A world of crisis and progress: Christianity, national identity, and the American YMCA in Japan, 1890-1930

Three related themes weave through the experience of the American YMCA missionaries and Japan Christians between 1890-1930: the connection between national identity and Christianity, resulting conflicts between these Christians, and an alternating sense of crisis and progress.; American YMCA Christians linked Protestantism and nationalism by identifying Americans as the "chosen people" to continue the covenant God made with the Israelites. Missionary leaders called upon this affinity to meet the decline in missionary enthusiasm in the 1880s. Invoking the promise between American Protestants and God created a sense of urgency among missionaries, lest the covenant with God be broken. Thus, Christian progress was renewed and the YMCA mission to Japan inaugurated.; Japanese Christians also experienced a crisis in the Meiji period as Christianity was criticized as a foreign evil. Accusations of disloyalty and a sense of inferiority created a dilemma for Japanese Christians. Conversion to Christianity gave them a modern, progressive faith, but also alienated them from their cultural roots. To overcome these problems and create moral progress for Japan, Japanese Christians turned to nationalism.; Conflict between the nationalism of American YMCA leaders and Japanese Christians dominated their interaction in Japan from 1890-1920. Americans became intransigent in their insistence on evangelicalism, while Japanese Christians turned to liberalism and used the YMCA as a forum to express their cultural independence from foreign missionaries.; As their nationalism grew, Japanese Christians defined a style of Christianity unique to Japan. Christianity in Japan became a distinctive mix of Eastern and Western ideas. This fact, in turn, allowed Japanese Christians to believe they alone could transmit Western Christianity into Eastern contexts and create progress for East Asia. Given the chance to spread Christianity in East Asia after the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese YMCA imposed its own standard of Christianity on Korea, like American YMCA had done in Japan.; In the 1920s, tensions between Americans and Japanese leaders led the American YMCA missionary movement to reevaluate its purpose and forced it away from nationalism. Likewise, growing social inequities in Japan led Japanese Christians away from nationalism and toward social reform.