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"Shusaku Endo's classic novel of enduring faith in dangerous times "Silence I regard as a masterpiece, a lucid and elegant drama."--The New York Times Book Review Seventeenth-century Japan: Two Portuguese Jesuit priests travel to a country hostile to their religion, where feudal lords force the faithful to publicly renounce their beliefs. Eventually captured and forced to watch their Japanese Christian brothers lay down their lives for their faith, the priests bear witness to unimaginable cruelties that test their own beliefs. Shusaku Endois one of the most celebrated and well-known Japanese fiction writers of the twentieth century, and Silence is widely considered to be his great masterpiece"--… (more)
soylentgreen23: Although not from the same period exactly, Endo's 'Silence' is another great book about the incursion into Japan of foreign culture, this time in the form of the Christian Church, and what happened in Japan when that religion was suddenly rejected by the ruling class.… (more)
Dilara86: Déboires de la Compagnie de Jésus au Japon, du point de vue de François Xavier pour l'Extrémité du monde, et du point de vue d'un missionnaire du XVIIe, Sébastien Rodrigues, pour Silence.
Read this in preparation for my trip to Nagasaki during Holy Week and Easter. I tried to read it before around the time the Scorsese movie came out but didn't get beyond the first few pages. This time went through it in a few days, perhaps having since then become a weekly Mass goer again and much more aware of the history of Catholicism in Nagasaki.
Even though I like Inoue, the priest Rodrigues main tormentor, knew where it would end, it wasn't just an interesting philosophical or theological discussion, but the narrative was strong and drove the discussion. Rodrigues often discussed how Kichijiro would be a great Christian if times were easy, though he is also talking about himself by the end. Yet all the Christians in the book suffer for their faith, but even though there is a lot to think about in how torture and violence is used to "persuade" people -- or yourself -- especially in our age, people often do things they dislike just to get along, thinking we are helping out ourselves and others in the short or long run. How much are you willing to sacrifice to stay true to ourselves and our faith while living in society, especially if you live in one which does not share your values? Even though Endo pushes his characters to their extreme, that is at the heart of the book.
While being myself a Christian, I am always afraid that books written by Christian authors turn out to be 'preachy' or pretend that if you only believe in God everything will turn out fine. I therefore rather avoid Christian books. This book, however, is something else entirely. It has sharp edges, very disturbing scenes, ask difficult questions and has the courage not to answer them. The characters Endo creates are superb and real. I am very glad the great Martin Scorsece is making a movie about this, so more people can discover this masterpiece. ( )
Who else but Endo is credited with the notion of, "an ordeal such that, please note, the ethical is the temptation."—Silence (and Trembling) (1966). Given he is writing over a century after this combination of words has appeared on paper somewhere, we are not shocked by the nature of the final temptation, though perhaps bemused that our protagonists are unprepared to exegete around it.
The close reader will apprehend that the absence of a language barrier is due to the fact that, by their due diligence in preparation for this journey, our priests have watched a lot of anime on videocassette. ( )
"This country is a swamp. . . . Whenever you plant a sapling in this swamp the roots begin to rot; the leaves grow yellow and wither."
--Cristóvão Ferreira
"They twisted God to their own way of thinking in a way we can never imagine. . . . It is like a butterfly caught in a spider's web. At first it is certainly a butterfly, but the next day only the externals, the wings and the trunk, are those of a butterfly; it has lost its true reality and has become a skeleton. In Japan our God is just like that butterfly caught in the spider's web: only the exterior form of God remains, but it has already become a skeleton." --Cristóvão Ferreira
It was not against the Lord of Chikugo and the Japanese that he had fought. Gradually he had come to realize that it was against his own faith that he had fought.
How many of our Christians, if only they had been born in another age from this persecution, would never have been confronted with the problem of apostasy or martyrdom but would have lived blessed lives of faith until the very hour of death.
Behind the depressing silence of this sea, the silence of God... the feeling that while men raise their voices in anguish God remains with holded arms silent. (p. 61)
On the day of my death, too, will the world go relentlessly on its way, indifferent just as now? (p. 119)
I prayed with all my strength; but God did nothing. (p. 168)
"You are now going to perform the most painful act of love that has ever been performed," said Ferreira, taking the priest gently by the shoulder. (p. 170)
And then the Christ in bronze speaks to the priest: Trample! Trample! I more than anyone know the pain in your foot. Trample! It was to be trampled on by men that I was born into this world. It was to share men's pain that I carried my cross." (p. 171)
Everything that had taken place until now had been necessary to bring him to this love. "Even now I am the last priest in this land. But Our Lord was not silent Even if he had been silent, my life until this day would have spoken of him." (p. 191)
Last words
These expenses of the funeral were paid out of the money San'emon had left.
"Shusaku Endo's classic novel of enduring faith in dangerous times "Silence I regard as a masterpiece, a lucid and elegant drama."--The New York Times Book Review Seventeenth-century Japan: Two Portuguese Jesuit priests travel to a country hostile to their religion, where feudal lords force the faithful to publicly renounce their beliefs. Eventually captured and forced to watch their Japanese Christian brothers lay down their lives for their faith, the priests bear witness to unimaginable cruelties that test their own beliefs. Shusaku Endois one of the most celebrated and well-known Japanese fiction writers of the twentieth century, and Silence is widely considered to be his great masterpiece"--
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Group Read, July 2015: Silence
Wikipedia in English (1)
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Even though I like Inoue, the priest Rodrigues main tormentor, knew where it would end, it wasn't just an interesting philosophical or theological discussion, but the narrative was strong and drove the discussion. Rodrigues often discussed how Kichijiro would be a great Christian if times were easy, though he is also talking about himself by the end. Yet all the Christians in the book suffer for their faith, but even though there is a lot to think about in how torture and violence is used to "persuade" people -- or yourself -- especially in our age, people often do things they dislike just to get along, thinking we are helping out ourselves and others in the short or long run. How much are you willing to sacrifice to stay true to ourselves and our faith while living in society, especially if you live in one which does not share your values? Even though Endo pushes his characters to their extreme, that is at the heart of the book.