HEARING ABSENCE: SHUSAKU ENDO'S SILENCE AND THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL

The recent quinquagenary of Shusaku Endo's novel Silence and release of Martin Scorsese's film adaptation offer a ripe opportunity for re-engagement with the work. Debate remains about whether Silence presents apostasy as marking the culmination of Christian faith. This paper argues that rereading Silence through the lens of The Dark Night by St. John of the Cross elucidates its depiction of faith as a journey that continues beyond apostasy. Rather than evidencing the end of faith, a sense of spiritual aridity and divine desertion is revealed as a divinely-led process of spiritual development wherein Endo's protagonist experiences growth in overcoming his religious concepts that conceal God.