Woodard, William P. (William Parsons), 1896-1973

Congregational Christian Churches missionary to Japan, 1921-1941 and 1952-1966, and scholar on Japanese religions.

William P. Woodard was an American scholar of religion in Japan and a missionary to Japan for the Congregational Christian Church from 1921-1941 and 1952-1966. During the Allied occupation of Japan, Woodard advised leaders on religious policy and law as Chief of the Religious Research Unit.

William P. Woodard was a Congregational Christian Churches missionary to Japan from 1921-1941 and 1952-1966, and a scholar on Japanese religions.

William Parsons Woodard was born September 10, 1896, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He attended public schools in Kalamazoo and graduated from Kalamazoo College with a history degree in 1918. After a short period of military service as a sergeant during World War I, Woodard continued his education at Union Theological Seminary, graduating in 1921.

In the same year, Woodard with his wife Harriet Mead Woodard, went to Japan as a missionary of the American board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (Congregational Christian Churches). After three years of language school, he worked six years in Sapporo, followed by five years in Keijo (Seoul, Korea), and in 1935, once again in Japan. During this latter period, he served as secretary in the headquarters of the Kumiai Christian Church. In September, 1941, as a result of worsening political conditions preceding World War II, he returned to the United States.

From 1942 to 1947, Woodard served in the U.S. Navy as an intelligence officer, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He returned to Japan in October, 1945, with the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey. In 1946, he accepted appointments as Chief of the Religious Research Branch, Special Projects Officer, and Advisor in Religions and Cultural Resources within the Religions and Cultural Resources Division, Civil Information and Education Section of the allied command. In this capacity, he worked closely with Japanese religious leaders on issues related to military shrines and state religion, and assisted in the development of the Religious Juridical Persons Law. After 1947, Woodard retained these positions as a civilian employee until the end of the occupation in 1952.

After a year in the United States, Woodard once again returned to Japan and founded the International Institute for the Study of Religions, which assisted scholars of all nationalities in the study of religions in Japan. Woodard served as director of the Institute and editor of its English language journal, Contemporary Religions in Japan, until 1966. He also wrote articles on religion for the Japan Times from 1962 to 1966, and contributed regularly to other newspapers and journals.

His first wife died I 1956. Woodard later married Margaret Cuddeback, a missionary and Y.W.C.A secretary when he met her. In 1961, he received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Kalamazoo College. After returning to the United States, Woodard lectured at Claremont Graduate School from 1966 to 1972. During this time he also continued to research and write about the religious policies during the occupation of Japan. This study culminated I the publication of his book, The Allied Occupation of Japan and Japanese Religions, in 1972.

Woodard died February 20, 1973, in Pomona, California at the age of 76.