Looking for a new movie to watch? Give Agora a try. This intriguing and ultimately very moving film tells the tale of Hypatia, the (atheist) mathematician and philosopher murdered by a Christian mob in 415 AD. Silver screen historical accuracy is what it is, and Agora definitely has more than a touch of hagiography about it (it also makes some fairly remarkable—and, I suspect, unprovable–assumptions about just how far Hypatia’s mathematical research had advanced by the time of her death), but this is a story that deserves to be heard more, and with Hypatia marvelously played by Rachel Weisz, this movie is as good an introduction as you are likely to find.
Thanks for the recommendation.
I’ll wait for Netflix, but this looks like a promising and interesting tale of the clash between applied reason and a certain … ahem (cough! cough!) … nascent religious tradition.
Not exactly a novel concept these days, but perhaps a necessary counterargument to the one commonly pushed these days that a … certain … religion promoted reason and science, rather than fighting it tooth and nail (and finally, Thank God! losing the battle.)
David B. Hart today @ On The Square: The Perniciously Persistent Myths of Hypatia and the Great Library
Was Hypatia an atheist or a pagan? Obviously, they are not the same.
Interesting and voluminous comments at the link.
Not sure “atheist” works as a description of Hypatia’s alleged neo-platonism. The history of her life looks rather murky. Regardless many in college town don’t realize that pagan and neo-platonic scribes battled against the christians (and jews), even until like the reign of Justinian (and a few decades after the fall of RE, another monotheistic sect, the, mohammedans arrive)
Either way, the story of Hypatia is an interesting legend, and not exactly the normal HBO soft-porn product.