic but methodologies which seek great knowledge in a troublesome manner should be avoided. I also believe that there is a need to show forth a public example for a biblical hermeneutic by continuing with the careful reading of the Bible in accordance with its original intent in worship and in prayer meetings, and by doing expository sermons which can be applied in real life to believers’ lives.
V.F. An Attitude which is Open to Knowledge from the Sciences
The scientific method is a way of inquiring about the truth that God has vested upon humankind. At its origin it does not contradict with religious truth. Based on the cultural mandate, because we are also to rule over the earth (Genesis 1:28), the advance of scientific inquiry is an essential duty. Thus, with the advancement of science we should humbly and with awe accept the new information on the form of the universe or nature as it is continues to be made evident and we should not discard (this) based on a simplistic comparison to the biblical record. Rather, this new information might demand a new interpretation which goes beyond the original, traditional interpretation. We must always maintain an open posture toward the truth. Whether or not evolution is correct, there is a need for us to objectively know how far contemporary evolutionary biology has advanced, what kinds of conclusions have been reached, and what sorts of issues are being dealt with. There is room to sufficiently investigate whether there is scientific knowledge and persuasive power in creation science when it makes the enormous knowledge in biology today into merely an enemy to be opposed. To make this one-sided interpretation of scripture into something positive, we must avoid only the extremes of denying at its base that the scientific methods and knowledge that have been built up (came) through enormous effort and knowledge.
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