From Reality and Religion to Before the Dawn: How the Reception of Sundar Singh and Toyohiko Kagawa’s Works Taught North American Audiences to Call Asian Theology Mystical in the 1920s

In May 1925, the New York Times reviewed Toyohiko Kagawa’s Before the Dawn, a Japanese bestseller that helped to bring Kagawa national public recognition both at home and in the United States. North Americans reviewers labeled Kagawa a mystic comparable to American spiritualists such Walt Whitman. But why was Kagawa, who in the Japanese context was primarily known and recognized as a social reformer, termed a mystic? Kagawa’s significance and his representation to American audiences as a mystic is best explained against the backdrop of another Asian Christian author who was published during the 1920s – Sundar Singh. Singh was a Sikh convert who lived as a Christian sadhu, or holy man, and became internationally famous through his books and speaking tours. Like Kagawa, Singh and his theological writings were largely discussed as mystical. This paper looks at Singh and Kagawa’s reception during the 1920s within the context of North American interest in mysticism and non-traditional religious movements and seeks to understand 1) how the reception of Singh informed the reception of Kagawa, and 2) how the publishing successes of both men shaped the North American religious imagination with regards to Asian Christianity and theology.