We watched The Book of Eli last week, the Denzel Washington film where he protects the last Bible on earth. It’s intriguing, worth the rental.
I was curious about the screenwriter for the film, so I googled and got this from the writer:
“Like what’s the point in living day to day and surviving if there isn’t anything beyond that? So knowledge, culture, literature, that’s what I always felt was very important, that at the end of the movie that we felt like it was kind of triumph of not necessarily faith or any belief system but of academia and knowledge and preservation of what makes us who we are.” – Gary Whitta
I’m sure this guy is super smart to write such a great screenplay, but seperating faith and belief systems from academia and knowledge only tells half the story for these things always mingle. He can say the movie wasn’t a triumph of faith, but it was, whether you view it faith in the Holy Scriptures or faith in culture. Attempting to remove faith from a given person, or a culture as a whole, is pointless. Faith always exists. Now, what that faith is in is a different conversation.
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I agree with your point. It seems to me that, based on the quote, Whitta is a man of faith whether he realizes it or not.
In this case, it appears that Whitta’s faith is in knowledge and in the end, his faith is in mankind and ultimately himself. It is man who defines what knowledge is and determines what knowledge is beneficial. In a system where one’s faith is in knowledge, one has made his or herself the god of that system.