GRACEMAIL SUBSCRIBER HONORED AS CO- FOUNDER OF JAPANESE UNIVERSITY
Harry Robert Fox, 94, is an enthusiastic gracEmail subscriber. But far more than that, he is a true Jesus man who, even on hospice care, seems not to think of his own interests as he seeks to tell everyone he encounters about the Savior.
Fox was born in 1921 in Tokyo to parents who were gospel missioners supported by Churches of Christ. Their diligent and patient labors produced very little visible fruit. Their efforts were resisted and opposed by the Japanese people and government alike. Young Harry Robert Fox pondered how to communicate with the Japanese in a way that they would listen. The thought of a Christian university gradually came to mind, and Harry began to dream of starting a Christian university that could teach the gospel and the Bible to young Japanese at a formative period of their lives.
The Fox family left Japan before World War Two. Japan’s defeat in that war led to the end of the national myth that revered the Emperor as divine. This, in turn, helped create an openness to the gospel never seen before in Japan. When the War ended, a humiliated Japan threw open the doors to missionaries. Harry Robert Fox and his family were among the first Christian evangelists to return to Japan.
In 1947, Fox, his brother Logan, their father Harry Sr., and a few others purchased 35 acres just northeast of Tokyo, and founded Ibaraki Christian University. It soon had an enrollment of 60 students, Today it has 4,000. The school’s growth is due in part to the fact that it is located adjacent to a railroad station, something no other university in Japan can claim, but an important consideration for a school full of commuters and day students.
Jim Batten, the school’s current president, recently traveled from Japan to Utah to visit Fox in person as the university prepares to celebrate its 70th birthday next year.
Fox is clear and certain about the school’s perseverance and its success. We took advantage of the opportunity, he said. Its not enough to have just academic excellence, you have to have a religious foundation.
To read more details about Fox, Japan, and Ibaraki Christian University, go to: www.heraldextra.com/
VIDEO WITH HOOPER
Walter Hooper was for a while secretary to C. S. Lewis and is arguably the number one expert on Lewis’ works. Author and host Eric Metaxes had a 72-minute conversation with Hooper last summer about many matters concerning Lewis, and the video of that is still available. To see it go to: blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/