In 1935, I was 15, a student in a Christian College. At that time a very important discovery of human paintings in caverns in southern Spain was publicized by archeologist Father Peyrony. Peyrony argued that ‘very likelythose paintings date back to about 15,000 years‘. In my book of religious teachings, it stated that the first appearance of man on earth dates back to about 40 centuries BC.
I got back to my teacher with a question: ‘Which date is credible?’ The Father teacher responded emphatically: ‘Please, do not confuse two things; you have Science on one hand, and Religion on the other… if conflict arises, it is Religion that tells the truth’. I retorted: ‘But Father that is impossible! The new discovery seems to be a well established fact; the first appearance of man on earth cannot be traced to what it says in the Bible! It is impossible!’
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We were educated Religion tells us something while Science proves otherwise.
I said to myself, something is missing here!’
Maurice Bucaille quoted from an informal speech to a group of US medical doctors and scientists in Chicago (1987)
Since that early encounter in his green years until the day he died in 1998, Maurice Bucaille, the successful gastroenterologist and the active member of Paris’ French Society of Egyptology, has paid a great deal of his life to scrutinize the potential harmony (or disharmony) of the seemingly two adversaries; Religion and Science. Bucaille had focused his search and field study on medical, empirical and historical sciences in relation to the three major monotheistic religions of today; Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
The scientist’s endeavour had immediately trumpeted an open call for controversy. Not only his approach to the purpose that was not always agreeable, but also the outcome of his studies in certain scientific disciplines. Those were certainly agitating in the Catholic circles and, for sure, hostile in the evolutionists’ playgrounds. The controversy that first flared in mainstream press dubbing his work as just ‘Bucailleism’, eventually developed into heated debates and rebuttals into all media; in lecture rooms and live and on radio and television channels. And of course it is still astir in the cyberspace.
In spite, and probably as a result, of all of this, the stream that Bucaille had enriched over the last three decades is gaining momentum, strength and presence in many regions across the globe leaving an indelible mark on the study of Science and Religion.
Maurice and the Pharaoh is a visual endeavour to scrutinize Bucaille’s legacy. A good deal of the documentary aspires to touch upon one of those rare moments when the three major religions come to terms to assist Bucaille, and his Egyptian-Franco team, in combining scientific stamina with laboratory work to finally propose what came to be a definitive answer to a 3000 year old question;