Rady Roldan-Figueroa Interviewed on His New Book, The Martyrs of Japan
Dr. Rady Roldan-Figueroa recently gave a video interview on the topic of his new book, The Martyrs of Japan.
In the interview, Dr. Roldan-Figueroa, Faculty Associate of the CGCM, shared some significant findings of his interdisciplinary research focusing on the missionary work of three religious orders in Japan.
The book contributes to undercurrents in seventeenth-century history characterized by the period’s global Jesuit, Franciscan, and Descalsed mission work. Dr. Roldan-Figueroa analyzed 380 books printed during the period and thereby explores the histories of publishers and publishing houses in Italy and Spain. He also explores the global connections and spiritual influence of this corpus of “travel” literature. One of the book’s contributions is the reclassification of the literature on Japanese Christian martyrdom and persecution to religious/spiritual literature. Dr. Roldan-Figuero argues that the proliferation and influence of such literature were held a spiritual and religious purpose for the communities who printed it, received it, and passed it on.
The introductory chapter offers an overview of sixteenth-century Christianity in Japan. The rest of the book focuses on the roles, uses, and receptions of the body of literature produced between 1591-1700 that detailed Japanese persecution, prosecution, and martyrdom. The bibliography will prove valuable for scholars and students of the history of Japanese Christianity. Dr. Roldan-Figueroa uses several approaches in his research: history of missions, history of publication, a new approach to institutional history, and questions of how to classify the literature under study.
For a more detailed summary of the book, view the interview and hear Dr. Roldan-Figueroa explain some of the research discoveries, main arguments, and scholarly contributions held together in The Martyrs of Japan.
To buy a copy of the book, visit the publisher’s page here.
