Silence

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Silence

• By Shusaku Endo

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Why are we reading this?

• Examines one of our main themes global
  Christianity
• can Christianity be translated into Japanese
  culture, or is Christianity inherently Western?
• Why did the Christian missions to Asia not work
  out like the Christian missions to the Americas?
• What can we learn about Jesuits from this period?

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• Asks classic theological questions and resists
  easy answers
• Why is God silent when those who love him are
  suffering?
• How do we deal with human failures and weakness?
• How does religion obscure God (Christ) even as it
  teaches good and true things?
• What is the meaning of Jesus suffering death?

4

• Model to us for one foot in present world, one in
  the past.
• How is Endo writing about his own experience as a
  20th century Japanese Catholic, with doubts and
  serious questions, even as he writes about a very
  different historical setting?
• How does the historical setting become a powerful
  way of exploring his questions (by removing him
  from his immediate context)?

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Endo (1923-96)

• Japanese Catholic
• Unlike his peers Less than 1 of Japanese
  population is Christian
• Studied in France, felt alienated from Western
  Christianity
• Central problem how to reconcile these two parts
  of himself
• Silence first published 1969 bestseller in Japan
• Like his other novels, raises more questions than
  it answers

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Christianity in 1600s Japan

• First brought by Francis Xavier (1549) later
  Italian and Jesuit missionaries (1579)
• By 1600, ca. 300,000 Christians (total pop 20
  million)
• First tolerated, then persecuted
• Japanese rulers fear new religion will prepare
  for political interference

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Persecutions

• 1597 26 missionaries crucified
• 1614 Missionaries expelled
• Major change make Christians apostatize
• glorious death of a martyr increased devotion
  to the cause
• So, focus shifted to worse forms of torture, not
  killing
• Purpose utterly stamp out Christianity

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Themes

• Evolution of Rodrigues
• Gods silence in the face of suffering
• Martyrdom theology of glory, or theology of the
  cross?
• Kichijiro what of the coward who apostatizes? Of
  human weakness and failures?
• Jesuit spirituality
• visualizing the face of Christ
• Looking for God in all things
• Indigenous Christianity how has this been
  inculturated?

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Questions

• What is the character of Rodrigues?
• Is he arrogant? Courageous? Genuine?
• Why does he need to defend Ferreira?
• What do you think of Kichijiro?
• How do you understand the Japanese Christians?
• How does Endo depict the physical environment?

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Things to watch for

• How and where does Endo discuss silence? Can you
  actually hear any sounds, from his narrative
  description?
• How does Rodrigues begin to change?
• How does Rodrigues see Christ? Is the image
  always the same, or does it change?
• Is Kichijiro a redeemable character?