The Birth of Christ
 |
Description
Book Introduction
Shusaku Endo, a representative Japanese author who touched our hearts with “Silence,” has returned with “The Birth of Christ.”
"The Birth of Christ" is a sequel to "The Life of Jesus," revised in 2021, and deals with how Christianity arose after Jesus' death.
This book was published five years after 『The Life of Jesus』, and in Japan, 『The Life of Jesus』 and 『The Birth of Christ』 were published as one book called 『Jesus·Christ』.
In "The Life of Jesus," Jesus is depicted as embracing the sorrow and pain of the weak and marginalized.
This is also the answer to the question, “Who is Jesus that we can believe in?”
In this way, The Birth of Christ deals with how Jesus' disciples came to accept their teacher as Christ.
Therefore, this book also answers the question of how we came to accept Jesus as Christ.
Normally, a book that is a sequel to The Life of Jesus would be entitled The Birth of Christianity.
However, Endo Shusaku titled this book “The Birth of Christ.”
In this book, he focuses not on the religion called Christianity, but on the question, "What exactly is faith?"
This is also a question that Endo Shusaku constantly poses in his works, including “Silence.”
In "The Birth of Christ," the suffering of the disciples, the conversion of Paul, and the crisis Christianity faced after the deaths of Peter and Paul are all developed in an exciting way based on the imagination of a novel.
"The Birth of Christ" is a sequel to "The Life of Jesus," revised in 2021, and deals with how Christianity arose after Jesus' death.
This book was published five years after 『The Life of Jesus』, and in Japan, 『The Life of Jesus』 and 『The Birth of Christ』 were published as one book called 『Jesus·Christ』.
In "The Life of Jesus," Jesus is depicted as embracing the sorrow and pain of the weak and marginalized.
This is also the answer to the question, “Who is Jesus that we can believe in?”
In this way, The Birth of Christ deals with how Jesus' disciples came to accept their teacher as Christ.
Therefore, this book also answers the question of how we came to accept Jesus as Christ.
Normally, a book that is a sequel to The Life of Jesus would be entitled The Birth of Christianity.
However, Endo Shusaku titled this book “The Birth of Christ.”
In this book, he focuses not on the religion called Christianity, but on the question, "What exactly is faith?"
This is also a question that Endo Shusaku constantly poses in his works, including “Silence.”
In "The Birth of Christ," the suffering of the disciples, the conversion of Paul, and the crisis Christianity faced after the deaths of Peter and Paul are all developed in an exciting way based on the imagination of a novel.
- You can preview some of the book's contents.
Preview
index
The Death of Jesus 9
A Painful and Long Night 29
From Galilee to Jerusalem 51
The Repression and the First Division 71
Strong Stephen, Weak Peter 91
The Thick Wall of Law 111
The Second Persecution 127
Differences between the disciples and Paul 149
The Second Split 169
All roads lead to Rome 191
The Death of Peter and Paul 211
The God of Silence, the Christ Who Will Not Return 233
The Mysteries of Jesus, The Mysterious Jesus 255
Author's Note 274
Translator's Note 276
Americas 282
A Painful and Long Night 29
From Galilee to Jerusalem 51
The Repression and the First Division 71
Strong Stephen, Weak Peter 91
The Thick Wall of Law 111
The Second Persecution 127
Differences between the disciples and Paul 149
The Second Split 169
All roads lead to Rome 191
The Death of Peter and Paul 211
The God of Silence, the Christ Who Will Not Return 233
The Mysteries of Jesus, The Mysterious Jesus 255
Author's Note 274
Translator's Note 276
Americas 282
Detailed image
Into the book
The road to Emmaus at dusk.
Jesus walks with the two disciples who have betrayed him and are tormented by guilt and despair.
The phrase “he walked with them” clearly reveals the image of Jesus forgiving the disciples who had abandoned him and sharing in their sighs and suffering.
It also strongly reflects the religious experience of their companion Jesus remaining by their side even after his death.
Jesus is dead.
But he came back to life, as it is written in Isaiah.
And the disciples' awareness that their teacher was always by their side would have shaped this story.
But at this time, Jesus was not yet the 'Christ' to his disciples.
There was still a lot left for them to do before they could believe in Jesus as Christ.
---From "A Painful and Long Night"
It could be said that early Christianity began with the sorrow of abandoning and betraying Jesus.
It also arose from the image of Jesus, who was like a mother, trying to love the disciples who betrayed her to the end rather than hating them.
The relationship with a mother who showed love even to her betrayed child.
From this relationship, the image of Jesus bearing all the sins of mankind emerged.
Also, the image of Jesus, a companion who understands such human weakness and pitifulness, was created, and the belief that this companion Jesus would come to their side again was also created.
In this way, the image Jesus had before he became Christ began with the vivid confessions of his disciples.
---From "From Galilee to Jerusalem"
Although Stephen was executed, Peter and his companions could only watch the situation unfold.
Even though the believers whom they called brothers and sisters were being dragged out of their homes and thrown into prison, they were unable to help them.
In the end, Peter and his companions became cowards again, just as they had been on the hot day of Jesus' execution.
At that time, he must have felt the humiliation, self-loathing, and pangs of conscience that he had to feel deeply, and he must have been in mental anguish as he heard about the death of Stephen and the persecution taking place in the city of Jerusalem.
That day, the disciples were acutely aware of their weakness, and they saw themselves as they had been before in the face of Stephen's death.
The purpose of Acts 7 and 8 is not to report the events of Stephen as they happened.
Rather, it tells us that the weak disciples still had to feel the human sorrow as deeply as they did after Jesus' death, and that humans continue to stumble over their own weaknesses until they die.
In this way, the Acts of the Apostles carefully reports the mistakes the cowardly apostles made before becoming strong.
We tend to assume that the disciples who were resurrected after Jesus' death had courage and faith until their deaths.
But when we read about the case of Stephen, we realize that they too suffered from human weaknesses.
We find great comfort and hope through this.
Even the disciples who witnessed Jesus and experienced his appearances were like that.
---From "Strong Stephen, Weak Peter"
Jesus revealed this love to his disciples not through words but through his death.
He proved his love in his last prayer on the cross.
The disciples were speechless before the crucifixion of their teacher.
Neither self-justification nor self-excuse became possible.
From that day on, they could not erase from their memories the Jesus they had abandoned.
The more they tried to forget and not think about Him, the more Jesus remained in their hearts.
Jesus captured them.
In this sense, Jesus reappeared and was resurrected in the hearts of his disciples.
---From “The Mystery of Jesus, the Mysterious Jesus”
If a person does not take loneliness lightly, but approaches it with a serious attitude and faces his inner self, he will realize that his soul is inevitably seeking some being.
A person who is disappointed in love looks for someone who will not betray him.
A person who despairs because there is no one to understand his sorrow seeks someone who will understand him.
This is neither sentimentality nor childishness.
It is the human condition for others.
Therefore, as long as human existence and history continue, humans will continue to search for an eternal companion.
Jesus always answered these earnest human expectations.
Throughout history, Christians have committed many sins, and Christianity itself has also made mistakes at times.
But still, this is why humans continue to seek Jesus.
Jesus walks with the two disciples who have betrayed him and are tormented by guilt and despair.
The phrase “he walked with them” clearly reveals the image of Jesus forgiving the disciples who had abandoned him and sharing in their sighs and suffering.
It also strongly reflects the religious experience of their companion Jesus remaining by their side even after his death.
Jesus is dead.
But he came back to life, as it is written in Isaiah.
And the disciples' awareness that their teacher was always by their side would have shaped this story.
But at this time, Jesus was not yet the 'Christ' to his disciples.
There was still a lot left for them to do before they could believe in Jesus as Christ.
---From "A Painful and Long Night"
It could be said that early Christianity began with the sorrow of abandoning and betraying Jesus.
It also arose from the image of Jesus, who was like a mother, trying to love the disciples who betrayed her to the end rather than hating them.
The relationship with a mother who showed love even to her betrayed child.
From this relationship, the image of Jesus bearing all the sins of mankind emerged.
Also, the image of Jesus, a companion who understands such human weakness and pitifulness, was created, and the belief that this companion Jesus would come to their side again was also created.
In this way, the image Jesus had before he became Christ began with the vivid confessions of his disciples.
---From "From Galilee to Jerusalem"
Although Stephen was executed, Peter and his companions could only watch the situation unfold.
Even though the believers whom they called brothers and sisters were being dragged out of their homes and thrown into prison, they were unable to help them.
In the end, Peter and his companions became cowards again, just as they had been on the hot day of Jesus' execution.
At that time, he must have felt the humiliation, self-loathing, and pangs of conscience that he had to feel deeply, and he must have been in mental anguish as he heard about the death of Stephen and the persecution taking place in the city of Jerusalem.
That day, the disciples were acutely aware of their weakness, and they saw themselves as they had been before in the face of Stephen's death.
The purpose of Acts 7 and 8 is not to report the events of Stephen as they happened.
Rather, it tells us that the weak disciples still had to feel the human sorrow as deeply as they did after Jesus' death, and that humans continue to stumble over their own weaknesses until they die.
In this way, the Acts of the Apostles carefully reports the mistakes the cowardly apostles made before becoming strong.
We tend to assume that the disciples who were resurrected after Jesus' death had courage and faith until their deaths.
But when we read about the case of Stephen, we realize that they too suffered from human weaknesses.
We find great comfort and hope through this.
Even the disciples who witnessed Jesus and experienced his appearances were like that.
---From "Strong Stephen, Weak Peter"
Jesus revealed this love to his disciples not through words but through his death.
He proved his love in his last prayer on the cross.
The disciples were speechless before the crucifixion of their teacher.
Neither self-justification nor self-excuse became possible.
From that day on, they could not erase from their memories the Jesus they had abandoned.
The more they tried to forget and not think about Him, the more Jesus remained in their hearts.
Jesus captured them.
In this sense, Jesus reappeared and was resurrected in the hearts of his disciples.
---From “The Mystery of Jesus, the Mysterious Jesus”
If a person does not take loneliness lightly, but approaches it with a serious attitude and faces his inner self, he will realize that his soul is inevitably seeking some being.
A person who is disappointed in love looks for someone who will not betray him.
A person who despairs because there is no one to understand his sorrow seeks someone who will understand him.
This is neither sentimentality nor childishness.
It is the human condition for others.
Therefore, as long as human existence and history continue, humans will continue to search for an eternal companion.
Jesus always answered these earnest human expectations.
Throughout history, Christians have committed many sins, and Christianity itself has also made mistakes at times.
But still, this is why humans continue to seek Jesus.
---From “The Mystery of Jesus, the Mysterious Jesus”
Publisher's Review
After 『The Life of Jesus』,
The Birth of Christ Through the Eyes of Shusaku Endo
Shusaku Endo, a representative Japanese author who touched our hearts with “Silence,” has returned with “The Birth of Christ.”
"The Birth of Christ" is a sequel to "The Life of Jesus," revised in 2021, and deals with how Christianity arose after Jesus' death.
This book was published five years after 『The Life of Jesus』, and in Japan, 『The Life of Jesus』 and 『The Birth of Christ』 were published as one book called 『Jesus·Christ』.
In "The Life of Jesus," Jesus is depicted as embracing the sorrow and pain of the weak and marginalized.
This is also the answer to the question, “Who is Jesus that we can believe in?”
In this way, The Birth of Christ deals with how Jesus' disciples came to accept their teacher as Christ.
Therefore, this book also answers the question of how we came to accept Jesus as Christ.
Normally, a book that is a sequel to The Life of Jesus would be entitled The Birth of Christianity.
However, Endo Shusaku titled this book “The Birth of Christ.”
In this book, he focuses not on the religion called Christianity, but on the question, "What exactly is faith?"
This is also a question that Endo Shusaku constantly poses in his works, including “Silence.”
In "The Birth of Christ," the suffering of the disciples, the conversion of Paul, and the crisis Christianity faced after the deaths of Peter and Paul are all developed in an exciting way based on the imagination of a novel.
Shusaku Endo said that "The Life of Jesus" would not be complete unless he wrote about the process by which the disciples who abandoned their teacher and ran away came to believe in Jesus as the Christ.
While many people only question the object of faith, Endo Shusaku realized that we must also record our own acceptance of faith and belief.
So, through this book, I can think again about my faith and belief.
Like the disciples who accepted Jesus as Christ.
Until Jesus was reborn as Christ,
Jesus in the hearts of believers
In the spring of 30 AD, a man was executed on a rocky hill outside the walls of Jerusalem.
His name was Jesus.
Even as Jesus suffered terribly on the cross, he prayed for the salvation of his disciples who had abandoned him.
The disciples are gripped by fear that Jesus is resenting them for their weakness and betrayal.
However, I am deeply shocked when I hear his last words.
Only then do they begin to vaguely understand who Jesus, their teacher, was and his enigmatic words.
Ironically, it was after Jesus' death that he realized that his teacher was Christ.
Jesus does not question or rebuke his disciples for their betrayal.
He simply walks with the disciples on their way to Emmaus, comforts them, and shares bread and fish with them.
The disciples recall the image of Jesus, who is love itself, and endure countless hardships and trials while tracing the stories he told.
And through this, they gradually develop their faith.
Disciples who overcame human limitations and became apostles
This book provides an in-depth look at Jesus and his disciples from a biblical and historical perspective.
Here, the author's imagination is added to breathe life into the figures of the disciples who do not appear in the Bible.
In this book, Shusaku Endo does not portray the apostles as perfect human beings.
They too show indecisiveness and make wrong decisions.
Also, when a colleague is in danger of death, they cowardly turn away or remain silent.
The same goes for the main character, Paul.
We only know Paul as a persecutor who dramatically converted.
But the Paul who appears in ‘The Birth of Christ’ is even more three-dimensional.
He is portrayed as a man who began to doubt the law he had so strongly believed in, and then found truth in Christianity, which he had persecuted.
The novel shows Paul embarking on a mission with an indomitable will and tenacity, but also showing his arrogance causing him to clash with others and sometimes hurt them.
However, the disciples discovered Christ in the process of realizing their own weaknesses, and they also overcame these weaknesses through faith.
The fact that even the disciples, who seemed to be boundlessly brave, sometimes felt human weaknesses provides comfort to us today.
And let me realize that Christ, who embraces human sorrow and pain, is now by my side.
“Jesus has already risen.
“At the bottom of each person’s life, in each person’s heart… … .”
Asking Everyone Today: What Is Jesus?
As the title suggests, this book can be read as a work that deals with how Christianity was born, or it can be interpreted as a story about how Christ was 'born' in the hearts of his disciples.
In this book, Endo Shusaku says that the true resurrection was the disciples' rediscovery of Jesus, and that this rediscovery is the essential meaning of the resurrection.
So this book asks us today what does Jesus mean in our lives?
Readers, too, can meditate on the question, "Has Jesus truly been resurrected in my heart?" after reading this work.
Even non-believers can reflect on their own inner selves and lives through the example of disciples who, despite their human limitations, overcame them through faith.
Also, for those who have read the previous work, 『The Life of Jesus』, the image of Jesus overcoming suffering and death and being reborn as Christ will be even more moving.
Jesus, who died a miserable death, is resurrected as Christ in the hearts of his disciples.
And those who remember the love Jesus gave decide to follow him.
Jesus, a person who changed the lives of many people.
He, who seemed so helpless, became an unforgettable figure to many.
We also believe that through this book, we will find a way to deeply understand the resurrection of Jesus, like the disciples.
They could not erase from their memory the Jesus they had abandoned.
The more they tried to forget and not think about Him, the more Jesus remained in their hearts.
Jesus captured them.
In this sense, Jesus appeared again and was resurrected in the hearts of his disciples.
― From the text
The Birth of Christ Through the Eyes of Shusaku Endo
Shusaku Endo, a representative Japanese author who touched our hearts with “Silence,” has returned with “The Birth of Christ.”
"The Birth of Christ" is a sequel to "The Life of Jesus," revised in 2021, and deals with how Christianity arose after Jesus' death.
This book was published five years after 『The Life of Jesus』, and in Japan, 『The Life of Jesus』 and 『The Birth of Christ』 were published as one book called 『Jesus·Christ』.
In "The Life of Jesus," Jesus is depicted as embracing the sorrow and pain of the weak and marginalized.
This is also the answer to the question, “Who is Jesus that we can believe in?”
In this way, The Birth of Christ deals with how Jesus' disciples came to accept their teacher as Christ.
Therefore, this book also answers the question of how we came to accept Jesus as Christ.
Normally, a book that is a sequel to The Life of Jesus would be entitled The Birth of Christianity.
However, Endo Shusaku titled this book “The Birth of Christ.”
In this book, he focuses not on the religion called Christianity, but on the question, "What exactly is faith?"
This is also a question that Endo Shusaku constantly poses in his works, including “Silence.”
In "The Birth of Christ," the suffering of the disciples, the conversion of Paul, and the crisis Christianity faced after the deaths of Peter and Paul are all developed in an exciting way based on the imagination of a novel.
Shusaku Endo said that "The Life of Jesus" would not be complete unless he wrote about the process by which the disciples who abandoned their teacher and ran away came to believe in Jesus as the Christ.
While many people only question the object of faith, Endo Shusaku realized that we must also record our own acceptance of faith and belief.
So, through this book, I can think again about my faith and belief.
Like the disciples who accepted Jesus as Christ.
Until Jesus was reborn as Christ,
Jesus in the hearts of believers
In the spring of 30 AD, a man was executed on a rocky hill outside the walls of Jerusalem.
His name was Jesus.
Even as Jesus suffered terribly on the cross, he prayed for the salvation of his disciples who had abandoned him.
The disciples are gripped by fear that Jesus is resenting them for their weakness and betrayal.
However, I am deeply shocked when I hear his last words.
Only then do they begin to vaguely understand who Jesus, their teacher, was and his enigmatic words.
Ironically, it was after Jesus' death that he realized that his teacher was Christ.
Jesus does not question or rebuke his disciples for their betrayal.
He simply walks with the disciples on their way to Emmaus, comforts them, and shares bread and fish with them.
The disciples recall the image of Jesus, who is love itself, and endure countless hardships and trials while tracing the stories he told.
And through this, they gradually develop their faith.
Disciples who overcame human limitations and became apostles
This book provides an in-depth look at Jesus and his disciples from a biblical and historical perspective.
Here, the author's imagination is added to breathe life into the figures of the disciples who do not appear in the Bible.
In this book, Shusaku Endo does not portray the apostles as perfect human beings.
They too show indecisiveness and make wrong decisions.
Also, when a colleague is in danger of death, they cowardly turn away or remain silent.
The same goes for the main character, Paul.
We only know Paul as a persecutor who dramatically converted.
But the Paul who appears in ‘The Birth of Christ’ is even more three-dimensional.
He is portrayed as a man who began to doubt the law he had so strongly believed in, and then found truth in Christianity, which he had persecuted.
The novel shows Paul embarking on a mission with an indomitable will and tenacity, but also showing his arrogance causing him to clash with others and sometimes hurt them.
However, the disciples discovered Christ in the process of realizing their own weaknesses, and they also overcame these weaknesses through faith.
The fact that even the disciples, who seemed to be boundlessly brave, sometimes felt human weaknesses provides comfort to us today.
And let me realize that Christ, who embraces human sorrow and pain, is now by my side.
“Jesus has already risen.
“At the bottom of each person’s life, in each person’s heart… … .”
Asking Everyone Today: What Is Jesus?
As the title suggests, this book can be read as a work that deals with how Christianity was born, or it can be interpreted as a story about how Christ was 'born' in the hearts of his disciples.
In this book, Endo Shusaku says that the true resurrection was the disciples' rediscovery of Jesus, and that this rediscovery is the essential meaning of the resurrection.
So this book asks us today what does Jesus mean in our lives?
Readers, too, can meditate on the question, "Has Jesus truly been resurrected in my heart?" after reading this work.
Even non-believers can reflect on their own inner selves and lives through the example of disciples who, despite their human limitations, overcame them through faith.
Also, for those who have read the previous work, 『The Life of Jesus』, the image of Jesus overcoming suffering and death and being reborn as Christ will be even more moving.
Jesus, who died a miserable death, is resurrected as Christ in the hearts of his disciples.
And those who remember the love Jesus gave decide to follow him.
Jesus, a person who changed the lives of many people.
He, who seemed so helpless, became an unforgettable figure to many.
We also believe that through this book, we will find a way to deeply understand the resurrection of Jesus, like the disciples.
They could not erase from their memory the Jesus they had abandoned.
The more they tried to forget and not think about Him, the more Jesus remained in their hearts.
Jesus captured them.
In this sense, Jesus appeared again and was resurrected in the hearts of his disciples.
― From the text
GOODS SPECIFICS
- Publication date: May 29, 2022
- Page count, weight, size: 292 pages | 384g | 140*205*20mm
- ISBN13: 9788932118215
- ISBN10: 8932118213
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