| Summary: | The Jesuit missionary St. Francis Xavier was the first European missionary to embark Japan in 1549. His letters show us how he depicted the Japanese faith. Thiis papers´ main question has revolved around how we can better understand Xaviers depictions of the Japanese faith in his correspondence to his peers. Until today, many scholars have been taking for granted that Xavier described this, for him, alien beliefs as separate religions. Xaviers depictions revolves overall around major differences labelled such as idolatry, heathendom and demon worship. In the light of critical religion theory and hermeneutic method the study shows that Xavier most likely did not regard the Japanese teachings as religions at all. This kind of “labels” was rather a way to express something that was not regarded as a separate religion.
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