Conflict Resolution, Reconciliation, Integration,

The aesthetics of Shūsaku Endō, a Japanese Catholic writer, are the topic of this doctoral dissertaion, which aims at exploring his works and religious thoughts in them. Two themes run through the works of Shūsaku Endō. One is the exploration of Jesus Christ's image, which starts from the conflict between Catholic monotheism and Japanese pantheism in the writer's early days, then to the"maternal Jesus Christ", and finally to the discovery of"Jesus Christ's kingdom"in The Samurai. As the major theme of Shūsaku Endō's writings, it embodies the writer's experiences from the conflicts between faith and identity to the final reconciliation. Meanwhile, his writings also respond to the evil in human nature. The other theme is the probe into the unconsciousness deep down in human nature. Shūsaku Endōdiscusses the evil in human nature and whether man can be delivered from this evil. These two aspects are exactly the background for the creation of The Scandal, while Deep River, his masterpiece, represents the integration of the two aspects mentioned above.Under the influence of his mother, Shūsaku Endōwas baptized and became a Christian while he was still a boy, but he was too young then to realize what effect his baptism would have on his life. As time went by, he began to realize the irreconcilable contradiction between pantheism rooted in Japanese spiritual traditions and monotheism of Christianity as two completely different faith systems. After he entered college, Shūsaku Endōcriticized the yearn for a world of pantheism manifested in Hori Tatsuo's works from his own standpoint of monotheist faith. However, the inaction of the Japanese Church and his own cowardness during WWII dealt a heavy blow to Shūsaku Endōand prompted him to meditate on the meaning of faith.After WWII, Shūsaku Endōwent to study in France as one of the first Japanese overseas students. His two-year-and-a-half stay overseas had a profound and lasting influence on him. During his study in France, Shūsaku Endōcame to the realization that Christian faith in the Western context was not absolute. If Catholism was as universal as implied in the Greek origin of this word, then it should not be ossified and could be interpreted from different angles. Shūsaku Endōlearned from his overseas study that he could not mechanically copy the western Christian faith and that he could only explore the image of Jesus Christ in his own way. During this stage of artistic creation, Shūsaku Endōexplored with much difficulty and his works were characterized with obscurity and gloominess. In a series of works from As Far As Aden to The Sea and Poison, Shūsaku Endōcalled into question his own faith through describing the tragic life of the Japanese who had lost faith. These works also exhibited the insurmountable gap between Shūsaku Endōhimself and the Western Christianity, as well as his meditations on the form of religious faith he was resolved to explore.Shūsaku Endō's sickbed life from 1960 to 1962 was another baptism for his religious faith. After that he wrote Silence in 1966, in which Shūsaku Endōchanged his cold and critical style in his early writings and looked at the weak through mild lens. In Silence he created the image of the"maternal Jesus Christ", which obviously implied more of his personal meditations. Therefore Shūsaku Endō's task was how to develop such an image of Jesus Christ and made it acceptable to ordinary Japanese. In Upon The Dead Sea, Shūsaku Endōsuccessfully depicted Jesus Christ as an"eternal companion"through his unique narrative techniques. Due to its archaeological tint, this novel was beyond the understanding of most readers. In order for such an image of Jesus Christ to be accepted by ordinary Japanese in their world of faith, Shūsaku Endōsought materials from the Japanese history and wrote The Samurai, which marked the conclusion of his exploration of the image of Jesus Christ and represented the peak of this series of works.Before he became a writer, through studying the works by French Catholic writers, Shūsaku Endōdetermined his mission as a writer, that is, to anatomize the human nature. It is the usual writing technique of French Catholic writers to examine the evil side of human nature until they found the way to faith. Shūsaku Endōalso adopted this technique and went further. His study in France resolved him to explore the dark side of human nature because he firmly believed that such an exploration is also a way to God. He found his solution to the problem of sin in his exploration of Jesus Christ's image. The capital"sin"seen from the religious perspective is betrayal of faith and doubt of the existence of God, while the sin of the"external companion"was accordingly forgiven for his full awareness of the misery of disciples. In such early novels as White Man and The Sea and Poison, Shūsaku Endōattempted to prove the evil in human nature, but back then the exploration of the image of Jesus Christ was his preoccupation, to the neglect of the probe into the evil deep down in the unconsciousness of human nature. After The Samurai, Shūsaku Endōset out again on the exploration of evil in human nature and wrote Scandal, which, in a sense, is transitional. In this novel Shūsaku Endōdidn't probe into how to salvage evil. In his masterpiece Deep River written in his old age, Shūsaku Endōintegrated the salvation of evil in human nature with the image of Jesus Christ. He claimed that the salvation of evil lied only in sacredness, which was embodied in the actions taken by the"eternal companion". He also pointed out that the core of religious belief was"religiousness", which was inherent in all religions in the world, therefore they were all similar.Shūsaku Endōis categorized as one of the post-WWII Third Generation writers in the Japanese literary circle, but he stands out among them because he consistently explored such metaphysical matters as the essential of God and evil from the perspective of a Catholic. Reflections on Christianity by various Japanese writers have begun since Meiji Period, and Shūsaku Endōinherited this tradition and created a new world of his own. His works enjoy large readership all over the world. While converting many ordinary people, his religious thoughts cause grave dissatisfaction among some readers and disciples and elicit further reflections on the ultimate meaning of faith. Seen from this angle, Shūsaku Endō's literary influence will continue.