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{"id":5576,"date":"2024-03-01T20:53:23","date_gmt":"2024-03-02T02:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/watchinggod\/?p=5576"},"modified":"2024-03-01T20:53:23","modified_gmt":"2024-03-02T02:53:23","slug":"dune-part-two-asks-explosive-questions-about-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/watchinggod\/2024\/03\/dune-part-two-asks-explosive-questions-about-religion\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Dune: Part Two’ Asks Explosive Questions About Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

"Dune <\/a>

From Dune: Part Two, screen shot courtesy Warner Bros. trailer<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Dune: Part Two<\/em> is out in theaters today, and it\u2019s pretty spectacular. Sure, the film as its content issues (which you can read about in my review<\/a>),\u00a0 but if you can keep up with Dune\u2019s<\/em> dense, detailed story, you\u2019ll be rewarded with the sort of grand cinematic saga I\u2019ve not seen since The Lord of the Rings<\/em> films.<\/p>\n

And the film has a lot of interesting spiritual folds to it. Indeed, the saga of Paul \u201cMuad\u2019Dib\u201d Atreides is inescapably tangled with religion. Almost everyone around him seems to ask, \u201cIs This the messiah we\u2019ve been waiting for?\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the exceptions? Paul himself.<\/p>\n

<\/a>

Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet in Dune: Part Two, screen shot courtesy Warner Bros. trailer<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nChosen One?<\/strong><\/h2>\n***
** As we learn in Dune: Part One<\/em>, Paul Atreides comes to the planet Arrakis with his father (the powerful Duke Leto), his family and the Atreides army. The house of Atreides is one of the most powerful houses in the galaxy, and as such, the galactic emperor asked Duke Leto to take control of Arrakis\u2014home to the spice melange, the galaxy\u2019s most important substance (and a powerful narcotic besides).<\/p>\n
** But an act of betrayal force he and his mother\u2014Jessica, a part of the mysterious, powerful order of the Bene Gesserit\u2014to flee the palace and head into the Arrakis wilderness. It\u2019s a really uninviting place: Paul calls it a \u201cworld beyond cruelty.\u201d<\/p>\n
** But Paul and Jessica fall in with a group of Fremen\u2014Arrakis\u2019 indigenous people\u2014and begin to learn how to survive in this brutal planet. Paul shows such aptitude that, even as Dune: Part Two opens, some Fremen wonder whether Paul could be the Fremen\u2019s prophesied Lisan al-Gaib<\/em>, a messiah-like figure who, it is said, will lead them to paradise.<\/p>\n
** But Paul\u2019s not particularly interested in fulfilling prophecy. He takes his very name, Muad\u2019Dib, from the humble kangaroo rat\u2014perhaps partly in an attempt to diminish himself. And as Jessica does her best to convince the Fremen that he is their messiah, Paul tries to demystify the Bene Gesserit order itself\u2014and undercut her authority. He knows that Bene Gesserit missionaries actually planted<\/em> those prophecies that point to the Lisan al-Gaib for their own complicated purposes. Paul knows they\u2019re \u201cjust stories,\u201d and he practically begs his mother to stop telling them.<\/p>\n
** Paul knows he\u2019s no messiah: He knows there\u2019s no such thing.<\/p>\n
** ***But even in the face of his denials, many believe anyway. Stilgar\u2014the first Fremen leader who helped Paul survive and his most passionate follower\u2014flatly tells him, \u201cI don\u2019t care what you believe! I <\/em>believe!\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>

Charlotte Rampling in Dune: Part Two, screen shot courtesy Warner Bros. trailer<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nTrue Religion<\/strong><\/h2>\n*******
** Small spoiler warning: If you\u2019ve read the books or seen the end of Dune: Part Two, you know that Paul ultimately does take on the role of messiah figure, even if he still didn\u2019t believe he was one. Frank Herbert, who wrote Dune (and four other books in the series) was deeply suspicious of all human constructs, including religion. And in his introduction for his short story collection Eye, he quibbles with the overtly messianic Paul portrayed in the 1984 cinematic version of Dune. \u201cPaul was a man playing<\/em> god, not a god who could make it rain.\u201d<\/p>\n
** Herbert\u2019s suspicion of religion is well founded. Every faith system contains its share of very human players. Religion can be a cynical, self-serving construct.<\/p>\n
** But while Paul insists his no messiah figure, the prophecies\u2014however made up they originally were\u2014are gradually fulfilled. The Dune<\/em> movies spark a question that I ask myself: Could the divine still work through that system, in spite of that system?<\/em> We\u2019re broken and we inherently build broken things \u2026 but might God still find a way to take that brokenness and use it for His own ends?<\/p>\n
** In the Bible, we often read how God uses unbelieving nations looking out for their own interests to further His plans. Some, such as Assyria or Babylonia, God uses as an instrument of punishment. But God uses others to save His people.<\/p>\n
** Cyrus the Great essentially took a backwater nation (Persia) and almost singlehandedly turned it into the world\u2019s greatest empire. He could be ruthless when he felt circumstances demanded it, but he was a pretty savvy politician, too. Sure, he conquered and even decimated a few rival empires. But he crows that he also freed a bunch of folks who\u2019d been displaced by those same empires\u2014including the Jews who\u2019d been under the Babylonian thumb\u2014and, according to the Cyrus Cylinder, \u201creturned them to their dwellings.\u201d<\/p>\n
** *******Cyrus was not Jewish, of course (even though he acknowledged the Jewish God in Ezra 1:2). In that same document, Cyrus pays homage to Marduk (the patron god of Babylon), and the Persian people subscribed to Zoroastrianism. But biblical writers say that Cyrus was working for God: Isaiah tells us that Cyrus was God\u2019s \u201canointed\u201d in Isaiah 45:1, which means he was literally a messiah (though, obviously not the<\/em> Messiah).<\/p>\n****

<\/a>*******
** From Vision of the Cross by Gianfrancesco Penni, Giulio Romano and Raffaellino del Colle<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nA Sign From Above<\/strong><\/h2>\n
** Fast-forward 850 years or so, and we meet another emperor, Constantine. For centuries, the Roman Empire had been a pretty unfriendly place for Christians. To be a Christian was illegal and could, literally, get you executed.<\/p>\n
** In October 312, during a critical battle that would secure Constantine\u2019s claim on the whole Roman Empire, the man saw a vision of a cross against the sun, along with the words \u201cin this sign, you will conquer.\u201d The following year, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, which granted freedom of religion to most everyone in the Empire\u2014including the long-persecuted Christians.<\/p>\n
** Plenty of historians are skeptical of Constantine\u2019s sudden turn toward the Christian faith. The Christian Church had continued to grow despite its persecutions, they argue, and it just made sense to turn this threat into an asset. It also had a cross-class appeal, which made it potentially a strong unifying force within the Roman Empire. This wasn\u2019t an act of devotion, they argue: It was an act of political savvy.<\/p>\n
** Perhaps they\u2019re right. But even if Constantine didn\u2019t see that cross on the sun, there\u2019s no question his move to legitimize the faith was a seminal moment for that faith. It was suddenly OK to be Christian in an empire that encompassed much of the known world. And less than 70 years later, it became the empire\u2019s official religion. From then on, Christianity and Western history were joined at the hip.<\/p>\n
** Dune: Part Two<\/em> is a sprawling, fascinating story\u2014and how it incorporates religion is among its most fascinating features. Paul may know that he\u2019s no messianic figure. But don\u2019t tell that to the Fremen, who may see their god at work in spite of it all. I believe, they say.<\/p>\n
** And history suggests that God can work in plenty of our own unlikely vessels, too.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
** *******Dune: Part Two is out in theaters today, and it\u2019s pretty spectacular. Sure, the film as its content issues (which you can read about in my review),\u00a0 but if you can keep up with Dune\u2019s dense, detailed story, you\u2019ll be rewarded with the sort of grand cinematic saga I\u2019ve not seen since The Lord of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2036,"featured_media":5579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[365,3],"tags":[1043,232,193,5],"class_list":["post-5576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors-choice","category-movies","tag-dune","tag-messiah","tag-religion","tag-science-fiction"],"yoast_head":"\n'Dune: Part Two' Asks Explosive Questions About Religion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dune: Part Two is inescapably tangled with religion. 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