Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Silence, by Shusaku Endo, describes Portuguese missionaries, Sebastian Rodrigues and Francisco Garrpe, and their journey from Portugal to Japan. Rodrigues finds himself teaching the Japanese Christians about his faith until he is betrayed to the authorities by an apostatized Christian. While in confinement, he meets his apostatized mentor, Ferreira, who convinces him to renounce his faith, and save the lives of the Japanese Christians being tortured in the pit. In effect, Shusaku Endo’s Silence describes the extensive isolation that Sebastian Rodrigues experiences that ultimately alters his perspective from caring about his own faith, to caring about the lives of others.
Sebastian Rodrigues’ priestly lifestyle defines his values and perspective on life through his eagerness to spread the word of God. Endo begins to introduce the themes of isolation and despair through Rodrigues’ early mentor, an apostatized Catholic Priest. Christovao Ferreira had, according to Rodrigues,
…show more content…
Their God had been “changed, altered, and adopted into the Buddhist and Shinto Gods.” (147) At Ferreira’s statement, Rodrigues is utterly destroyed. He realizes that he has been living the external life of a missionary, but not the internal life. Despite Ferreira’s revelation, Rodrigues fails to understand the need for his own apostasy, because he still puts his own priestly duty to remain steadfast in his faith above the lives of the Christians who are being tortured to death in the pit. Ferreira is quick to recognize his thinking, describing Rodrigues’ actions as his unwillingness “to betray the church.” (169) and become the “dregs of the church” (169). Yet, Ferreira solemnly tells Rodrigues’ that as priests, they are to imitate Christ, and if Christ were here, he certainly “would have apostatized for them.”
One of the most interesting aspects of Diaz’s narrative is towards the end when Cortés broaches the subject of Christianity with Montezuma. Conversion and missionary work was one of the most important and lasting goals of the conquistadors and other contemporary explorers, they were charged with this duty by the rulers who sent t...
Silence follows the movements of three Jesuit priests from Portugal, stationed in Macao, Sebastian Rodrigues, Juan De Santa Marta, and Francis Garrpe, who travel to Japan. Their mission is two fold, first, to find their mentor Christovao Ferreira, who had apostatized while being tortured, something the men could not believe. Second, they would continue missionary work, converting and supporting Christians in Japan. The church hierarchy is reluctant when they requested to go; they felt it was far too dangerous. However, the men insisted, as they had a deep desire to know the truth about Father Ferreira. After some convincing, their superior, Father Valignano reluctantly agreed to allow this secret mission.
Examining the problems facing Father Rodrigues from a Christian perspective, then, is critical to the endeavor of understanding their significance to him and the Church at the time, and also to passing an ultimate judgment on the validity and worth of the decisions he makes, as many of us seem overeager to do. To that end, this paper will consider, in a Catholic frame of mind, and with attention to the opinions some noted Christian/Catholic thinkers would have held, the difficulties surrounding Rodrigues' apostasy, and his solutions to them. As all of the thinkers are themselves from the medieval era, it is not unlikely that Father Rodrigues, living in the 17th century, would have studied their works.
Sacrifice within the social context can be transgressed into two aspects, one relating to the offender, and the other being the offended one, God. “If individuals entered a state incongruent with good relations with God, they had to undergo rites to restore them to a normative status” (Davies, 1985;155). Thus the sacrifice encompassed this social dimension. The part played by God in the social ...
Family is one of the most important institutions in society. Family influences different aspects of a person’s life, such as their religion, values, morals and behavior. Unfortunately, problems may arise when an individual’s belief system or behavior does not coincide with that of family standards. Consequently, individuals may be forced to repress their emotions or avoid acting in ways that that are not acceptable to the family. In the novel The Rain God, written by Arturo Islas, we are presented with a story about a matriarchal family that deals with various conflicts. One major internal conflict is repression. Throughout the novel the characters act in strange ways and many of the family members have internal “monsters” that represent the past that they are repressing. In his article, “The Historical Imagination in Arturo Islas’s The Rain God and Migrant Souls”, Antonio C. Marquez’s implicitly asserts a true idea that The Rain God is a story about repression. Marquez’s idea can be supported from an analysis of secondary sources and a reading of the primary text.
Although Christianity has been disbanded from the law the sense of duty that he has to the children of Christ is what drives him to put aside his own eternal sin in order to relieve the suffering of others. As a Priest he has taken it upon himself to guide those in need and fight against the injustice of the world. Even as he was being lead to his capture the Priest is willing to help those who oppose him by hearing their confessions as well. Beneath the tough exterior that he has developed through years on the run from the law the Priest is a man who truly lives to serve those around him through his dedication to Priesthood. One of the most notable aspects of the Priest exists within the fact that even though he is so ridden with guilt over the fact that his soul is unable to be saved, he still finds the courage to comply with the spiritual requests of all those that call upon
Religion is meant to be a solid force, helping society to bond better and progress in a civilized manner. For the same purpose, religion, with its laws and codes of conduct, monitors peoples’ way of life to ensure that humanity remains intact and that the world does not collapse into a chaotic blood-thirsty pandemonium. Marquez turns this concept of religion as a driving force and unmasks the fact that religion has been reduced to corrupted man made traditions, customs and superstitions. Marquez thinks that the people of the community are hypocrites in religion because of the stron...
Nicolas Eymerich The Inquisitor is a point and click game depicting the problems of heresy and the struggles with parallel beliefs in 14th century Europe. In the game, Eymerich is sent by Father Abbot Vinet to uncover the mystery of a number of strange sightings in the village Calcares. While on his search, he decides that the true danger does not lie in the Devil’s apparitions, but rather the heretics which have infiltrated the church. This holds true in our class studies of parallel beliefs in France, and the ways in which the clergy handled such threats. By playing Nicolas Eymerich The Inquisitor, I have gained an additional perspective of the role of religion during this time period which can be compared to what I have already learned in
The largest difference between “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and “The Minister's Black Veil” is medium. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” is a sermon told to a live congregation in the early 1700’s. the other is a parable meant to be read in leisure and to explain a theology with a story. As a sermon “Sinners” is delivered with a predetermined style that is easily convicting and forceful.. This style, well know to be with its author jonathan Edwards, make its point more effective and serves well to make its
Antonio begins to question the authenticity of religion and wonders, if God is always watching, “Why does he allow evil to go unpunished? Why does he allow evil to exist?” Regardless, he defends God when asked, “You mean I can go out and sin, do bad things… do a million bad things and then when I’m about to die I just have to go to confession and make communion, and I go to Heaven?” Antonio sees the flaws in this, and deems it unfair, but he still defends God and the Catholic Church and its beliefs.
The injustice that occurs in the play depicts a corrupted society in which power feeds into corruption while religion gives civilians a sense of hope in justice. While Don Juan attempts to seduce Thisbe she repeatedly asks “god to not let it be a lie” (Ruiz 250). As she turns to God for honesty Molina shows how religion was perceived as a powerful channel in which people believed that their faith in God would grant them with blessings. Additionally, by Thisbe questioning Don Juan’s intentions Molina suggests that nobility was not the most honest or noble class in the social order. As Thisbe looks towards God to grant her a good life she also looks towards him for justice. Thisbe as well as Don Diego claim that Don Juan will be lead into damnation for his trickery. By both Thisbe, a common woman, and Don Diego, a noble, believing in the power of God Molina emphasizes how religion crossed the boundaries of social order and how people from both social groups strongly believed in His power to grant damnation or salvation. Molina ends the play with Don Juan being punished by God and being sent to hell for his sins while his lackey was spared his life. By ending the play in this manner Molina makes a statement that religion is powerful enough to trump corruption created by society, and the free will to make decisions will shape everyone’s destination after death regardless of their social standing on
Priests located on the frontier brought forth different opinions from foreigners. For instance, many foreigners regarded priests as hypocrites, drunks, and fathers to illegitimate children (pg. 77). However at the same time, priests like Jose Sanchez of San Gabriel, gained the continued respect from his peers. This shows the complex attitude for the men in this
Silence is the story of a search for God's presence and voice in the midst of persecution, betrayal and doubt that seemed overshadowed by God's silence. It tells a story of Christian perseverance in the face of terrible danger, a story that continues to unfold today. Through the character of Father Sebastian Rodrigues and the story of Silence, Endo also explores the viability and relevance of Christianity in Japan. Was the Catholic mission to Japan doomed from the start? Was reforming the notion of God necessary for the Gospel to flourish in the Japanese context? From the way Endo crafted the book, it is clear that he does not believe Christianity was doomed in Japan. He does not seem to suggest that reforming the idea of God would have made it easier for Christianity to grow in peace.
Confessions takes readers through Saint Augustine’s spiritual wandering prior to becoming a virtuous and highly influential bishop in the Catholic Church. The early stages of the book have Augustine reflecting on his childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood – parts of his life where he feels that he is dangerously far away from God. “At one time in adolescence I was burning to find satisfaction from hellish pleasures. I ran wild in the shadowy jungle of erotic adventures. ‘My beauty wasted away and in your sight I became putrid’,” displays how Augustine’s focus on worldly things
Fujimura does not connect his points in finding beauty in the struggles of life using the Hebrew Bible often; rather, he draws upon sources from Endo’s Silence and the context behind Japanese Christianity and provides support for his belief. This lack of biblical basis might be daunting as a Christian, but once relations are found between