Shinto Spirituality with Professor Delmer Brown

JAPAN and SHINTO. In this program, we look at the ancient Shinto religion with one of the world’s foremost scholars on the history of Shinto, Fulbright Scholar and Professor Delmer Brown.Dr. Brown (a few months from his 101st birthday in this interview) holds a Ph. D. in Japanese history from Stanford University and is professor emeritus of history at the University of California at Berkeley. He is the executive director of the Center for Shinto Studies and adjunct Professor of Shinto at Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley. From 1946 to 1977, Dr. Brown was a professor of Japanese history at UC Berkeley, and was chairman of the history department from 1957 to 1961 and 1971-1975. He was director of the Tokyo office of the Asian Foundation from and a humanities research scholar in Kyoto. Among his many works, Dr. Brown is the co-translator of "Studies in Shinto Thought" by Muraoka Tsunetsu, and of the "Gukansho" by Jien. He also edited and contributed to "The Cambridge History of Japan" and has published numerous articles on Japanese religion and history. Dr Brown has been honored numerous times for his contribution to the education of scholars of Japanese history and the promotion of academic exchange between Japan and the United States. In this hour, he discusses the origins of Shinto, the indigenous belief system of the Japanese people; gods and goddesses; the different types of Shinto – State Shinto, post-war Shinto, and contemporary Shinto; basic Shinto beliefs, including impurity, purification, and the Afterlife; the  guiding concept of harmony in all Shinto; the Summit Strategy initiative and how it has been molded by Presidents Washington, Polk, Truman and Nixon; the best ‘next steps’ for Obama; and much more.