ABSTRACT
In1904,theofficialsatWasedaUniversitysentHatanoto Germany.TherehestudiedatBerlinandHeidelberguniversities.InBerlin,HarnackandOttoPfeidererwerelecturing, andatHeidelbergheheardthelecturesofJohannesWeiss,E. TroeltschandA.Deissmann.AlthoughhisinterestsinChristianitydatedtoatimemuchearlierthanhisstudiesabroad (hewasbaptizedabouttheyea:::1902),theseinterestsincreased greatlybecauseofthecontactsandlecturesfoundintheGerman universities.Uponhisreturnin1906,heresumedteaching~t Waseda.In1907,hewasaskedtoserveasatemporaryreplacementforAnesakiMasaharu,whoheldthechairofscience<.)f religionatTokyoUniversity.Anesaki,well-knownforhisbook onJapanesereligion,wentabroadforashortperiod.During thistime,HatanopublishedKirisutokyonokigena(TheOrigins ofChristianity),whichappearedin1908.Thisworkcaused quiteastir,becauseitwasthefirsttimethattheGermantext kritik,thehistorico-philologicalmethodofanalyzingtheGospels,ofW.BoussetandK.Wiezsaeckerwasintroducedinto Japan.Itshouldbenoted,however,thatHatano'sviewchanged inhislaterbutsimilarbookPrimitiveChristianity,whichwa.s preparedin1950.Inthislaterwork,Hatanotriedtoovercome thehistorico-textualmethodwithadeeperstudyoftheessence ofChristianity.This,however,belongedtohislaterphase,in whichhecultivatedthephilosophyofreligionmorethanitshis-
tivesoftheirrespectivecultures.Thefirstworkonthephilosophyofreligioninthisperiod(1920)wasShukyotetsugakuno honshitsuoyobisonokomponmondai(TheEssenceand FundamentalProblemofthePhilosophyofReligion).This work,however,wasbutapreparationforthreeothervolumes, consideredtopresentHatano'sphilosophyofreligioninamore systematicmanner.Hetendedtorefutethepositivistbiasof thenineteenthcenturyhistoriansofreligion.Theinfluenceof Kant'scriticalmethodwasclearlyinevidenceinthiswork,as wellasinthearticlewhichhewroteforIwanami'sGreat PhilosophicalDictionaryin1922.Writingaboutthescience ofreligion,hesaidthatthisscience,ifitdidnotwanttoignore thebestaspectsofreligion,mustnotlimititselftoapurely historicalconsideration.Historywasbutastartingpointfor theunderstandingofthereligiousexperiencewhichwasthe paramountelementinphilosophyofreligion.2
