I love that notion of cultural estuaries. Places of mystery, imagination, spawning and growth. It is true that the church does not particularly like estuaries, but rather the solid high ground of certainty. Words like ambiguity scare us.
Further he writes, “Endo connected faith with compassion, imagination and nurture. Compassion can be made available to those willing to wade into the uncertain, muddy territory of the human heart. To nurture is to have a mother’s heart for those we love. Imagination guides us beyond the cruel reality of brokenness. Yet Endo was aware that Western Christianity often fails to communicate these biblical principles. God is often portrayed as an angry disciplinarian, an aloof father figure forcing his children to submit without using their imaginations.”