At last I have watched Woody Allen's You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger. I enjoyed the simple and natural style of the production. While I was living with the conflicted family I had in mind my post from when the film came out in 2010. I had quoted from an interview in which Allen put fortune-tellers on a par with all religions, with a messy world the consequence. He had said he could not connect with his Jewish heritage, which, to my mind, would have anchored his life in a certainty of a far different order than that provided by the fraudster in the film.
As it happened, this weekend I have also read a short paper on the practice of Catholic theology that stresses the partnership between the rational and scientific, and faith. It says:
The film shows a family disintegrating because its members disregard a set of human principles that reflect the way we have, in fact, been made. In particular, they spurn their married partners. For sure, these rudderless people are a commonplace these days, but they give insight into where truth lies - in other words, where people of well-founded principle can find happiness. Though it would have been hard for each to stay put, the outcome would have been fulfilling for each, because that is the way we are made.
As it happened, this weekend I have also read a short paper on the practice of Catholic theology that stresses the partnership between the rational and scientific, and faith. It says:
Theology is scientific reflection on the divine revelation which the Church accepts by faith as universal saving truth. The sheer fulness and richness of that revelation is too great to be grasped by any one theology, and in fact gives rise to multiple theologies as it is received in diverse ways by human beings. In its diversity, nevertheless, theology is united in its service of the one truth of God.The content of faith is based on the fact of the treasury of Biblical and Christian texts, the unique history of the Hebrews and the person of Jesus of Nazareth. It provides a set of principles that then must be teased out by delving into all fields of the world and human life. Theology is "the exploration in myriad ways of God’s one saving truth".
The film shows a family disintegrating because its members disregard a set of human principles that reflect the way we have, in fact, been made. In particular, they spurn their married partners. For sure, these rudderless people are a commonplace these days, but they give insight into where truth lies - in other words, where people of well-founded principle can find happiness. Though it would have been hard for each to stay put, the outcome would have been fulfilling for each, because that is the way we are made.
