The Encyclopedia of World Religions

Jehovah’s Witnesses S 235

which had never previously been combined into a single word.) Jehovah’s Witnesses consider themselves Christians. Some of their teachings differ, however, from the beliefs of other Christians. On the basis of their reading of the Bible, Witnesses believe that God is Jehovah, not a TRINITY . They also believe that J ESUS was not divine but the first of God’s crea tures, that he was killed on a stake, not a cross, and that he rose from the dead as a spirit, not a person. Because of these and other beliefs, some Christians refuse to recognize the Witnesses as a form of C HRISTIANITY . The movement began with a Bible study group organized by Charles Taze Russell in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, now a part of Pittsburgh, in 1872. That group adopted a millenarian view; that is, it believed that the end of times was at hand. It quickly grew, and in 1909 it moved its headquar ters to Brooklyn, New York. Originally organized as the Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society in 1881, it adopted the name Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1931. The Witnesses believe that the “Gentile Times” ended in 1914. They further believe that when Christ returns, those who have been faith ful will be raised from the dead to live on Earth forever. Specially anointed persons, numbering 144,000, will be transformed and taken to heaven to rule there with C HRIST forever. The Witnesses have predicted that the second coming of Christ would occur on several dates, but these predic tions have not come true. Witnesses meet three times a week for WOR SHIP and study. One meeting is usually on Sunday. They meet in special structures known as Kingdom Halls, but some meetings also take place in homes. Elders or officially recognized assistants lead the meetings, which include PRAYER , singing, and dis cussions of the Bible, guided by official publica tions. Witnesses also practice how to teach the Bible and their beliefs in public. Indeed, witnesses are probably best known for their door-to-door proselytizing and their publications, The Watch tower and Awake! All Witnesses are expected to proselytize, and their activities are carefully orga nized and recorded.

that had supported temples and monasteries, found its place as Japan’s prosperity increased. The great est growth, however, was in the so-called new reli gions, like Tenrikyo, Konkokyo, and above all the Nichiren-related Soka Gakkai movement ( see J APAN , NEW RELIGIONS OF ). These religions had deep roots in Japanese cultural attitudes, yet were not tainted by association with the prewar regime as were main line Shinto and Buddhism. They also found ways to relate to the needs of ordinary individuals. So it is that new things, from Buddhism to the latest new religion, have piled up on top of the still living Shinto substratum of Japanese religion. But virtually all have in common basic Japanese reli gious attitudes: acceptance of pluralism or many faiths, traditionalism, and a support of Confucian moral values centering on family and community loyalty. Further reading: H. Byron Earhart, Japanese Religion: Unity and Diversity, 4th ed. (Belmont, Calif.: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2004); Robert S. Ellwood and Richard Pilgrim, Japanese Religion: A Cultural Perspective (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1985); Ian Reader, Religion in Contemporary Japan. (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1991); Michiko Yusa, Japanese Religious Traditions (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2002). Jehovah’s Witnesses A Christian movement that began in the United States in the 1870s. Wit nesses is the name that members believe God wants them to use for themselves. Jehovah is an old rendering of YHWH, the name of God used in the Hebrew Scriptures ( see SCRIPTURES , H EBREW ). (Written Hebrew originally had no vowels, so God’s name was written YHWH. But in antiq uity Jews stopped speaking God’s name and used a different word instead: Adonai, “The Lord.” When vowels were added to the text of the B IBLE , the writers used the vowels for Adonai, because no one actually said YHWH. Jehovah resulted when early English translators, whose knowl edge of Hebrew was limited, tried to combine the consonants of YHWH and the vowels of Adonai,