Writing about the relationship between religion and culture is no easy matter, even when the scope of the investigation is restricted to one literary figure. Emi Mase-Hasegawa's book Christ in Japanese Culture is an attempt to read the late twentieth-century literature of Endō Shūsaku as a “secondary theological text” (p. 10).
Endō was, of course, one of the greatest figures of postwar Japanese literature, and he is generally studied as such. Religious themes, obviously a major part of his writing, and his own Catholic religiosity are often addressed in literary studies. Mase-Hasegawa, however, who earned her doctorate in theology, makes clear that she is not embarking on another literary study, but rather seeks to look directly as a theologian at Endō's take on Christianity.
For Mase-Hasegawa, who approaches Endō through the methodological lens of missiology (the theological study of Christian mission), the most important element in Endō's engagement with Christianity...
