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| The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang is an important historical work, which brings to light tragic, horrendous, and heroic deeds associated with the Japanese conquest of Nanking, China in 1937. She gives an overview of the brutal and inhumane treatment of innocent civilians by the Japanese army that has largely been ignored by historians. This is remarkable for several reasons. It was not hidden from the world at the time like the Nazi concentration camps because there were American reporters who witnessed the first parts of the massacre. In addition there was newsreel footage showing elements of the slaughter. The author writes that she was driven to research and investigate this crime against humanity in large part because it had been historically ignored and so reduced to insignificance. She felt the terrible injustice of a true story of suffering and heroism untold, ignored, and unremembered. Estimates of 300,000 to 350,000 victims were raped, brutalized, and slaughtered in just 6 weeks. It is a difficult book to read because of the horror, but she chooses not to dwell on the details and instead tries to examine the forces that were at play, first in the perpetration of this crime against humanity and then in the “second rape,” its cover up. There was a small band (25 or so) of Americans and Europeans, who played a heroic role in saving about 300,000 people. They consisted of mostly missionaries, but also included at least three Nazi Germans, one of whom served as the leader of this valiant group of people. They created and maintained an international safety zone of several precious square blocks in the midst of the city. Chang decries the fact that although these heroic figures “sacrificed their health and energy to help the Chinese in Nanking, they never got what they deserved from life or posterity.” Her sense of injustice drips from every page. She can’t undo the first rape but she wants to stop the second one, the conspiracy of silence, by exposing the truth to the world. I am thankful that she did! She intimates that the injustice of silence diminishes the heroism displayed by a few valiant people and robs the victims of justice. She seems to think that the silence itself has cheapened the victims’ lives. Here I must depart from Ms. Chang’s perspective. By now I hope it is obvious that I found this a compelling and important story. I am glad I know. I don’t want to forget. And I am inspired by the heroic deeds of the courageous people she described. Furthermore, I hope I will work as diligently as Ms. Chang to bring to light injustices when I can. But these 300,000 lives are not more significant because I happen to know about it. The acts of heroism are not more significant because more people know about it. They are important for their own sake, before God! Like integrity, these heroic deeds and this terrible suffering matter whether any other human knows about it or not. One of the important doctrines of Christianity is that one day there will be an ultimate reckoning on God’s terms. We all long for justice and, with Ms. Chang, we can feel the outrage of injustice. There are so many injustices in the world that it could drive us to despair, so it is comforting to know that one day God will make all things right. His omniscience allows Him to pierce every intention, every motive, and every deed with perfect discernment. It is a precious part of the Christian faith that one day there will be perfect justice. |
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by Dr. J. Patrick Curtis, Senior Pastor |
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