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The story of Japan’s hidden Christians is the subject of a major new film directed by Martin Scorsese (due for release late 2016), based on Shusaku Endo’s famous novel, Silence.
In Search of Japan’s Hidden Christians is a remarkable story of suppression, secrecy and survival in the face of human cruelty and God’s apparent silence. Part history, part travelogue, it explores and seeks to explain a clash of civilizations—of East and West—that resonates to this day.
For seven generations, Japan’s ‘Hidden Christians’ preserved a faith that was forbidden on pain of death. Just as remarkably, descendants of the Hidden Christians continue to practise their beliefs today, refusing to rejoin the Catholic Church. Why? And what is it about Japanese culture that makes it so resistant to Western Christianity?
John Dougill grew up in Grimsby, UK, and has spent most of his life abroad. He now lives in Kyoto, Japan, where he is Professor of British Studies at Ryukoku University. As a teacher, he spent three years in the Middle East and seven years in Oxford before moving to Japan in 1986. In addition to his listed titles, he has produced twelve Japanese college textbooks.
