Hey, it’s Jeff here. I am excited to be blogging with my wife. Last night for “date night” we watched The Exorcism of Emily Rose. The movie is about a 19-year old college student who is demon-possessed. Emily goes to her priest for help after finding no lasting help from the medical/psychiatric community. In short, Emily winds up killing herself. Because Emily was under the supervision of her priest, he is ultimately charged with negligent homicide. Most of the movie takes place in the court room during the trial of the priest. I think it is shot in such a way that you are the juror where you have to decided whether the priest is guilty or not.
What I found most interesting about this movie was the questions it raises. The movie puts it’s finger on the pulse of the underlying worldviews that our culture is wrestling with, could science or religion saved Emily. I think the movie is pointing to a larger problem in our culture. Science isn’t the ultimate hope it has promised to be. Science doesn’t solve all the issues of life. In the end, I think it points out that science has limits. Then the movie raises the issue of religion. What role should religion play in the healing of people? Are our problems fundamentally religious? Is there such a thing as a spiritual world out there? The questions the movie raises are the same questions the characters are asking especially the attorney who defends the priest. I won’t tell how the movie ends, but it does ask us to think about how we integrate both religion and science in our lives.
