The Lenten Face of Christ in Shusaku Endo’s Silence and Life of Jesus

Abstract

While much has been written in literary criticism about Shusaku Endo’s various historical and literary novels particularly by William Johnston, SJ and Van C. Gessel who have also served as key translators of Endo into English, this essay builds on their work and provides a necessary theological and phenomenological exploration of Endo’s work through his fluidity of imaging the face of Christ in Silence and Life of Jesus. In particular, Endo’s use of the ‘fumie’ image of Christ provokes a reading of Jean Luc Marion’s notion of idol and icon and creates a compelling reassessment of the dislocating images of Christ found in the Lenten season.