Janet has invited us to read Shusaku Endo’s Silence with her in this advent season, partly as an opportunity for Episcopalians to reflect on the situation within the Anglican Communion. This from her site:
Right now, we Episcopalians find ourselves in a place where the same diametrically opposed interpretations of our actions are being offered us. How can we know for sure? We have to trust in the God we know. I have never thought that the real question is, does God exist? No, the real question is, who and what is God?
And the question, who is God, what is God, is also the question: what have I found in my journey that compels my allegiance and is worthy of my deepest devotion?
I think this could be a worthwhile conversation and experience to participate in, regardless of your orientation to the CofE dialogue or your particular denominational affiliation. So, I hope you’ll join in; I just got my copy today from CUA’s library. Looks good.
If you’re like me and have never read Endo before, I found a short anthology of his work called Stained Glass Elegie that looks pretty interesting, and contains a story that was an early development of the protagonist in Silence. Further, I found these other blog posts and essays (1, 2, & 3) on Silence that might give you an idea of the book, although they won’t give you the experience of reading it in community that you’re going to get reading it with us, so be warned against decided solely on the basis of an essay or synopsis.
Like
Great book.
Sammy, from everything I hear, it seems you’re right. I’m excited to read the book in a group like this. Hope you can join us.
thanks for the comment.
Dan
_Silence_ came into discussion at deepgraceoftheory because one of the scientists who’s been participating in the science/faith discussions there and is himself Japanese introduced it as an example of how difficult it is for a Japanese to be a Christian. Hi himself found Western science to be something that is honest and open and “universal” and he came here and became a molecular biologist; he wonders why anyone should embrace any religion, when they differ around the world and lack these qualities he finds in science. He also makes some thoughtful comments on how Western religions appear to an Eastern outlook.
So I recommend Hi’s introduction to Endo, too, which you’ll find via a link I give you within my invitation.
I’ve really enjoyed my conversations with a group of scientists who are not theists at my blog, and not only are they dubious about Christian literalism, but they also have fears that postmodern thought unfairly discredits science. We’ve gradually learned to trust each other. So be aware that this conversation on _Silence_ will not be carried on from strictly within the Christian community. These scientists are very interested in the question of God, though, and want to know why we believe.
So let’s try not to get off too much into the rarified fine points of our varied theological traditions, okay? We can come back over to The Land of Unlikeness for the more technical discussions, right? At my blog the talk should be more existential, I suspect. Let’s try to be honest and vulnerable about our reactions to the novel, and of course, very respectful and aware of the non-theist points of view. Thanks!
Oh, also I should give a spoiler alert on Shusaku Endo’s _Silence_!
If I were you, I wouldn’t read much about the novel until after you’ve read the novel itself.
You really DO NOT WANT TO KNOW what’s going to happen, okay?