Theologian and academician Tokiyuki Nobuhara has one...

Theologian and academician Tokiyuki Nobuhara has one foot in Japan and one in America--the perfect stance for a leader of an international Buddhist-Christian dialogue movement.

His mission, as chaplain and professor of philosophy and theology at Keiwa College in northern Japan and executive director of East-West Christian Associates in Claremont, is to promote bicultural understanding on a deep level.

“Philosophical understanding--not trade friction, currency values or social or political customs--is at the bottom of our important differences,” said Nobuhara, who is an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ in Japan.

“The spiritual encounter between the Christian-based Western culture and the Buddhist-based Japanese culture is the most important historical event of our time,” he said. He points out that British historian Arnold Toynbee said as much in his 1948 book, “Civilization on Trial.”

Nevertheless, Nobuhara has made some of his own observations on the two cultures since receiving doctorates in 1978 and 1981 from the School of Theology at Claremont and Claremont Graduate School.

What underlies all other perceptions in Western culture, he says, is the concept of God as a person-like creator/agent who acts on the world. “Here we believe that, like God, one can act and thereby realize ‘invisible possibilities’ in the world,” he said.

Because of this reality, in Western culture, he explained, “one has to have a calling, a sense of mission, directivity. Purpose and idealism are so basic to this culture,” he said, “that, if you lose hope here, you are nobody. Westerners don’t understand that this is peculiar to their culture,” he notes.

In Eastern culture, he continues, being empty or invisible--a “nobody”--is by no means a negative thing. “Far from acting as a creator in the world, man not only accepts the status quo, but actually aspires to a state of emptiness, or ego-lessness, in order both to further the common good and experience the ultimate harmony of being at one with nature,” he said.

Nobuhara studies how each philosophy can inform, and transform, the other. “At this stage of our civilization,” he said, “it is important to understand how deep our cultural loyalty is. We all need to be cultivating a higher type of loyalty to an emergent global civilization.”

In 1985, Nobuhara created a joint research seminar with the American Academy of Religions on Zen-inspired Nishida Buddhism and the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, on which Process Studies is based. That year, Nobuhara also founded the East-West Process Studies Project, which fostered dialogue between Buddhist and Christian scholars. Now called East-West Christian Associates, the organization holds conferences and has incorporated non-academics. It is affiliated with the Center for Process Studies in Claremont and associated with the larger, Hawaii-based Society for Buddhist-Christian Studies.

From 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Sept. 9, Nobuhara will present a free seminar entitled, “In What Sense is God With Us, Fundamentally?” at the Center for Process Studies, 1325 N. College Ave., Claremont. (800) 626-7829, Ext. 224.

DATES

* Cardinal Roger M. Mahony will be among the recipients of the 1993 Seton awards, to be presented at the 1993 National Catholic Educational Assn. Sept. 13 in Washington, D.C.

* The Los Angeles Chapter of the Biblical Archaeology Society meets at 7:30 p.m. the first Friday of each month at the Glendale Federal Bank’s community room, 100 S. 1st St. in Arcadia, to hear scholars and discuss the history, archeology and geography of the Bible from different perspectives. Its September, 1993, to August, 1994, programs will feature presentations on findings pertaining to religious holy days of Jews and Christians. The society winds up its membership year Friday with a 6:30 p.m. barbecue at a home in Temple City, followed by a talk by Lorraine Schultz. Her topic is “Customs and Lifestyles from Cape Town to Sinai: How They Help Us Understand Biblical Characters.” For information on the barbecue or future meetings, phone (818) 843-1357 or (818) 917-0644.

* My Jewish Discovery Place, an interactive children’s museum and cultural arts center, will kick off a new exhibit, “Our Sephardic Communities: Through the Eyes of Children,” at 6:45 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 9, with a fund-raising reception featuring ethnic food, music and a talk by Moshe Lazar, professor of comparative literature at USC. Admission is $50. The museum is open for group visits by reservation and also has regular public hours Wednesdays and Sundays from 12:30 p.m.-4 p.m. Museum admission is $3, $2 for children. It is in the Westside Jewish Community Center, 5870 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles. (213) 857-0036, ext. 2257.

* The Rev. Don Smith will preach on “Power and Love” at 10 a.m. Sunday, Woodland Hills Presbyterian Church, 5751 Platt Ave., Woodland Hills. (818) 346-7894.

* NarAnon meetings, for persons of any faith whose loved ones are addicted to drugs, are held at 8 p.m. Wednesdays in Room 23 of Temple Beth Hillel, 12326 Riverside Drive, North Hollywood. (213) 666-5663.

EDUCATION

* Malibu Church of Christ, in cooperation with Pepperdine University, will offer free evening Spanish classes to the public at the Malibu campus this fall. There is no registration fee. However, donations offered by students will fund a project to feed children in Tijuana, Ensenada and San Felipe in Baja California, Mexico.

Two courses will be offered. Beginning Spanish starts Sept. 13. Intermediate Spanish commences Sept. 14. Both will meet weekly at 7 p.m.-8 p.m. through mid-December in Classroom C of the Odell McConnell Law Center. Classes, taught by William Stivers, professor of foreign languages, will be televised on TV-3, the university’s student-run television station, which can be seen in the Malibu area. For information, phone (310) 456-4216.

* “Learn to Read Hebrew in a Single Day” is an intensive course designed to make worshipers comfortable in a synagogue during High Holy Day services. It is one of six classes offered during the University of Judaism’s “mini-semester” of continuing education programs.

Other classes include: a one-week Hebrew program, spiritual preparation for the High Holy Days and a discussion program for young professionals on Jewish life and relationships. Classes begin Sept. 7. Fees vary. For registration, phone (310) 476-9777, ext. 246.

BRIEFLY

The Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches has elected Larry Rodriguez of Los Angeles to its Board of Elders, the organization’s highest governing board. Los Angeles-based Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger recently made a grant of $50,000 to the Jewish community of Sarajevo that provided firewood and more than four tons of food and medicines to Jews and non-Jews in that city.