NCC Center for the Study of Japanese Religions 
 

CFP:  Japanese Religions Vol 47(1&2)

Special Issue: “Rethinking Christianity and Japanese Religions”
Guest Editors: Emily Anderson & Linda Zampol D'Ortia

2025

Call for Papers:

Japanese Religions invites contribution from scholars exploring the intersection between Christianity and Japanese religions from multiple methodological and theoretical perspectives. This issue will prioritize submissions that analyze these traditions through innovative, interdisciplinary lenses that do not treat Christianity and Japanese Religions as distinct entities.” Contributors are encouraged to question and redefine traditional concepts of “Christianity” and “Japanese Religions” by drawing on disciplines such as global history, material culture, heritage studies, history of emotions, and ethnographic research. By incorporating diverse fields and contemporary methodologies, this issue aims to illuminate the complex and evolving intersections within Japan’s religious landscape. Possible paper topics include, but are not limited to:
 

• Historical Trajectories: Analyses of Christianity’s evolving role in Japanese society, examining how Japanese religious practices and ideologies have responded and adapted over time.
   

• Intellectual Encounters and Lived Religion: Explorations of the interactions, contrasts, and mutual shaping between Christian and Japanese religious groups.
   

• Insights from Methodological Reflections: Reflections on innovative research approaches to studying Christianity, highlighting the impact of ethnographic, transnational, and social scientific methods.
   

• Christianity in Japanese Societies: Studies examining how Christian groups and movements have contributed to shaping Japanese social, cultural, and political dynamics across historical periods—and conversely, how Japanese society has influenced Christianity.

Submission Timeline:

Abstract Proposal Deadline: Abstracts in English are due by End of January 2025 and should be submitted to japanesereligions@gmail.com.

Online Workshop: Selected contributors will be invited to present their proposals at an online workshop organized by the NCC Center for the Study of Japanese Religions in March 2025.

Article Submission Deadline: Full articles are due by End of July 2025.
We encourage innovative and diverse gender, career, academic affiliation contributions to enrich this scholarly exploration of Christianity’s evolving role within Japan’s religious and cultural landscape.