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This article examines Endō Shūsaku's (1923–1996) Chinmoku (Silence, 1966), a novel based on the history of Christian persecution in seventeenth century Japan. Like many other Japanese Christians, Endō struggled throughout his life attempting to reconcile Christianity and Japan. Endō's solution was to transform Christianity into something acceptable to Japanese religious traditions. In Silence, Endō reshaped “paternal” (strict) Catholicism into a “maternal” (forgiving) religion of love. This change has triggered much debate. Some have praised it as a humane inculturation, while others criticized it as a distortion of orthodox teaching. This raises an old yet unresolved question: what is the essence of Christianity?