일본기독교 정체에서 본 일본인의 종교관 - 三浦綾子와 遠藤秀作의 작품 분석을 중심으로 -
The Japanese Religious Viewpoint Which is Viewed from the Stagnation of Japanese Christianity ― Centering on the analysis of the work of AYAKO MIURA and SYUSAKU ENDO ―
The year 2009 is four hundred sixtieth anniversary since Japan accepted Catholic, and one hundred fiftieth anniversary since it accepted Protestant. Since then, there have been many martyrs and people who have had a great influence on Japanese society. However, the present Japanese Christians account for less than 1%, about one million, of the total population. Judging form this number, the settlement of Japanese Christianity could be viewed as failure. The reason lies in the unique religious viewpoint of Japanese, and this is confirmed in the work of AYAKO MIURA and SYUSAKU ENDO, Japanese typical Christian writers. Japanese Christianity, which had about 800,000 Roman Catholics in the early 16th century, started to have a very difficult time through a deportation order for missionaries by HIDEYOSI TOYOTOMI in 1587. About 300 years from the year 1587 to 1873, the early MEIJI, is classified as a "Christian era." Paradoxically, it was also the period of persecution with tens of thousands of Christian martyrs. The harsh persecution created so called "KAKUREKIRISITAN"(Christians in Hiding) which drew the world's attention. Meanwhile, with freedom of religion allowed by MEIJI government in 1859, many missionaries entered Japan and many influential Christians such as KANZO UCHIMURA and INAZO NITOBE appeared. However, also at this time, Japanese Christianity couldn't help being diminished because of the establishment of the Emperor system and the effect of imperialism, but these things are the only external cause, not the fundamental cause, because there is resistance everywhere when new religion is accepted. The fundamental cause is the Japanese religious viewpoint, which is pantheism, and the work of ENDO proves this. Christianity is not religion in which men go and see God, but religion in which God come and see men. AYAKO MIURA well illustrates this, whose work deals with the problem of sin as the limitation of human existence and describes God coming and providing relief for men. However, the Japanese don't seem to show a great interest in God of MIURA. Instead, they show an interest in "Mother God" of ENDO. "Mother God" of ENDO is the appropriate God for the Japanese, which ENDO, Japanese, went and found in person. God suitable for the Japanese is not authoritarian God, but loving God one-sidedly taking care of the weak, not the one and only God, but various-faced God. Because of this religious viewpoint, Western Christianity which means "Father God" and the one and only God at the same time hasn't settled down in Japan.