![]() ![]() Rather, there is a brutality and cruelty which he had never imagined. There is no glory in these martyrdoms, as Rodriguez had always imagined. Rodriguez and Garpe are eventually captured by the authorities and witness horrific circumstances as they watch the Japanese Christians laying down their lives for the faith. Half of the book is the written journal of Rodrigues, while the other half of the book is either written in a third person format, or contains the letters of others associated with the narrative. Finding this impossible to believe, the Priests Rodrigues and Garpe make the dangerous journey from Portugal to Japan in order to live as missionaries among the Japanese and also to find out what the truth is of Ferreira’s fate. The novel takes place in the 1630s after a Jesuit priest in Japan named Ferreira is reported to have apostatized from the faith. It belongs on our bookshelves next to Walker Percy’s The Moviegoer and the writings of Flannery O’Connor in the sense that it asks the hard questions, pushes the reader in painful ways, and does not offer preachy or simple answers. I will try to make the case here that Christians need to be made more aware of this book. Reading this book was a remarkable experience for me. So while I am not sympathetic with Endo’s larger project, I found myself utterly captivated by Silence. I do not agree with Endo that Christianity must change in order to be received, but that discussion is beyond the scope of this book review. ![]() It’s a bit more persuasive when one considers that less than 1% of people in Japan are Christian. It seems harder to believe here in the West where most people still preserve some nominally religious veneer. Of course, this is a popular modern theme, this idea that Christianity will wither and die if it does not change with the times. This I think is the ‘mud swamp’ Japanese in me.” So for Endo, Christianity can never really take root in Japan unless it changes, transforms, or adapts. Endo sees a struggle within his own heart away from his Catholicism, and in one interview said that in spite of his own religious upbringing, “there was always that feeling in my heart that it was something borrowed, and I began to wonder what my real self was like. From reading the translator’s preface, one can see that there are autobiographical aspects to this argument. One of Endo’s repeating themes in this book is that Japan is a “swamp” which takes, changes, and transforms ideologies until they no longer resemble their former selves. One of Endo’s enduring themes is the incompatibility of Christianity (or any other religion) with the Japanese culture. ![]() I speak of this book as neither a Catholic, nor as someone with any special or unique knowledge of the history of Christianity in Japan. Shusaku Endo’s book Silence, a fictionalized account of true events, was written in the 1960s by a Roman Catholic. The tortures exacted on the Christians of Japan during this time are horrifying to consider. ![]() The Jesuits came to Japan in 1549, and while I should not (and cannot) here give a history of Christianity in Japan, it is worth admitting that the 1630s and 40s were a time of unbearable persecution. My suspicion is that the majority of Christians in the west, much like myself, have never heard about the earliest Catholic missions to Japan in the 17th Century. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |