Ca’ Foscari Japanese Studies

Collana | Ca’ Foscari Japanese Studies
Monografia | A Failing Mission?
Capitolo | 4 • Saving Souls in Japan

4 • Saving Souls in Japan

Abstract

This chapter discusses the sixteenth-century Jesuit vocabulary of conversion, in Asia and Europe, in light of the importance attributed to saving one’s own soul through the work of saving other people. It then considers the history of the practice of mass baptism in the Japanese mission, and the tension existing between the expectations of the intervention of divine grace, the catechisation carried out by the missionaries, and the outcomes that the Jesuits could observe in the Christian Japanese communities. By analysing the different attitudes that Cabral had towards the conversion of elite and poor Japanese people, it also shows how he believed less and less that his work as missionary could contribute to his own salvation.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Presentato: 21 Giugno 2023 | Accettato: 25 Settembre 2023 | Pubblicato 31 Gennaio 2024 | Lingua: en


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