In the 11th
century, Christians were not welcome in Persia, so in the film, The Physician (2013), Rob
Cole, a Christian, pretends to be Jewish in order to travel from Western Europe
to study at the medical school of Ibn Sina, a famous physician in Isfahan. He
eventually reveals his religion as that of “the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” when
he is on trial before the local imam. The Jews there doubtlessly feel used and
betrayed. As interesting as interreligious controversy can be, I contend that
the nature of Cole’s crime is more significant from the standpoint of religion
itself. In short, the film illustrates what bad effects are likely to come from
committing a category mistake with respect to religion and another domain.
Whether conflating distinct domains or erasing the boundary between them,
category mistakes had diminished the credibility of religion as being
over-reaching by the time that the film was made. As for the matter of interreligious
differences, the sheer pettiness by which the three Abrahamic religions that
share the same deity have made mole hills into untraversable mountains is
hardly worthy of attention, whereas that which makes religion as a domain of phenomena
unique and thus distinct from other, even related domains, is in need of
further work. The film could have done more in this regard.
The full essay is at "The Physician."
