Japan's forgotten 19th century martyrs
A look back in time
Hi Religion Unplugged readers,
In today’s top story, contributor Paul Marshall shares findings from his summer travels in Japan. Researching the history of Japanese Christianity, he writes that there is an “ignorance not only amongst foreigners but also amongst Japanese themselves of that history, particularly the long history of persecution.”
The persecution of Japanese Christians has been explored, notably in the 1996 book “Silence” and Martin Scorsese’s 2016 movie of the same name, but these avenues depart in some ways from the history and are an incomplete picture.
Marshall writes on the perseverance of Japanese Christians through centuries of persecution and the importance of learning about this history.
A Look Back In Time To Japan’s Forgotten 19th Century Martyrs
(ESSAY) In one theme of this summer's travels, the history of Japanese Christianity, I found a different issue. This is the ignorance not only amongst foreigners but also amongst Japanese themselves of that history, particularly the long history of persecution. Some of this, especially the dire persecutions of the early seventeenth century, is better known through Shusako Endo's gripping 1966 novel “Silence.” by Paul Marshall
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India's wealthiest temples stand as a demonstration of the profound religious devotion and generosity of their followers. These sacred sites have accumulated vast fortunes over time that continue to support spiritual undertakings as well as various charitable and social welfare endeavors. Here’s a look at some of the biggest and wealthiest. by Suraj Santlani
‘God Bless Bitcoin’ Makes A Sincere — But Mixed — Case In Cryptocurrency Belief
(REVIEW) Cryptocurrency is a really fascinating topic worth talking about. It’s gratifying to see it being talked about in the context of faith. If the documentary had only trusted the audience more to inform them rather than advertise to them, it would have added something even more valuable to the conversation. by Joseph Holmes
Crossroads Podcast: Newsweek’s ‘Incomplete’ On Christian College ‘Canceling’
Let’s say that you know a teacher at a Catholic school that, when accepting this job, this person signed a contract in which he agreed to defend the doctrines detailed in the Catholic Catechism or, at the very least, not to oppose them in public. After several years of work, this teacher decided that gender is a social construct and that she was a woman trapped in a man’s body and began to transition into life as a woman. The school then declined to renew the teacher’s contract. Was that teacher canceled? by Terry Mattingly
Divine Insights: Can Dreams Really Predict the Future?
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On Religion: How A Baby Boomer Priest Helped Millennials Grow Deeper In Their Faith
(ANALYSIS) As a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, Father Stephen Noll felt a sense of loss when he learned he would need a smartphone app to attend baseball games. Noll calls himself a “digital dinosaur, perhaps from the Jurassic period.” What he didn't expect, after 50 years of priesthood, was for this digital divide to affect his ministry. by Terry Mattingly
Zimbabwean Community And Jesuits Clash Over Ancestral Land
Local residents and the Catholic order have engaged in a years-long court battle after the church tried to evict them from their ancestral land on the outskirts of the capital Harare. The more than 1,000 families, however, were relieved when a court agreed to halt, for now, a move by the Jesuits to evict them from their land that the church wants to turn into an urban residential area. by Cyril Zenda
⚾️ Jesus In Birdland: Orioles Become Latest MLB Team To Host Faith Night 🔌
The Baltimore Orioles hosted the team's first Faith Night promotion this week. The Orioles joined a trend of MLB franchises doing so. by Bobby Ross Jr.
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Thanks again for reading!
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If the Jesuits hadn't lied to the ruler, Tokugawa Ieyasu, maybe things could have turned out differently for them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Joosten_van_Lodensteijn#Life_in_Japan