My friend Naoya Kawakami has sent news that his latest book, a theology which brings post-Fukushima realities into conversation with P. T. Forsyth’s thinking on the atonement, has just been published. It represents another reminder not only of the abiding power of good theology to speak to a context unimagined by the original author but also of the long and continuing interest in Forsyth’s work in Japan, where seventeen of Forsyth’s books have already been translated into Japanese, and four additional ones have undergone a second translation.

In addition to Naoya’s two published studies on Forsyth, two other books have also appeared in recent years, including Yutaka Morishima’s study Forsyth shingaku no kozo genri: Atonement wo megutte (A Structural Principle of P. T. Forsyth’s Theology: Through the Atonement). Yutaka also informs me that Forsyth’s book The Soul of Prayer, much loved in Japan, has now been translated into Korean. And that just last week, there was a meeting of pastors and theologians in Tokyo, the sole purpose of which was to read and discuss together Forsyth’s Faith, Freedom and the Future. I understand that the moderator of the group is working on a new translation of the book.

Also, Alan Gaunt, who once penned a wonderful poem inspired by Forsyth’s theology of the cross, has now written a delightful review of my book Hallowed Be Thy Name: The Sanctification of All in the Soteriology of P. T. Forsyth. The review, which was published in The Journal of the United Reformed Church History Society (May 2015), can be accessed here.

On a considerably more sombre note, Naoya has also asked me to share some news about the situation on the ground near Fukushima. He writes: