Matthews, Alden E.  “Identity and Christian Ministry in Japan.”  (Unpubl.)

Abstract

To uphold individual worth and meaning, Christian ministry must appreciate and confront both Japan's vertical (hierarchical) social consciousness and horizontal (naturalistic) religious consciousness.  Christianity's message of the cross must recognize the social nature of existence while at the same time affirming the individual's transcendence of the groups to which he belongs and the individual's distinctiveness in the context of the natural world.  In so doing, Christian ministry will affirm both social responsibility and individual decision and commitment.[Bruce Epperly, 14 Nov. 1978].