writers block
Am churning out about 3000 words a week at the moment. Will keep you posted.
Here is an excerpt from the prologue
Setting the Scene
The theological war raging in Europe was churning up bad blood on the other side of the world. The Catholics, a strong and fervent missionary force, were unrelenting in their push of the Christian Frontier. From bases in Goa, the Philippines and Macau, the push further forward was penetrating even the mysterious world of the shogun.
The nascent protestant churches of Northern Europe, yet to implement a global missionary strategy, were more concerned with trade routes than church planting. Zealous protestant businessmen and their companies devised plans to undermine the hold of catholic trade on the far away places of gold. Deception, schemes and various forms of subterfuge were in full swing.
Here is an excerpt from the prologue
Setting the Scene
The theological war raging in Europe was churning up bad blood on the other side of the world. The Catholics, a strong and fervent missionary force, were unrelenting in their push of the Christian Frontier. From bases in Goa, the Philippines and Macau, the push further forward was penetrating even the mysterious world of the shogun.
The nascent protestant churches of Northern Europe, yet to implement a global missionary strategy, were more concerned with trade routes than church planting. Zealous protestant businessmen and their companies devised plans to undermine the hold of catholic trade on the far away places of gold. Deception, schemes and various forms of subterfuge were in full swing.
posted by lowell at 3:29:00 PM
3 Comments:
Hi Lowell.
I'd be careful of blasting the Protestants too hard. There was plenty of money/trade-loving in that age to go around. One only need read the decrees issued by Hideyoshi and other Japanese leaders that complained about the Portugeuse whom the Catholics brought (or rather, the other way around). See the movie "The Mission" for one example.
In Japan, at times when missionaries were treated badly, the sailors would threaten to withdraw trade, and this in turn would convince the Japanese that they'd better be nice to the missionaries. Many missionaries were welcomed solely because of the trade that came alongside them.
The ensuing battle between the Franciscans (sp) and the Jesuits was a prime example of not only squabbling between sects, but of a clashing of powers that were interested in financial harvest---Spain versus Portugal, respectively.
Studying Japanese Christian history means we honestly have to recognize that there were not always clear-cut "good guys" and clear "bad guys", but rather everyone did as he thought was right, and by today's standards we may or may not call it ethical.
We can't clearly say that it was the Franciscans' (sp) fault, or it was the Jesuits' fault, or it was the Protestants' fault. Everybody did bad things, and everybody tried to do good things, too.
One thing I've rarely seen Christians do when talking about Christianity's history in Japan is say that "we were wrong", or that we did something that was not good. We usually try to pin the blame elsewhere.
Perhaps one of the places we might begin could be by recognizing that Christianity flourished because of Nobunaga's favor, which came at the expense of Buddhists whom he hated. Granted they were not always peaceful, but Nobunaga treated them badly and the Christian missionaries sent letters back to the pope saying it seemed like God was using Nobunaga to punish the Buddhists. As Christians we should never do this. Could this be one reason that less than fifty years later, Nobunaga's political heirs were prone to dislike Christianity?
We want to think that Christians were persecuted solely because they stood for Christ. But honestly looking, we must see that Christianity landed with a foreign government, and later thrived because another religion was persecuted by the state power. When Christianity is spread with wounding, the wounding will come back to haunt us. Many martyrs died for Christ, but many more were needlessly killed in retaliation for the wounds suffered by things that came with the evangelism.
Thanks for the comment Ramone. You are write their is plenty of blame to going around. You make good points, and if you eventually get a chance to read the entire novel, you will find me addressing the complexities of the period.
Lowell, your email account
lowell@lowellsheppard.com
is bouncing.
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