The purpose of this paper is to re-construct the basic framework of the theology and works of Yamazaki Ansai, the early Edo period notable shintoist as well as Neo-Confucian scholar, from the viewpoint of the structure and interpretation of Nihonshoki Jindai-kan (“Age of the Gods” from the Chronicles of Japan), which Ansai highly valued as a holy book. Applying the concept of mystical philosophy as espoused by Izutsu Toshihiko onto Ansai’s theology, I demonstrate that this theology is based on the structure of mystical philosophy and that the main theological concept Tenjin yuiitsu (the Way of the single unity of Heaven and man) is a significant Japanese turn in mystical philosophy.

In the process of his quest for universal truth, Ansai constructed his own theology after struggling with the bounds of Neo-Confucian rationalism and finally transcended them. To be specific, he worked to integrate practice with philosophy, by incorporating the embodied (“somatic”) reading of Nihonshoki into the structure of mystical philosophy. The essence of Ansai’s theology lies in its pursuit for a higher state of consciousness, which it regards possible by acquiring rationalism first, and then transcending it, through Shinto practices. It can be said that Ansai’s theology is an integral system that is vertically structured between Shintoism and Neo-Confucianism.

In this paper I will take up a conflict between two Buddhist movements representative of modern Japanese Buddhism at the turn of the twentieth century: the “New Buddhism movement” and the “movement for precept revival”.

While the former was led by young, lay-oriented-Buddhists, largely educated in the modern educational system, the leading figure of the latter was Shaku Unshō (1827-1909) who was born in 1827 and trained as a Tokugawa-era monk, and who also insisted on the importance of precept revival to rescue monks from “corruption” and correct national morality.

As described by Buddhist scholars such as Yoshida Kyūichi, New Buddhism has been highly regarded as a point of departure for the modernization of Buddhism in Meiji Japan based on their focus on social problems and belief-centered thought. These younger New Buddhists criticized Unshō and his followers as “Old Buddhists” whose thought should be overcome for the sake of progress. On the other hand, Unshō’s movement has been interpreted as conservative and antiquated in the history of Japanese Buddhist history.

Buddhist precepts are said to have declined in the process of secularization and modernization in Japan. However, in order to complicate this conception of modern Buddhism, I reconsider discourse concerning Buddhist precepts in this period through a comparative analysis of their treatment in these two opposing movements.

This study elucidates the internal structure of the will in Kiyozawa Manshi (1863-1903)’s work, Rōsenki. Kiyozawa was inspired by the Stoic philosopher, Epictetus (c. 55-c. 135). Kiyozawa accepts Epictetus’s distinction between things in our power and things not in our power as the distinction between the things that are in our will (nyoi-narumono) and the things that are not in our will (funyoi-narumono).

With this distinction, one can freely determine oneself by one’s will (inen), but cannot control one’s properties, honor, and body by one’s will. In Rōsenki, Kiyozawa always confronts new situations, which he cannot control by his own will. For example, he recognizes that his situation before birth and after death is incomprehensible and uncontrollable. In this case, he leaves himself to the absolute infinite power and rests in the present situation. In this moment, he attains self-recognition within the infinite power. This self-recognition is expressed as Rakuzai (which literally means “a fallen being”) and Reizon (literary “a spiritual being”) something being beyond birth and death. Thereafter, he discovers the new mode of his will, which is deepened by self-recognition. This is the structure of the development of the will in Rōsenki.

Jewish literature in the medieval Christian world formed discourses against the Christian cultures. This paper focuses on medieval folktales narrated by Jews living in Western Europe. One of their most popular tales is the Toledot Yeshu (“The Life Story of Jesus”). This Jewish version of the story of Jesus presents a counter image against Jesus as seen in Christian literature. There are episodes which stemmed from the Talmudic traditions on Jesus as well as popular elements such as Jesus as the master of the Divine Name. As a whole, Toledot Yeshu is a counter narrative against the Christian Jesus story through its subversive readings of the Gospels to reverse the values of Jesus for the Christians. Then, I move to analyze strange tales on Jesus’ disciples and hagiographic tales on Nahmanides in medieval Jewish folklore. These are closely connected with a serious problem in medieval Jewish society: Jewish conversion to Christianity. The Jewish people often strived with the question: What did forced conversion mean for the future of Judaism? In my view, the Jews in the Christian world attempted to narrate a counter “history,” a history for themselves which was completely different from its Christian counterpart.

Since René Descartes (1596-1650) closely connected the laws of nature with God’s volition, the contradiction between “evils in nature” and “good God” who even wills evil emerged. While the French philosopher himself disregarded this contradiction, many early modern thinkers saw this as the problem of evil and offered various solutions. The seventeenth-century Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) is one of them. However, no study consistently has dealt with Spinoza’s discussion of the problem of evil. In order to understand Spinoza’s position more clearly and comprehensively, the present paper first analyzes his epistolary encounters with the amateur philosopher-theologian Willem van Blijenbergh (1632-1696) between the years 1664-1665. Then the paper focuses on Spinoza’s Ethics (1677) and its pertinent sections on evil to clarify the difference between the respective positions of Jewish philosopher and the traditional philosophical schools. Finally, the paper deals with his Tractatus theologico-politicus (1670) to locate Spinoza’s solution to the problem in his theory of politics.

Post-communist countries of Central and Eastern (CE) Europe where religions used to be repressed by authorities are now experiencing religious pluralisation. As the small numbers of adherents in Sunday services indicate, a steady decline of religious institutions has given way to alternative practices and more individualised religiosity. While statistical investigations have proven this general trend, the common elements of this emerging popular religiosity have received little attention. I address this gap by scrutinising various aspects of the popular religiosity observed in bus pilgrimages from Slovenia to Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina. According to numerous interviews with pilgrims and spiritual leaders, Medjugorje attracts people with its informality, relaxed religious authority, spontaneity, and residents’ hospitality. I argue that all of these factors allow pilgrims to seek and experience open access to the divine. Their implicit (and sometimes explicit) struggles with the Franciscans, who want to control and establish the ideal pilgrimage path and impose meanings on the landscape of Medjugorje, increasingly generate multiple “rival” spiritual and secular pilgrims’ activities that hinder the institutionalisation of the pilgrimage site. Pilgrims’ actions, such as choosing their spiritual leader, attending spontaneous rites, or keeping strong ties with the locals in Medjugorje, can be seen as persistent elements of popular religiosity observed in pilgrimage from Slovenia.