Silence

Except for Barabbas this is the only Christian novel theologico-historical novel^[1] I read. And it's from another side of the globe from Barabbas.

While this novel has been labeled as a novel about the atrocious persecution of Christians in Japan, to my understanding that is a backdrop, a very important backdrop, but backdrop still. It's also very complex. Official view about Christianity and elaborate tortures, the metamorphosis of the faith in the Japanese soil, the people, places, and nature… It's not a black-and-white story of oppression.

This is predominantly a novel about Christian sympathy. A person's journey through suffering to understand what it meant to Christ, and what sort of shepherd he was. The central character (a priest) has gone through what we can say 'a dark night of the soul'. The crisis was acute. Suffering raised questions that at other times can be considered blasphemous. This crisis is the origin of the name of this book. The unbearable silence of God in the face of the unbearable agony of layman Christians was a recurring theme. A particularly beautiful example of this crisis is:

It, in time, led the priest into doubt if God exists at all. Of course, his training in the seminary won.

What I liked about this book is how the priest was officially apostatized. He hasn't been broken down in extreme situations. Neither torture nor persuasion could convince him to apostatize. What convinced him is a deeper, more beautiful interpretation of the Christian faith. He found that even Christ himself would've been apostatized if it saved some souls from suffering.

This was the end of his dark night of the soul. The new dawn was not a dawn devoid of faith. Quite the contrary. It was a dawn bringing a faith deeper than anything he had ever learned.

Since I have not read it in Japanese, I can't talk about Endō's writing quality with much confidence. However, I think readers will agree with me on his ability to create symbolic archetypal characters whose importance lies in their manifestation of one quality, or vice, or a crisis. Over and over again throughout the book, they play the same role of a coward, kind, or heroic person. The book contains some such very powerful archetypes.

His intellectual honesty is particularly praiseworthy. He understood the problem of a foreign religion such as Christianity must face in a culture that is in many cases diametrically opposite to its European counterpart. Japanese empire was as oppressive as any of that time. Buddhism in their hand is just another justification to oppress and no solace to the poot. On the other hand, European seafarers are not very bright example of Christianity. However, the love of Christ have some appeal to the unloved ones. Brutality and suppression are just side effects. The problem is deeper, and Endō faced it with much sincerity.