Lutheranism in the Japanese Church

Kazoh Kitamori

Kazoh Kitamori was a Lutheran theologian, who entered into the field due to inspiration from the writings and life of Martin Luther.[footnoteRef:2] He is particularly well-known for his book Theology of the Pain of God from 1946, which proposed a radical new interpretation of the relationship between God\\\\\\\'s comfort and suffering. In this text, Kitamori opened up Christianity to view pain as an essential part of divinity rather than an evil that should be avoided. As a result, Kitamori significantly contributed to the expansion and diversity of theological thought in the 20th century—although some scholars view his theology to have a touch of masochism in it.[footnoteRef:3] Penumaka argues, however, that rather than promoting a kind of spiritual masochism, Kitamori simply emphasizes the pain that God experiences as a result of His deep and profound love for human beings.[footnoteRef:4] [2: Peterson, Daniel J. \\\\\\\"We Preach Christ Crucified: Rejecting the Prosperity Gospel and Responding to Feminist Criticism Using Luther\\\\\\\'s Second Theology of the Cross.\\\\\\\" Dialog 48, no. 2 (2009): 194-201.] [3: Grant, Colin. \\\\\\\"Possibilities for Divine Passibility.\\\\\\\" Toronto Journal of Theology 4, no. 1 (1988): 3-18.] [4: Penumaka, E. J. (2022). Redemptive Suffering Verses Masochism in the Works of Kazoh Kitamori\\\\\\\'s Theology of the Pain of God (Doctoral dissertation, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago).]