Martin Scorsese’s recent movie Silence debuted last week to critical acclaim. The movie, based on the book by Shusaka Endo, is the fictional story of a Jesuit priest in the 17thcentury who travels to Japan to discover what happened to his missionary mentor, who is rumored to have apostatized. Endo’s book has generated a great deal of controversy over the years, with faithful Christians both condemning it and praising it. At the heart of the debate is whether Endo is justifying apostasy or not, and whether publicly denying the Faith is ever acceptable. Regardless of this controversy, Silence masterfully peers deeply into the psychological struggles of someone trying to be faithful to his beliefs under extreme circumstances.
