Religion in "The Subtle Knife"

Religious themes definitely start to emerge in this novel and it is clear that Dust plays a big role in religion and the concepts of spirit in the His Dark Materials trilogy. In this novel, Dr. Malone is able to communicate with Dust using a machine she built. The following conversation occurs while using this device:

Malone: The mind that is answering these questions isn't human, is it?
Dust: No. But humans have always known us.
Malone: Us? There's more than one of you?
Dust: Uncountable billions.
Malone: But what are you?
Dust: ANGELS.
Malone: Angels are creatures of shadow matter? of Dust?
Dust: Structures. Complexifications. Yes.
Malone: And shadow matter is what we call spirit?
Dust: From what we are, spirit; From what we do, matter. Matter and spirit are one.
Malone: And did you intervene in human evolution?
Dust: Yes.
Malone: Why?
Dust: Vengeance.
Malone: Vengeance for--oh! Rebel angels! After the war in Heaven--Satan and the Garden of Eden--but it isn't true, is it? Is that what you
Dust: Find the girl and the boy, waste no more time.
Malone: But why?
Dust: You must play the serpent. (pg 220-221)

This conversation is probably the most explicitly religious element in this novel, but is an important one. From this we know that angels are real and that they have a plan for Lyra, Will and Dr. Malone. It is also clear that Dust is integral to human spirit. There statement about Malone being "the serpent" is also incredibly intriguing but it isn't clear what that means yet (it will be expanded on in the next book). The existence of angels in this book is also very intriguing. It is not quite clear what the role of angels in this story will be, although it is clear that they will play a strong role in the next book. The angels that we have met in this novel seem nice enough, but not pure or nurturing. Instead, they seem sort of cold and blunt, which again, is something I think Pullman will expand on in the next book.

Another thing, that will be clearer in the last book (Pullman is really just using this novel and the previous one to set the stage for The Amber Spyglass), is who "the Creator" and why the angels and Lord Asriel seek to destroy it. I have been assuming that the Creator is God, or a God-like being that exists in a physical form (he is able to be killed with the subtle knife). Pullman has just given us glimpses of details about the Creator and angels so far and it will definitely be interesting to see that expanded on in the next novel (which has so much religion in it).

The last thing that I found really interesting in this novel, and the previous novel, is how Pullman juxtaposes science and religion. When I started the first novel in the series I was sure that the Church was against scientific research and that was one of the arguments that Pullman was making against the Church. Instead, it seems like religion and science are really tied together. For example, in the conversation with Dust and Malone, it is clear that evolution exists but there was divine intervention in that evolution. Scientific advances, such as the machine that can converse with Dark Matter/Dust and the golden compass are also the only things that allow humans to communicate with angels and the divine. I was surprised by this because science and religion are often placed at separate ends of the field, especially by anti-theists such as Pullman.