I finished rereading Shusaku Endo's Silence last night (the first time I read it was in 2005). This strikes me as a very important novel--which probably doesn't mean anything more than, "I really like it."
Probably most of us have thought about what we would go through for our faith. Would we be able to die for what we believe? Would we go through torture and be martyred? As we see in Silence, those are the easy questions...
At the next level, would we allow others to be tortured because of our own faith? And, what does it mean to apostatize? Is there a difference between some external action that has always been associated with relinquishing one's faith and the internal commitment? How do we respond to God's seeming silence and indifference?
And perhaps most profoundly, what is the cultural garb of our faith?
I know that a few of you out there have read and appreciated Silence. I'd be interested to hear your takes on it.
3 comments:
I started a book club so I could get other people to read this book. We had our discussion earlier this month, and I'm still processing my thoughts on it (this was my second time through, as well).
Have you read any of Endo's other works? The Samurai approaches the issues presented in Silence from another angle, and his Life of Jesus gives a window into some of his beliefs that influenced the writing of Silence.
i recall being "enchanted" by the book, but i think i would have to re-read it to say anything meaningful here.
there's a chapter in my dissertation dedicated to this book
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