Faith, Film, & Philosophy, ch. 12

When I taught Philosophy at a community college, I used Contact as one of the movies we watched. The ultimate questions of the relationship between religion (faith) and science are tense and important. Diving into the stories of 2001 and Contact, the author wrestles with four main question, the last of which I was surprised to see:
- the debate between religious faith and naturalism
- the nature of the human person, particularly in relation to consciousness and free will
- the nature of religious experience
- the question of intelligent life on other planets and its significance for religion
I appreciated the care with which the author navigated all of the questions. The last question, however, is the best I have seen in answering the 'what if' of alien life from a Christian worldview.