“An authoritative study of indigenous Christian movements in Japan” —Japanese Religions 26 (2001)

“Theoretically sophisticated ... essential reading” —Studies in Religion / Sciences Religieuses 29 (2000)

“A unique and valuable study” —International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Winter 2001

“This splendid book deserves a wide reading audience, both among students of Japanese religions and among scholars of Christianity in general. Gems of information and insight can be found in every chapter.” —Journal of Asian Studies, May 2000

“There is a wealth of historical and firsthand information in this work, carefully reported and sensitively interpreted, such that historians, sociologists, and theologians, as well as scholars interested in religion, will have reason to read the work and reevaluate their own concepts of Christianity and their understanding of how religions become transformed in the process of being transplanted.” —Journal of the American Academy of Religion

“This book provides not only new information about a worthy theme and a new, thought-provoking perspective from which to understand a significant body of information but also a basis for future research that can advance our understanding of socioreligious phenomena in comparative perspective. A highly commendable achievement!” —Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, Spring 1999 (Download full review)

“Mullins has brought new light to bear on the story of religions in modern Japan. Relatively unknown Christian movements are taken up in a study that is at once engaging and poised to sweep away conventional thinking about the relations between Christianity and Japanese culture.” —Shimazono Susumu, University of Tokyo

“This is scholarship of the highest quality on a subject as complex as it is difficult... Scholars interested in local responses not only to Christianity in Japan but to the penetration of world religions anywhere outside their ‘natural and historical setting’ will find this volume rich in ideas and suggestions.” —Peter B. Clarke, University of London

“As Mullins shows, the Japanese indigenous churches have produced new and meaningful forms of religious expression that tell us much about the dynamics of the Japanese religious world, about the formation and development of new religious movements, and about Christianity in its multiple forms worldwide.” —Ian Reader, Lancaster University

For centuries the accommodation between Japan and Christianity has been an uneasy one. Compared with others of its Asian neighbors, the churches in Japan have never counted more than a small minority of believers more or less resigned to patterns of ritual and belief transplanted from the West. But there is another side to the story, one little known and rarely told: the rise of indigenous movements aimed at a Christianity that is at once made in Japan and faithful to the scriptures and apostolic tradition. Christianity Made in Japan draws on extensive field research to give an intriguing and sympathetic look behind the scenes and into the lives of the leaders and followers of several indigenous movements in Japan. Focusing on the “native” response rather than Western missionary efforts and intentions, it presents varieties of new interpretations of the Christian tradition. It gives voice to the unheard perceptions and views of many Japanese Christians, while raising questions vital to the self-understanding of Christianity as a truly “world religion.”

This ground-breaking study makes a largely unknown religious world accessible to outsiders for the first time. Students and scholars alike will find it a valuable addition to the literature on Japanese religions and society and on the development of Christianity outside the West. By offering an alternative approach to the study and understanding of Christianity as a world religion and the complicated process of cross-cultural diffusion, it represents a landmark that will define future research in the field.

Mark R. Mullins is professor of sociology of religion and Christian studies at Meiji Gakuin University, Japan.

Read the preface (PDF).

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