Masao Takenaka (June 9, 1925 – August 17, 2006)[1] was a Japanese theologian who taught for over 40 years at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan, where he was a Professor of Christian Ethics and Sociology of Religion.
[1][4] He began his studies at Kyoto University, but was drafted into the Japanese army during World War II and sent to Hokkaido.
[1] After the war, he completed a degree in business and then studied theology at Doshisha.
[1][5][6] He returned to Japan, where he became a volunteer leader of the United Church of Christ in Japan, and then served a term as vicar in Kurashiki before joining the Doshisha faculty.
[1] Takenaka was a proponent of ecumenism, an opponent of the concept of the divinity of the Emperor of Japan, and (later in his life) a promoter of Christian art.