Watanabe (Paul) Sermons, Undated

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Summary

Title:
Paul Watanabe sermons
Dates:
Undated
Creators:
Watanabe, Paul Yorishige
Abstract:
Paul Yorishige Watanabe served at several Southern California Japanese American churches in the 1920s and 1930s, including the Los Angeles Japanese Baptist Church (now Evergreen Baptist Church) and the Fundamental Baptist Mission to the Japanese. This is a collection of notes written entirely in Japanese for 66 different sermons used by Watanabe, with thematic titles translated into English.
Extent:
.5 linear feet (2 boxes)
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Paul Watanabe sermons. 2004.160, Japanese American National Museum. Los Angeles, CA.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection is comprised of sermon notes and outlines written entirely in Japanese, created by Reverend Watanabe. Titles of each folder (per sermon or topic) were translated into English by staff. There are no dates listed on the sermon notes so the locations, occasions, or dates of when he delivered these sermons is unclear. They are organized thematically and cover a broad range of subjects, from social issues such as education and the household to more theological and esoteric issues such as love, sin, redemption, and evangelism. There are twenty-one separate themes altogether. The notes for each sermon are titled and in outline form, with a scripture reference at the top followed by bullet-pointed talking points on the particular subject.

Biographical / historical:

Paul Y. Watanabe was born in 1886 in Gifu, Japan. After being orphaned when his parents were killed in an earthquake, he was reared in a Christian orphanage. In 1907, he was encouraged by missionaries to go to the United States to study. He initially lived in San Francisco, where he stayed for two years. He indicates that due to the large number of Japanese-speakers in the city, he was unable to effectively learn English. Consequently, he deliberately left the West Coast for the Midwest and then later the south. He eventually graduated from both high school and college in Texas, and he completed one year of graduate study at Yale University. After preaching throughout Asia for a year in 1920, he returned to California and was ordained in Gardena.

During the 1920s and 1930s Reverend Watanabe had ties to both Los Angeles Japanese Baptist Church, which later became the Evergreen Baptist Church, and the Fundamental Baptist Mission to the Japanese. The Evergreen Baptist Church, founded in 1925, served the English speaking Japanese Americans living in Boyle Heights. Located at the corner of Evergreen Avenue and East 2nd Street, the congregation blossomed into a vibrant and growing Asian American church. Reverend Watanabe planted himself at the Fundamental Baptist Mission to the Japanese after his time at the Los Angeles Japanese Baptist Church.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged alphabetically within each series based on themes assigned by Reverend Watanabe. Within his organization Reverend Watanabe created distinctions between his materials by labeling a small portion as sermon notes and the rest as sermon outlines. The collection is broken down as follows:

Series 1: Sermon Notes

Series 2: Sermon Outlines

Series 1 contains sermon notes covering the following subjects with sermon titles:

Bible: What is Bible, Regarding Bible, Value of Bible (3 sermons total)

Churches: Seven Churches in Asia, Seven Duties of Church Members, What is a Church?, A Church and Its Mission (4 sermons total)

Education: The Education of Children and the Attitudes of Parents, Children Centered Principle, Abstinence from Drinking Viewed From Eugenics, Children and Religion (4 sermons total) Life: Life in Fullness, Road of Life, Bread of Life, Life in Abundance (4 sermons total)

Prayer: No title available (1 sermon total)

Series 2 contains sermon notes covering the following subjects with sermon titles:

Biography: The First Person Who Was Baptized in Japan (1 sermon total)

Evangelism: Methods of Missionary Work, Promotion of Missionary Work (2 sermons total)

Family: An Ideal Family for Christians (1 sermon total)

God: Think God, Study of the Lord’s Prayer, As If You Were Him (3 sermons total)

Gospel: What is Gospel? (1 sermon total)

Greatness: The Highest Objective of a Human Being, The Greatest Happiness, The World’s Greatest Power, The Largest Needs of the World, Three Conditions to Live the Greatest Life, The Biggest Project for a Human Being (6 sermons total)

Heaven: Eternal Dwelling, Is Heaven in the Coming Life or in the Present? View of Afterlife in Christianity, Hope in Heaven, Workers in Heaven (5 sermons total)

The Holy Spirit: What is the Holy Spirit? Who Is The Holy Spirit? Receive the Holy Spirit, Receive the Holy Spirit (4 sermons total)

Love: Love is the Greatest, Love of Neighbor, Tears of Patriots, Life with Love, Love is a Final Victory, The Measure of Love (6 sermons total)

People: What is People? Where Should I Seek a Land Where I can Live in Peace? Raise a Man of Character, Five Story Pagoda of Life, Purpose in Life, Value of Human Spirit (6 sermons total)

Reassurance: True Reassurance (1 sermon total)

Rising, Rebirth: Rising of Lazarus, Power of Rebirth, Our Way Ahead, Revive! Regarding Easter (5 sermons total)

Sacrifice: Life of Self Sacrificing Dedication, Become an Iron Kettle (2 sermons total)

Salvation: Now is the Day of Salvation, Road to New Birth, A Saved Person, Is Salvation Grace or Act?

Sin: Sin and Punishment: What is Sin? The Price of Sin is Death (2 sermons total)

Worship: The Spirit of Worship (1 sermon total)

Physical location:
Japanese American National Museum 100 North Central Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90012
Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Lauren Zuchowski
Date Prepared:
© 2015
Date Encoded:
Machine-readable finding aid created by Lauren Zuchowski. Machine-readable finding aid derived from MS Word. Date of source: January 5, 2015.

Access and use

Restrictions:

By appointment only. Please contact the Collections Management and Access Unit by email (collections@janm.org)

Terms of access:

All requests for permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be submitted to the Collections Management and Access Unit at the Japanese American National Museum (collections@janm.org).

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Paul Watanabe sermons. 2004.160, Japanese American National Museum. Los Angeles, CA.

Location of this collection:
Collections Management & Access Unit
100 North Central Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012, US
Contact:
213-625-0414
collections@janm.org
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