In the Greek tragedy Antigone, the gods prove themselves to be indifferent to the plight of the people, but in Song of Roland, a Medieval French poem, God is very much present and directly intervenes in the lives of his people. Religion is handled very differently in these two cultures and the relationship between God/gods and humans shifts from one work to the next.
Andreas, Kablitz. "Religion and Violence in the Song of Roland." MLN 126.4 (2011):
S115-S158. Project MUSE. Web. 20 Oct. 2014. <http://muse.jhu.edu/>.
This piece serves as a response to a speech given by Pope Benedict, who expressed that there is no connection between faith and violence. The argument is that violence and faith began to correlate only after the birth of monotheism. Anyone who reads Song of Roland knows how much death and destruction are explicitly detailed in the poem. For the Frenchmen, who are also the Christians, they do a lot of killing, but it is all in the name of the Lord. They believe that they have been given a mandate to Christianize everyone and to kill those who refuse to convert.…show more content… "Myth, Religion, And Meaning In Greek Tragedy." Quarterly Journal
Of Speech 56. (1970): 54-60. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 20 Oct.2014.
One of the arguments made in this article is that religion actually has a basis for the plots of Greek tragedies, as opposed to religion being the plot itself. This appears true in Antigone since the plot revolves heavily around the after life and calling on the gods for protection and deliverance. Ironically, there is no real interaction between the two entities and no strong relationship seems to exist.
Segal, Robert A. "The Blurry Line Between Humans And Gods." Numen: