'Why has Deus Sama given us this trial? We have done no wrong,'
(Kichijiro, on p. 84)
The above statement is the prevailing question that arises in Shusaku Endo’s Silence, a novel that deals with the experience of Fr. Sebastian Rodrigues, a Portuguese Jesuit priest who travels to Japan to make sense of the rumor that his mentor, Fr. Christovao Ferreira, had committed apostasy—abandoning his faith in God in the face of torture.
In a land fraught with notions of anti-christianity in the wake of the Shimabara Rebellion, a paragon of the Christian faith would have a hard time adjusting, and so he had to hide his identity, hide himself with rags and hide any evidence of his religious practices. The sentiment is the same with the practicing Christians
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in Japan, who bury their religious symbols in the ground. The government, however, is not satisfied with merely letting these underground practices happen, and continue to shake down villages, searching for possible Christians. The interesting thing to note in the whole thing is the presence of a continued belief of some people in their faith. Would it not be easier to simply deny their God who has let them suffer? After all, this is a kind of suffering directly related to their faith. The prologue mentions different missionaries, being publicly tortured, with the intention to have them renounce their faith in the possible presence of those who has still believed, to shake what could be the very foundation of their belief by having those who had previously preached to them about Christianity and the goodness of the Lord turn their backs on their religion and renounce their faith, yet this attempt had backfired as none of the tortured missionaries had cried out in agony. The peasants in the island of Tomogi and Goto shows the coping mechanisms of Christians in the face of a lack of a formal structure dictated by doctrines. In the absence of priests, Tomogi had created a hierarchal clerical structure that tries to serve the same purpose as the priests (Jiisama, Tossama, Mideshi); in the absence of any religious figure or symbol whatsoever the island of Goto had contented itself with the beads of the rosary of Fr. Rodrigues. At the same time, these two islands give a glimpse as to the purpose of religion in their lives: something to hold onto. There is something about their coping mechanisms, however, that would also lead to the question of their faith. Religion has a set of doctrines, a set of sacred signs, symbols, a hierarchy all on its own, yet these two islands, due to a lack of resources, have to forego priests, forego crucifixes. In changing important elements and giving meaning to things that are not considered as part of these sacred signs, symbols, and people, are they still Christian? When the beads of a rosary are torn apart and given to the peasants in lieu of a proper crucifix, does it hold the same meaning, or does this seemingly small change lead into a bigger change than expected? This now leads into questioning the existing doctrine. Does it have to be followed letter-by-letter, and if not, how much can be changed before it becomes separate from the original doctrine? Fr. Ferreira tries to explain that maybe while the qualities of Christianity still existed, perhaps the original essence of their religion had never even existed since the beginning, that the changes that the Japanese wanted had started with the confusion of the name of the Lord, from ‘Deus’ into ‘Dainichi’ (The Great Sun, highly reminiscent of Japan’s own name, Nihon: Land of the Rising Sun). From the beginning those same Japanese who confused "Deus" and "Dainichi" twisted and changed our God and began to create something different. Even when the confusion of vocabulary disappeared the twisting and changing secretly continued. Even in the glorious missionary period you mentioned the Japanese did not believe in the Christian God but in their own distortion. (p. 227) This is a fact that had been contested by Rodrigues when confronted, refusing to believe that missionary efforts, not just his, would be considered futile. Inoue readdresses this train of thought later in the story when he mentioned to Rodrigues that the Christian farmers of Goto were not apprehended. 'If the root is cut, the sapling [sic] withers and the leaves die. The proof of this is that the God whom the peasants of Goto and Ikitsuki secretly serve has gradually changed so as to be no longer like the Christian God at all.' (p. 281 – 282) Fr. Rodrigues himself faces suffering in a form different from the acts of anazuri and crucifixion done to the people around him: emotional suffering. This begins with the rumor of Fr. Ferreira’s apostasy, which had led him to Japan in the first place. The next would be the witnessing the martyrdom of Mokichi and Ichizo, which shattered his image of the glorious martyrdom he had read so often about. There had also been the image of Fr. Garrpe jumping from the shore into the sea, shouting “Lord, hear our prayer,” instead of choosing to apostatize, but is submerged by waves from a passing boat. The question that appears now in this case is one that no longer asks why the suffering is happening (perhaps due to the non-physical orientation the ‘torture’ inflicted on Rodrigues via the torture of everyone else), but the presence of Lord in the midst of suffering. This starts to manifest itself in the question of Kichijiro about the trials given by ‘Deus sama,’. It is also alluded in Rodrigues’ boat trip after he had separated with Fr. Garrpe (p. 95 “When I was with Garrpe we could at least share our fear as one shares bread, breaking it in two; but now I was all alone in the black sea of the night and must take upon myself the cold and the darkness and everything else”), and is directly manifested during his imprisonment (p. 147 “So he prayed. But the sea remained cold, and the darkness maintained its stubborn silence. All that could be heard was the monotonous dull sound of the oars again and again.”). It leads to the central point of the story, which is alluded by the very title of the book: The silence of God in the midst of suffering. In the entirety of the story Fr. Rodrigues goes through the cycle of questioning the silence of God, and trying to explain why God has allowed this to happen, that there will be better things to come, and yet when nothing seems to happen goes back into the questioning stage. His faith may have had been wavering since the beginning of his torture, but it had never disappeared, and for the longest time, he did not succumb to the pressure of apostasy. Is apostasy really such a bad thing, however? Are the people who believe in their own distortion of Christianity doing something bad, something that maybe can also be construed as a form of renouncing the faith of the Christianity that is brought about by the missionaries? Does the act of trampling on the fumi-e somehow change the image of Christ from a sacred image to a profane image? Kichijiro is a man who had vocally apostatized more than once and yet his actions seem to speak otherwise: he had still followed the missionaries to Japan, had still cried for Santa Maria in his dreams, still brought some of the peasants of Tomogi to Fr. Rodrigues and Fr. Garrpe, still brought Fr. Rodrigues to a hopeful Goto, still hesitated before spitting on the image of the Virgin Mary, still hid Fr. Rodrigues even if he did betray him for 300 silvers (“Judas had sold Our Lord for thirty pieces of silver; I was worth ten times as much.”), but in the very end asked for confession. The question of the selfishness of apostatizing is also raised, also seen in the actions of Kichijiro, at how easily he seems to be able to trample on the fumi-e, to spit on the image of the virgin mary. If apostatizing can be selfish, however, can non-apostatizing also be construed as a selfish act? The apostatizing of Fr.
Ferreira (who had claimed the name and the family of Sawano Chuan afterwards) is the momentum of the story in which Fr. Rodrigues continues to find the truth of, and when he does find out that this had been the truth, he does not want to believe it. Yet Fr. Ferreira points out that there is also a sense of selfishness in the refusal to apostatize. If Fr. Rodrigues had apostatized in the first place, then maybe the martyrdom of Mokichi and Ichizo would not happen. If Fr. Garrpe had apostatized instead of jumping into the sea, then the two captive Christians wouldn’t have also been tossed into the sea. This is further realized in the words of the interpreter of the Lord of Chikugo (“You came to this country to lay down your life for them. But in fact they are laying down their lives for you”). He had hated Fr. Ferreira for apostatizing, and he had hated himself for apostatizing, and though they might have apostatized for different reasons, “They hated one another's ugliness; they despised one another; but that's what they were—two inseparable twins.” (p. 267). He tries to validate his own apostatizing, saying that the fumi-e told him to “'Trample! Trample! It is to be trampled on by you that I am here, ” and Inoue scoffs at this, saying that what he had been telling himself had been something that of self-deception, and Fr. Rodrigues himself wonders to himself of his own motives for apostasy
But, Lord, you alone know that I did not renounce my faith. The clergy will ask themselves why I fell. Was it because the torture of the pit was unendurable? Yes. I could not endure the moaning of those peasants suspended in the pit. As Ferreira spoke to me his tempting words, I thought that if I apostatized those miserable peasants would be saved. Yes, that was it. And yet, in the last analysis, I wonder if all this talk about love is not , after all , just an excuse to justify my own weakness (p.
263) And perhaps apostatizing cannot be truly evil. There can also be a sense of martyrdom in the act of apostatizing, wherein one vocally sacrifices his/her own belief in order for others to survive. In this case maybe Fr. Rodrigues was taken captive by his own faith, and he had to realize that the vocal renouncement of faith does not clearly define that he is no longer truly faithful. Maybe the apostasy had truly started in the beginning, where they had to hide and camouflage and in the end maybe Fr. Rodrigues’ belief itself was no longer the Christian belief that he had brought along with him from Portugal. Was God truly silent in the face of suffering, or had he been there from the beginning, gently goading Fr. Rodrigues into apostatizing, into trampling onto the fumi-e in order to be free of his emotional conflict? Maybe it was God’s plan for him to escape from the captivity of doctrine, of sacred signs and symbols, in order for him to truly realize his faith. He might not have been a Christian any longer, but his experiences had paved a way for him to understand what it is like to truly believe, to go beyond the symbolisms of signs and symbols, and to say that this is not all, that he is not just defined by the title of ‘Father,’ or of a specific religion. His name may have changed into Okada San’emon, but at the heart of it all he is still Sebastian Rodrigues, who still believes in God. 1
In the book, Matteo Ricci, a pious Christian, tried to impress the Chinese by using his memory skills. He also hoped that they can be interested in his culture and thus interested in God (p. 140). Under that time fierce political and financial situation and religious fermentation, it was really tough for Ricci and other preachers to preach in China. In order to reach goal which make the people in China believe in god, they went through a lot of difficulties. But also because of these difficulties, they shattered Ricci’s original dream which was easy to preaching in a different country into pieces. Ricci and others thus tried to find another accessible and more realistic way to achieve their goals.
In Miguel de Unamuno’s novella San Manuel Bueno, Martyr, readers learn about the life of Don Manuel, a Catholic priest secretly holding atheist beliefs and doubts in the afterlife. Despite these disbeliefs, Don Manuel works tirelessly to help his community and is regarded as a saint by all who meet him, hence the handle “San Manuel,” which literally translates to “Saint Manuel.” Don Manuel’s struggle and affiliation with sainthood receives further analysis and context from Francisco LaRubia-Prado, who parallels Unamuno’s novella to elements of Greek Tragedy and heroism. Drawing from Unamuno’s background with Ancient Greek playwriting and Sigmund Freud’s Totem and Taboo, LaRubia-Prado argues that Don Manuel should be seen as a representation of Christ and must suffer in silence in order to play the role of the dying, tragic hero that saves the
In Dryden's Lucretius, the speaker argues that (1) Love is a sickness, (2) Love's sickness enslaves, and (3) all attempts to remedy Love's sickness are vain and will only frustrate the lover. Just as Milton's Adam and Eve become enslaved to sin by disobeying God, so mankind becomes enslaved to Love when pierced with Cupid's "winged arrow". In Milton, there is redemption and freedom through Christ, but in Dryden, no salvation from love is possible. This poem leaves mankind in a hopeless, frustrated state, unable to break free from love's yoke. This essay will center on the last heroic couplet: "All wayes they try, successeless all they prove,/To cure the secret sore of lingering love".
This paper will outline specific points in Saint Augustine’s Confessions that highlight religious views following the fall of Rome. Though Augustines views on religion may not reflect that of most people in his time period, it still gives valuable insight into how many, namely Neoplatonists,, viewed God and his teachings.
The second circle of hell, a realm for those who fell victim of their carnal desires, is another level at which to place Augustine’s soul for he was consumed by lust in his pre-conversion days. He was encouraged by his family to learn the art of persuasion and making of fine speech when he was only sixteen. He used these skills, which he developed very well, along with his good looks to seduce as many women as possible. It was “in that sixteenth year of my life in this world, when the madness of lust. . . took complete control of me, and I surrendered to it” (Confessions, 987). He was in love with being in love. Yet, he was unable to discern between love and lust.
In his book Confessions, Saint Augustine writes about his conversion from a Manichee to a Christian. He confesses to God and asserts that God is “incorruptible and inviolable and unchangeable” (Augustine 111). Based on his deep faith in God, Augustine abandons the concept of Manichee dualism and believes in God as “not only [the] good but the supreme good” (114). At first he has no idea what the nature of evil is, but finally he starts to understand that the nature of evil is not a substance at all, but rather “a perversity of will twisted away from the highest substance [– God]” (Augustine 124-126). He contends that the totality, rather than the evil or goodness of individual things should be considered (125). In this essay, I am going to argue that Augustine’s reflection and understanding are better described as knowledge, rather than correct opinion.
...elings of love in people. This proves that a higher power can control the feelings of love in people.
The problem we find in this story, and in puritanism, is that it presents contrasting views of love. Attachment to earthly possessions, to other people in fact, is discouraged, because everything physical leads to temptation and damnation, and ultimately hell, while the road to salvation of the individual wanders through a spiritual discipline, rigour, austerity. A man should not love his wife more than he loves God; in fact, it is recommended that he not derive pleasure from his wife, but rather seek suffering, in order to redeem himself from his earthly condition, his impure state.
There was a man by the name of Thomas of Elderfield who had a life full of ups and downs, but who never lost his faith in Christianity. He came from a poor family and worked his way up the social ladder to a successful business man. This climb up the social ladder was beneficial to him, but soon led to trouble as he attracted a suitor. After several years of infidelity with the suitor, Thomas’s conscious got to him and he discontinued seeing the married woman. His faith in God kept him from returning to her despite her repeated attempts at pulling him into sin. Thomas could not live with the weight of the sin on his shoulders so he went to a priest to confess what was causing him anguish and repent for his sins. “Eventually God's grace intervened and remorse stung him; so he presented himself to a priest and took his healthy advice to do proper penance for his offence,” (Malmesbury, par. 2). The woman remarried a man named George years after her first husband had passed away. In time George found out about his new wife’s previous infidelity...
...n the Kanto area and 23.8 percent in the Kansai region. At the very least, the fact that scores of younger Japanese are choosing Christian weddings indicates that the present environment is much more open to Christianity and that the stigma once attached to the Christian faith has declined during the past several decades”. Mullins further states that this observance of Christian rituals may not be considered as an indication of solid faith in the religion instead it could be associated with “popular movie stars and all of that”.
To Scobie the manifestation of even a human love is, by his own admission, merely a habit, a series of patterns, another trait which, like his pity and responsibility remains empty of positive content. Many if not most of his actions arise out of conformity to a pattern of behaviour: “life always repeated the same: there was always, sooner or later, bad news that had to be broken, comforting lies to be uttered, pink gins to be consumed to keep misery away.” (191) Many of his religious practices were also merely routine: “It was the first Saturday of the month and he always went to Confession on that day.... the awful languor of routine fell on his spirits.”(152-53) It is not surprising, therefore, to discover the same languor of the empty, external habit seeping into a human
Although Christian missionaries were welcomed in the 1540s by the Japanese rulers, Christianity was banned after the unification of Japan under a single shogun. The missionaries were welcomed primarily because they came with traders who brought weapons for the Japanese. During the Shimabara Rebellion, a large number of Christians rose up in a revolt that was violently put down. Silence is set in the aftermath of this rebellion - an atmosphere of vengeful
“Love is the state in which man sees things most decidedly as they are not. The power of illusion is at its peak here, as is the power to sweeten and transfigure. In love man endures more, man bears everything. A religion had to be invented in which one could love: what is worst in life is thus overcome – it is not even seen any more.”
Hardships are a part of life that will never go away. No matter what we do, somehow we always seem to find a brick wall that stands in our way and life just seems to give us a giant slap to the face. But no matter how frustrating life can be we need these walls in our life; without them we wouldn’t learn the difference between right and wrong. We are faced with decisions that will affect us for possibly the rest of our lives. In the novel Silence, Father Sebastian Rodrigues goes through unbearable trials and pain while faced with the decision that holds the lives of innocent people including his own life. Silence takes place in Japan as Rodrigues searches for his former teacher, Father Ferreira. Along with another priest, Father Garrpe, they travel
Not only did this piece demonstrate his unconventional beliefs about the codependence of good and evil, it also exemplified a classic romantic tenet which dealt with the contradic...