Sorry for the absence; I have been diligently remodeling part of the house. Now back on topic:
There is a series of films by a Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski that goes by the name. The idea is to put into real life the realities of the Ten Commandments. The series is well done, and the crowning touch is that it all takes place in Communist (read deeply secular) Poland.
On to the question banging about in my head. The first film based on the First Commandment, "You shall have no other gods before me," has a family paying the price for science being their god. In this current age of bringing science and religion into dialogue (I am thinking of Francis Collins and Allister McGrath and Polkinghorne) of which I support wholeheartedly, has Christianity given up too much ground? Specifically, in the Post-modern mindset, is there room to draw a line when it comes to epistemology? Is the Church still willing to call out science when it claims god-like status?
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Poland, 'deeply secular', in 1988 when Kieslowski made the Decalogue for Telewizja Polska? Well, perhaps you are right. But if it was deeply secular, this had little to do with the fact that there was a puppet Communist government in charge at that time.
What irked the authorities of that time was not to do with some good news of Christ being preached so widely by the church there that it became a problem but rather the fact that the church was actively involved in trying to effect social change and the fact that it was inseparably linked to the political underground movement Solidarność.
The situation is not much different today in Poland with the church actively involved in trying to resolve secular matters it firmly believes it has the authority on earth, by God’s permission of course, to do so.
What concerned Kieslowski was not the political scene in Poland nor the involvement of the church in politics, something that Christ himself clearly would never have dabbled in, if John 18:36 is to be believed, but rather about the individual behind his closed door at home, the ordinary man in the street and how he fitted in with all that was happening around him.
For instance, what reference can the man in the street use as a guide? Kieslowski said: ‘More and more frequently, I was watching people who didn’t really know why they were living.’
With defined and fixed rules, such as those found in the ‘Ten Commandments’ of the Bible, Kieslowski suggested that there was an absolute reference people could turn to for a guide but hinted that other things would need to be considered before concluding that it was simply that easy.
Regarding the Decalogue, Kieslowski only gave the description of the commandments of the Decalogue (in the order suggested by the Catholic Church) as an afterthought (they were originally entitled Dekalog I - X) when he realized that his mostly Catholic audience might first need to relate to these absolute references, before taking them anywhere else. It’s not true to say that Kieslowski wanted to base the Decalogue on the ‘Ten Commandments’ found in the Bible. In fact, there are 14 or 15 potentially relevant verses in Exodus 20 alone.
Regarding science and the magic ‘scientific method’ that is claimed to be the only reliable means available for people to understand the universe around them, the Austrian-born philosopher of science Paul Feyerand described science as being “essentially anarchistic, obsessed with its own mythology, and as making claims to truth well beyond its actual capacity.” With that statement, I do believe Feyerabend touched on something.
Last two comments require deletion! Blogger misreporting overflow. :-)
Alexandre:
Thanks for finding my post! Your insight is helpful to understand the director's intent. Whilst I defer to your expertise, one of the visceral aspects of the Decalogue was its bleakness and apparent lack of church (probably my bias). Perhaps that was Kieslowski attempting to portray a lack of purpose...serving a system of flawed human programs which offer nothing but a grave.
respect Mac! I dream of having to delete blog comments!!!
good to have you back! When will we ever get to see each other again???
I have linked our blog to my name just in case someone wants to post stuff that needs to be deleted!!
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