Check out our speakers from Doxacon 2024!!

Clergy Keynote - Fr. David Subu - The Golden Path Revisited: Frank Herbert's Dune Series as Religion Critique & Messianic Fantasy

The questions Frank Herbert’s writings ask us as Christians should be taken seriously. What are the proper uses versus abuses of religious power, ritual, and imagery and what is their effect on culture and spirituality? How is fear the “mind-killer”? What is a human being and what is human destiny? What is our noble purpose?
In 1965, Frank Herbert published Dune, which would inaugurate one of the most influential science-fiction series of all time. Among the many themes found in the series, a sustained critique of religious institutions is paired with an exceptional imagining of the Messiah myth in a future setting. It would be easy to assume both of these treat people of faith in a superficial, negative light, but Herbert’s treatment is far more sophisticated than that. Christians especially would do well to take heed to the points he makes about the abuses of religious power and authority. At the same time, Herbert neither transcends nor fully subverts the Messiah myth and Christians can also see reflections of their own faith being fulfilled in the religious fantasy of the Dune Chronicles. An unrecorded version of this talk was given at the first Doxacon in 2013, and pairs with Fr. David’s keynote from our online 2021 conference.
The Very Rev. Fr. Dr. David Subu is priest at Protection of the Holy Mother of God Orthodox Church in Falls Church, Virginia. He is co-founder of Doxacon, the first ever Christian science-fiction/fantasy conference/convention.