The god emperor and the tyrant: the political theology of Frank Herbert's dune saga

Wakefield, James R. M. 2022. The god emperor and the tyrant: the political theology of Frank Herbert's dune saga. Decker, Kevin S., ed. Dune and Philosophy, Wiley Blackwell, pp. 201-210. (10.1002/9781119841425.ch20)

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Abstract

Politics and religion certainly ride together throughout the Dune saga. Rationales were given to support twentieth century dictator ships, whose citizens were encouraged to see their leaders as infallible. In this way, politics in a totalitarian state resembled a religion, with a community of faithful followers and its own special theology to justify the dictator's authority. This chapter, draws parallels between the religious dimensions of politics in Frank Herbert's Dune novels and some philosophers’ views on tyranny and justice here on Earth. Even in democratic countries, leaders still tend to think of themselves as in service to some higher, impersonal standard, like a set of principles, a tradition, a flag, or a constitution. Plato's readers have sometimes described the relation between the higher plane of reality of universals and the world of everyday experience in terms of the relation between heaven and earth in the Abrahamic religions.

Item Type:	Book Section
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Cardiff Law & Politics Department of Politics and International Relations (POLIR)
Publisher:	Wiley Blackwell
ISBN:	9781119841395
Last Modified:	20 Feb 2024 15:50
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/154170

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