Epilogue

Abstract

The epilogue summarizes some of the main conclusions of this study. The practical ‘case studies’ composed by Pedro Gómez discuss the everyday concerns of Japanese Christians. The Jesuits’ ‘casuistry of civil war’ reflected on the conditions for becoming involved in local conflicts. This was prompted by Alonso Sánchez’s call for Spain to intervene militarily to protect the missionaries in China and in Japan. Both those for and against such a course of action argued over the correct interpretation of the theory of ‘just war’, as it was developed by Augustine and Francisco de Vitoria. In this debate Valignano saw the Japanese Church as a new ‘primitive Church’ that reflected pre-Constantinian times. Sánchez, Coelho, and Cruz understood Christianitas defined in territorial terms reminiscent of the Holy Roman Empire. Japanese suspicions that the missionaries were planning to invade Japan were overshadowed by an even greater concern: that Christianity presented a moral threat to the nation. This reminds us of the fate of Buddhism, which had initially been rejected until it was fully integrated into the Japanese polity by Prince Shōtoku. The synthesis between Buddhism, Shinto, and the state that emerged over the next millennium became a cornerstone of the nation. The shogunate was not willing to allow a new synthesis with Christianity to emerge. Thus, when Christians emerged from hiding after the Meiji Restoration, they were initially seen as enemies of the state. Their resilience and survival suggest that they had internalized the teachings they had previously received from their Jesuit mentors.