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Silence

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can Christianity be translated into Japanese culture, or is Christianity inherently Western? ... 300,000 Christians (total pop: 20 million) First tolerated, ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Silence


1
Silence
  • By Shusaku Endo

2
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?

3
  • 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)?

5
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

6
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

7
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

8
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?

9
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?

10
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?
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