author
Paul M. Kanamori
1857–1945
A pioneering Japanese Christian preacher and memoirist, he wrote with unusual candor about faith, doubt, and spiritual renewal. His best-known work offers a personal window into religious life in modernizing Japan.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in 1857, Paul M. Kanamori was the English name of Kanamori Michitomo, a Japanese Christian minister who became known for preaching and religious writing. He was educated in the early Meiji period and is remembered as an influential Protestant voice in Japan.
His most familiar book today is Kanamori's Life-Story: Told by Himself; How the Higher Criticism Wrecked a Japanese Christian—and How He Came Back, a memoir that traces his struggle with belief and his return to Christian faith. The book stands out for its direct, personal style and for the glimpse it gives into the spiritual and intellectual debates of its time.
Kanamori died in 1945. Readers who come to his work now will find not just a religious autobiography, but the story of a life lived at the meeting point of Japanese tradition, Western education, and personal conviction.