![]() ![]() ![]() Many faithful Christians accepted at face value the interpretation that Endo (and Scorcese) approved of the apostasy of Fr. And Endo’s reputation in America and Europe, for better or worse, has largely rested on that 1966 historical novel about the apostasy of a Jesuit missionary in early seventeenth century Japan. So, let me say in Japanese, “ irasshai”: Welcome to the adventure!Įven before Martin Scorsese’s 2016 feature film Silence, Endo was widely known as the Graham Greene of Japan. Chesterton called for-looking for substantive Truth in unlikely places. And there is no place better to test the universal Truth of the Catholic faith than Japan-a culture extraordinarily ancient, rich and yet also quite distinct from the West or Near East in which Christianity long flourished.įor Americans and other Westerners to journey into Catholic Japanese culture requires a nuanced sensitivity, and the kind of open mind that G.K. ![]() If the Truth is universal, then surely Catholics mustn’t barricade ourselves exclusively in the corridors of Western literature. Yet some of these great artists are still living, and some can be yours, in translation. In the 20 th century a whole circle of Japanese Catholic writers flourished, few of whom are known outside of Japan in either literary or Catholic circles. But to me, what was missed in the ensuing brouhaha was a more important point: Endo is not the only Japanese Catholic novelist. Martin Scorsese’s 2016 film version of Silence drew renewed scrutiny to the famed Catholic Japanese novelist Shusaku Endo: Were Endo and Scorsese attempting to applaud apostasy? ![]()
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