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Section/Pages: 6-7
Members Present: All

Discussion Highlights:
- Sebastian seems to be losing his faith gradually throughout the book so far
- he witnessed 2 christian’s murdered and had his faith tested in other ways
-Before this Martyrdom was glorified in his mind as something glorious or respectful, but after witnessing it for himself he realizes that it isn’t as glorious in person.
- he has had multiple friends die and is struggling to survive
-How will this play a larger role in the rest of the story, will Rodrigues cave in and apostate?
- we predicted that Rodriguez would lose faith in the Christian people he tried teaching due to some unforeseen circumstances, and that he might die at the end of the book.
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Section/Pages: 4-5
Members Present: All

Discussion Highlights:
- Agenda Topic 1: These quotes set the tone for the rest of the book and demonstrate the effect of Christian persecution in Japan has on people, causing those to fear admitting that they are Christian.
- Agenda Topic 2: just show me how much the Japanese people care about the Catholic priests. They refused to rat on the Catholic priests, even though it meant risking their lives, and were also very kind to the priests, giving them food and housing, as well as a hiding place for when the officials come around.
- Agenda Topic 3: we talked about how this shows the suffering of the people because they have been hiding in secrecy for so long that they wear metaphorical masks according to the book. they also encourage to spy on their neighbors, which seems oddly similar to many cold war stories I have seen and heard.
- Agenda Topic 4:  The quote happens after the priest has been captured by the Japanese officials. Here his faith is beginning to be testing, and he is having some doubts about why God isn’t helping the suffering Christians.

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Section/Pages: Prologue- 1
Members Present: all members

Discussion Highlights:
- If we were threatened as the protagonist was, would we also apostate
- We were split, two of us said we would but another two wouldn’t
- First Impression: Pretty interesting so far, “somebody already died”
- We said that they are guided by the christian faith and that they cannot believe that their teacher would abandon God after being esteemed and honored as a faithful Christian.
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Name: Daniel Tiernan
Email: 25393dt@chaminade-hs.org

Name: Ryan Aba Riebli (Ryguy)
Email: 25001ra@chaminade-hs.org

Name: Joseph Romano
Email: 25334jr@chaminade-hs.org

Name: Samuel Rennie
Email: 25325sr@chaminade-hs.org

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Read the designated section for each meeting

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Section/Pages: Chapter 2-3
Members Present: All

Discussion Highlights: Discussion pertaining to the quotes we gathered.
- Agenda Topic #1: This quote is significant because it shows the extent in which the Japanese Christians are persecuted, to the point where they don’t know anything except work and death. This presents one of the major themes present throughout the novel, being the suffering of Christians in face of oppression.
- Agenda Topic #2: This quote is significant because the author chooses to utilize a metaphor to describe the situation of the Christians in Japan. The author compares their situation to a ship lost in a storm, this is accurate because the Christians in Japan are misguided and lost in the storm of oppression and are constantly anxious about being confronted by the samurai or monks.
-Agenda Topic #3: This quote is important because it shows how the Japanese Christians were deprived of methods of expressing their beliefs. This develops the theme of Western V. Eastern practices because it shows how the Buddhists in Japan are against the Christians, and their influence, so much that they are willing to deprive them of expression.
-Agenda Topic #4: This quote is significant because it shows how scared the Japanese are to even admit that they are Christian because of the major amount of persecution they experience in Japan. This develops the theme of suffering throughout the novel because this suffering imposes a sense of fear within the Christians, to the point where they won’t admit being affiliated with the Church.
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Bring meaningful discussion questions to each meeting

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What are our first impressions of this book? D.t.

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Theme: A common theme seen throughout the book is the contrast/difference between Western and Eastern religions.
Quote: “‘You look upon missionary work as the forcing of love upon someone’ ‘Yes that’s what it is—from our standpoint’” (Endō 131)

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“Is evil the work of your Deus?” (Endō 95)

“Trample! Trample… immediately I realized that I had uttered words that should never have been on my lips” (Endō 56)
D.T.

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“These people who won’t work and live and die like beasts find for the first time in our teaching a path in which they can cast away the fetters that bind them” (Endō ) -D.T.

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Keep notes and bring them to each meeting

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Why do you think that these guys decided to go to japan, despite knowing the danger, all for their teacher?

R.A.R.

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Big theme about questioning faith and how difficult it is to keep faith in difficult times.

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“No Father, we didn’t say a word about you, and if they come again, we’ll still say nothing. No matter what happens we’ll stand by you.” pg 53

Quite deliberately, I asked a pointed question: was the father of a severe nature? one of the old men looked up at me and earnestly shook his head in disagreement. No, no, no, I have never met such a kind and gentle person in my life. 45

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“These Japanese Christians are like a ship lost in a storm without a chart” (Endō 30)

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What are some of our predictions?

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“The long years of secrecy have made the faces of these Christians like masks. This is indeed bitter and sad. Why has God given our Christians such a burden? This is something I fail to understand.”

“For example, since last year a decree has been issued forbidding anyone to make a fence or hedge between his house and that of his neighbour. They want everyone to be able to see into the house of his next-door neighbour and, if he notices any suspicious behaviour, to report it at once. ”

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“I’m afraid I have neglected you, still holding the bowl in both hands while his great eyes stared curiously at the priest”
Pg. 129 ch. 7

“Im beginning to think that because of this kind of life my body has betrayed my heart”
Pg. 139 ch. 7

SR

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https://forms.gle/cCJbHs6scjgEERui7

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Access Google Forms with a personal Google account or Google Workspace account (for business use).

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There is also a large theme around the suffering that these people go through. They are in constant poverty, and are constantly risking their lives for housing these Catholic priests, and eventually some of them are caught, which leads to a very painful death by drowning them on a stake or hanging over a pit upside down which both some very gruesome.

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“How shall I describe the joy that filled their faces when we gave them crucifixes that we had around our necks” (Endō 27)

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Why do people love this book about 17th century Christians in Japan

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“‘Are you Christian’… the fellow suddenly shut up like a clam” (Endō 15)

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1 Brainstorm a LIST OF THEMES for the book thus far. Then, select one theme from the list and find at least three pieces of textual evidence to support it. 1

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1. Prediction: We think they will be violently persecuted and that one of them will die.
2. Question: What’s the deal with the Japanese guy they met in chapter one? He seems very strange and sort of a suspicious character.
3. Good: We all read at least some of the book during the allotted reading time today.

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1. We all  think that the book is really good, and we find the story that it is telling interesting so far, and we are very curious on what is going to happen next.
2. One thing we do really good is that we are good at having fruitful conversations about the presented agenda topics and the quotes that we find to be interesting throughout our reading of the text.

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1. One prediction I have for the book is that the priests will be captured by the Japanese authorities, and be forced to either apostate or be killed.
2. I think that our book clubs greatest strength is the conversations that we have, and how we can effectively use text evidence in our discussion. Another thing that adds to the strength of our conversations is how we are able to effectively answer any agenda topics or address any quotes as well.
3. We’re a tiny bit behind schedule with the reading but we should fix that by next week

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Silence- Shūsaku Endō

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1. D.T.: I would recommend this book to keep on the list because it proposes themes and examples to us on how to keep our faith, and not to give up on our faith even through times of struggles. Although most of us can’t go fight for religious freedom in a foreign country, the novel still is able to influence a Christian reader to be a better follower of Christ through its example.
2. I too like this book, it was dark but enjoyable, and I didn’t get bored of it as time went on. I don’t know how accurate it is, but I found this book really interesting, despite it being a very Catholic book, per se, with the entire plot being around a Catholic priest trying to escape or survive persecution from the Japanese government officials. It’s also interesting to me, because it shows me how easy we have it now and how much the missionaries suffered in the earlier centuries trying to spread Christianity. R.A.R.
3. JR
Honestly not my fav book. I’ve never been a fan of historical fiction, history has never been for me tbh. I don’t know much about Medieval Japanese history and it’s not an interest, especially the Christian persecution parts of it. I do think it hits on interesting points, like the problem of evil and the political aspects of religion. I think the characters make too big a deal of apostatizing, like big deal you said you no longer believe in God, who cares we all know you’re lying about that and you saved some people from being tortured. If God rather people get tortured than someone say they renounce Christianity he’s got an ego issue.

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Section/Pages:8-10
Members present: All

Discussion Highlights:
-Agenda Topic #1: We found it very surprising considering his past and his training in the priesthood. We also said that it kind of makes sense that he did it. By this we mean that we think it is justified because he did it in order to save the lives of five people. This made us wonder, would we do the same thing?
-Agenda Topic #2: hypothesize that it might be written in letters because it’s meant to show how we lived out the rest of his life after his apostasy. In the last chapter of the book, he is seen being a judge on whether or not items brought in by the Dutch Merchant ships are Christian or not. This leads to contempt from the Dutch people, because they fear that the Portuguese ministers are going to tattle on them and get them in serious trouble with the Japanese government. This chapter also takes place over the course of a year, and it also shows us that Rodriguez ends up in Edo married.
-Agenda Topic #3: We were split on the answer to this question, some of us said he would and others said he wouldn’t. Those who said Jesus would apostate argued that if one doesn’t truly mean it and renounces the faith while lying then it is justified, and also that He would do it in order to save the lives of those around him. Some of us disagreed with the others and they said that Jesus would not renounce his father in order to save the lives of the people, instead he would sacrifice himself in order to save them just as he did with us and our sins.
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What was your reaction to Rodrigues’s apostacy?
D.T.

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Why is chapter ten told from the perspective of a Dutch clerk, in the form of many letters?

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Was Rodrigues’s apostasy justified, would Jesus do something similar to help those five people?

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- We thought that this book was dark at times, but nonetheless very interesting. We thought that it was an interesting story about the dissent of a Christian, who caved in to the pressure of persecution and apostates. We generally would recommend this book to others because we found it to be an enjoyable reading experience filled with meaningful themes that could be applied to everyone’s daily life.

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Meeting 1 Date: 1/17
Pages / Section: prologue - chapter 1

Meeting 2 Date: 1/25
Pages / Section: chapter 2-3

Meeting 3 Date:
Pages / Section: chapter 4-5

Meeting 4 Date:
Pages / Section: chapter 6-7

Meeting 5 Date: 2/29
Pages / Section: chapter 8-10