Apostatism Now

Category: Books

Often times one can, through a careful examination of two seemingly different things, find that there are similarities as well as distinctions. This can be accomplished in myriad fashions including through the use of literature. For example, one might compare conceptual elements of Christianity and Buddhism as they appear in Endo Shusaku’s wonderful novel, Silence. As the story unfolds it becomes evident that there are many contrasts between the two religions that Shusaku brings to light and yet there are also numerous similarities worth noting.
Speaking of similarities, it would be apropos to begin with a discussion of some of the qualities of likeness that Silence highlights between Buddhism and Christianity. The fact that there are parallels between the two religions seems to be one of the major thematic elements found in the book. For example, one might examine the role of iconic possessions as important or holy items. In the novel, for instance, the priests that are being forced to become apostates are made to symbolically deny their faith by stepping on a “fumie.” While these fumies are simply material goods without any great value in reality they symbolize vast, sweeping ideological abstractions to the priests. In a similar way, one might consider how Buddhists can value and appreciate material objects such as statues of the Buddha or paintings of Buddhist leaders. This similarity also helps to highlight the sort of brutal irony that exists between a person of one religion forcing a person of another religion to blaspheme despite the fact that the religions of the two really aren’t as disparate as either believes.
On the other hand, another major theme found in Silence is that Christianity and Buddhism do differ in many fundamental ways. Examples of this are abundant throughout the text. One such instance appears throughout the book and has to do with the very chains of thought that underlie Sebastian Rodrigues’ assumptions and values. As a case in point, Rodrigues is extremely disillusioned by the fact that the Christian God is silent and does nothing to intervene in the face of all of the suffering which is being inflicted upon His followers in Japan. That is to say, of course, that Rodrigues looks outward for help, solace, and an answer to his moral dilemmas. Contrastingly, Buddhists would be much more likely to look inward for answers and certainly would not expect any type of supernatural intervention by a deity of the kind that the Christians worship.
So, in conclusion, it seems rather evident that Shusaku’s Silence is a novel that helps to reveal both the similarities and differences between Christianity and Buddhism in Japan during the sixteenth century. Indeed, both of these are themes that seem to run throughout the book as a whole. There are, needless to say, many other fascinating and provocative thematic elements found within the story. Actually, given a work of sufficient length, depth, and breadth of research, one might examine these elements in much greater detail and precision. That is something, however, pehaps best left to literary experts. For the rest of the readers of Silence, contentment might simply be found by sitting down with an exceptionally good novel and learning about a time and place that seems very distant and foreign to contemporary Westerners and yet largely compelling and extraordinarily interesting.