Tolkien famously described world history as a “long defeat,” since human efforts to overcome evil are ultimately doomed to failure. But the gospel still offers hope because of Christ’s ultimate victory. Endo’s novel, Silence, depicts the crushing challenges of bringing the gospel to Japan; Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev buckled under the horrors of Stalin’s Soviet regime and expresses his pain through his 7th Symphony. However, in different ways, both articulate hope against the odds.