Diplomacy, Proselytization, and Criticism in the Western Encounter: Japanese Religious Groups in the World's Parliament of Religions

Using speeches presented by Japanese delegates to the 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions, this paper investigates how non-Western religious organizations were capable of responding to the Western encounter. For religious groups who did not have a means of legitimacy within the Western Christian academic environment—such as a mastery of Western discursive techniques or affiliation with Christianity—their efforts were focused on establishing the legitimacy of their religious organization. Depending on the religious group, this occurred in one of two ways: Shinto’s ties with the Japanese state afforded religious spokespersons the ability to seek legitimacy on political grounds, while Buddhism’s marginalized status within the Japanese state forced their spokespersons to affirm the legitimacy of their religion through theological avenues. However, for those who had attained a means of legitimacy, the possibility arose for them to engage in criticism of Western Christianity in both its institutional and state manifestations.