THE GOSPEL OF DOUBT: MISSIOLOGICAL PARADOXES IN THE LITERATURE OF KAZUO ISHIGURO'S THE BURIED GIANT

Abstract This paper tries to find out the missiological paradoxes embedded within Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant, focusing on the intricate relationship between faith, doubt, memory, and forgiveness in a post-Roman Britain. Through a critical missiological lens, the narrative reveals how spiritual amnesia, theological tension, and the struggle for reconciliation shape the characters' journey, mirroring broader challenges faced by Christian mission in diverse cultural landscapes. The novel’s portrayal of doubt, both as a spiritual crisis and as a pathway to faith—invites a rethinking of missionary work, highlighting the complexity of belief in contexts marked by historical trauma and collective forgetting. Also, the study investigates how Ishiguro’s text complicates conventional narratives of faith by presenting doubt not as an obstacle but as an essential component of spiritual and communal transformation. By doing so, it contributes to missiological discourse on evangelism, reconciliation, and the paradox of faith in uncertain times.