Avatar and Grace Augustine

In the movie Avatar the head scientist/Xenobiologist is a doctor by the name of Grace Augustine. She has spearheaded the Avatar program and has her own Avatar through whom she has had contact with the Na’vi. She at first resists Jake Sully because of his lack of training but soon finds out that he is able to contact and interact with the Na’vi like no other of Grace’s staff. She begins to like Jake and extends “grace” to Jake and is willing to support, train, and eventually die for him and the Na’vi.

In our study of the symbolism used in the movie Avatar, it is ironic that the name for this lead scientist is Grace Augustine. The symbolic connection seems to be direct to the issue of Grace through the theologian Augustine. Grace is the concept that on our own we can not and will not choose to follow God. When Adam and Eve sinned against God their natures had become so deprived that without God’s help they would not even want to participate in the change process of life. In Genesis 3:15 God said that He would put enmity into the woman regarding sin and Satan. If He did not put this desire to turn away from the old ways we would be so stubborn we would not turn back to God even though dying from lack of His presence.

To further discuss the issue of grace it is interesting to note that grace is often interpreted to be unmerited favor – God granting special blessings to us who do not deserve to be saved. I believe that this interpretation is basically correct. An additional interpretation of grace is that grace can also grant us power to obey Him. II Corinthians 12:9; II Timothy 2:1; Romans 1:5 Thus when Grace Augustine helps the hero – Jake Sulley, she is indeed extending grace – unmerited favor, and unmerited power to accomplish the will of God.

Grace is an essential component in Christian theology. Before the fall Adam was naturally inclined to obey God’s thought and will. After his fall, Adam needed special help from God to obey. With out God’s help, or grace, mankind might want to do right but would be unable to do so. Grace, from God, is the power to do what the Spirit wants to do.

One final aspect of grace, in the movie the spirit of Eywa extends her hand to Jake and identifies him as a special person in the mind of Eywa, and in the end it is Eywa’s grace that helps the Na’vi to win the war and to change Jake into a real Na’vi. Jake could want and desire to change but on his own power he would not be able to accomplish this spiritual task. Grace makes the impossible happen. Grace is one of the essential issues of spiritual growth and change.

Thus grace is a component of the story of Avatar and it is certainly a massive truth in the Bible. Today we can have this grace from God by asking Him and believing that He has extended this component to us by faith.