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Theology, Religion, and Dungeons & Dragons

Explorations of the Sacred through Fantasy Worlds

Edited by Scott Donahue-Martens and Brandon Simonson - Contributions by Daniel Ambord; Michael Buttrey; Leah DeJong; Scott Donahue-Martens; Nathan P. Gilmour; Susan Haarman; Victoria Hawco; Thomas G. Hermans-Webster; Andrew J. O’Connor; Martine Gjermundsen Ræstad; Brandon Simonson; Fred E. Webster Jr. and Derek White

On its 50th anniversary, the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) has found renewed popularity and a generally positive representation in popular culture. Reflecting on these fifty years of development and history, and looking forward to D&D’s bright future, Theology, Religion, and Dungeons & Dragons: Explorations of the Sacred through Fantasy Worlds explores the intersection of D&D with the academic disciplines of Theology and Religious Studies. From Tolkien’s notion of sub-creation to pedagogical ponderings on hell, readers will uncover deeply theological and religious aspects of Dungeons & Dragons in this volume. Unlike some during the so-called Satanic Panic, the authors of this volume embrace D&D as spiritually and theologically formative. Discussions on alignment and campaign settings like Dark Sun and Ravenloft foreground notions of interrelating and wellbeing, and reflections on communal conceptions of canon and spiritual formation chart paths forward by understanding historical realities. This volume responds to growing interest in the academic study of tabletop role-playing games in general and D&D in specific, and it addresses pressing issues in the academic disciplines of Theology and Religious Studies.

  • Details
  • Details
  • Author
  • Author
  • TOC
  • TOC
  • Reviews
  • Reviews
Lexington Books / Fortress Academic
Pages: 300 • Trim: 6 x 9
978-1-9787-1602-5 • Hardback • February 2025 • $120.00 • (£92.00)
Series: Theology, Religion, and Pop Culture
Subjects: Religion / Theology, Religion / Biblical Studies / General, Social Science / Popular Culture

Scott Donahue-Martens teaches classes ranging from Homiletics to the Hebrew Bible.

Brandon Simonson is instructor of Biblical Studies at Boston University School of Theology and adjunct lecturer in the Department of Religious and Theological Studies at Merrimack College.

Foreword

Derek W. White

Preface

Acknowledgements

List of Abbreviations

Introduction: On Dungeons & Dragons, Fantasy, Religion, and Theology

Brandon Simonson and Scott Donahue-Martens

Part One: Perception & Performance

Chapter One: Healing Words: D&D Magic, Speech-Act Theory, and Chaplaincy

Scott Donahue-Martens

Chapter Two: Roll for Discernment: Dungeon Master as St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Director

Susan Haarman

Chapter Three: From Redemption Arcs to Making Your Own God: Redemption and Authenticity in Critical Role and Dimension 20

Michael Buttrey and Leah DeJong

Chapter Four: Role-play, Spiritual Formation, and Theological Education

Fred E. Webster, Jr. and Thomas G. Hermans-Webster

Part Two: Heroes & History

Chapter Five: Canon in Dungeons & Dragons: Insight from Ancient Judaism

Scott Donahue-Martens and Brandon Simonson

Chapter Six: The Harrowing of Avernus: Delving into Hell from Antiquity to Dungeons & Dragons

Andrew J. O’Connor

Chapter Seven: The Role and Function of Religious Names in the Creative World of Dungeons & Dragons

Brandon Simonson

Chapter Eight: Tolkien’s Shadow: The Sub-Creating Influence of Middle Earth on Dungeons & Dragons

Scott Donahue-Martens

Part Three: Adventures & Alignment

Chapter Nine: Abandon All Hope and Roll for Initiative: Reading Dante into Baldur’s Gate: Descent Into Avernus

Victoria Hawco

Chapter Ten: The Gilded Gothic Cages: Corruption, Judgment, and Moral Development in Ravenloft’s Domains of Dread

Martine Gjermundsen Ræstad

Chapter Eleven: “Does Anyone Here Eat Elf?” Ecotheology in the Dark Sun Campaign Setting

Daniel Ambord

Chapter Twelve: A Chaotic-Historical Reflection on Alignment in Dungeons & Dragons

Nathan P. Gilmour

Epilogue

About the Editors and Contributors

The boundary between tabletop roleplaying and religious ritual has always been thin. This volume explores the connections between the two, tracing the religious influences on D&D and illustrating how imaginative quests can shape players morally and spiritually. Since the essays do not presume prior familiarity with D&D or religion, readers who don’t know a natural twenty from natural theology will still learn something worthwhile about ethics, mythology, and collaborative creativity.


— Russell P. Johnson, University of Chicago


Theology, Religion, and Dungeons & Dragons is a fantastic resource for scholars and gamers alike. The chapters strike a beautiful balance by situating the joy of collaborative storytelling in the context of thoughtful scholarship in religious studies, theology, and interdisciplinary fields beyond. Researchers looking to understand the applications of gaming to religious theory and practice, or players hoping to better understand the redemption arcs or searches for authenticity around their tables will find much to enjoy here. These chapters brilliantly connect this unique kind of play with the most human and divine moments of healing, identity, and community.


— Jordan LaBouff, University of Maine


“In comparison a magic dwells.” So wrote the great and wizardly religion scholar J.Z. Smith. What can the tool kits of religious studies and theology reveal about Dungeons and Dragons? And what can Dungeons and Dragons reveal about things like ethics, mythology, or approaches to scripture? This bold party of scholars has delved deep and uncovered a trove of fascinating insights.


— Joseph P. Laycock, Texas State University


The first edition of Dungeons & Dragons, published fifty years ago in 1974, introduced not merely a new form of entertainment but a new medium for storytelling and for the existential reflexivity that has long been recognized as a core dynamic of the production and consumption of fiction, from Aeschylus to Zadie Smith. Serious scholarly study of tabletop roleplaying games has blossomed in recent years, long overdue and no longer more unusual than similar studies of film or television. Scott Donahue-Martens and Brandon Simonson have delivered, in Theology, Religion, and Dungeons & Dragons, a benchmark compendium that fruitfully organizes contributions on the psychology, history, and morality of the world’s most popular roleplaying game, bound together by common interest in practices of theological sensemaking and religious worldmaking. Accessible for newcomers but with enough substance to serve as a reliable research resource for experts, this volume lays extensive groundwork for the interpretive labor that is justly beginning to accompany our moment, in which tabletop roleplaying is more widespread and influential than ever.


— Aaron T. Hollander, Graymoor Ecumencial & Interreligious Institute


Theology, Religion, and Dungeons & Dragons

Explorations of the Sacred through Fantasy Worlds

Cover Image
Hardback
Summary
Summary
  • On its 50th anniversary, the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) has found renewed popularity and a generally positive representation in popular culture. Reflecting on these fifty years of development and history, and looking forward to D&D’s bright future, Theology, Religion, and Dungeons & Dragons: Explorations of the Sacred through Fantasy Worlds explores the intersection of D&D with the academic disciplines of Theology and Religious Studies. From Tolkien’s notion of sub-creation to pedagogical ponderings on hell, readers will uncover deeply theological and religious aspects of Dungeons & Dragons in this volume. Unlike some during the so-called Satanic Panic, the authors of this volume embrace D&D as spiritually and theologically formative. Discussions on alignment and campaign settings like Dark Sun and Ravenloft foreground notions of interrelating and wellbeing, and reflections on communal conceptions of canon and spiritual formation chart paths forward by understanding historical realities. This volume responds to growing interest in the academic study of tabletop role-playing games in general and D&D in specific, and it addresses pressing issues in the academic disciplines of Theology and Religious Studies.

Details
Details
  • Lexington Books / Fortress Academic
    Pages: 300 • Trim: 6 x 9
    978-1-9787-1602-5 • Hardback • February 2025 • $120.00 • (£92.00)
    Series: Theology, Religion, and Pop Culture
    Subjects: Religion / Theology, Religion / Biblical Studies / General, Social Science / Popular Culture
Author
Author
  • Scott Donahue-Martens teaches classes ranging from Homiletics to the Hebrew Bible.

    Brandon Simonson is instructor of Biblical Studies at Boston University School of Theology and adjunct lecturer in the Department of Religious and Theological Studies at Merrimack College.

Table of Contents
Table of Contents
  • Foreword

    Derek W. White

    Preface

    Acknowledgements

    List of Abbreviations

    Introduction: On Dungeons & Dragons, Fantasy, Religion, and Theology

    Brandon Simonson and Scott Donahue-Martens

    Part One: Perception & Performance

    Chapter One: Healing Words: D&D Magic, Speech-Act Theory, and Chaplaincy

    Scott Donahue-Martens

    Chapter Two: Roll for Discernment: Dungeon Master as St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Director

    Susan Haarman

    Chapter Three: From Redemption Arcs to Making Your Own God: Redemption and Authenticity in Critical Role and Dimension 20

    Michael Buttrey and Leah DeJong

    Chapter Four: Role-play, Spiritual Formation, and Theological Education

    Fred E. Webster, Jr. and Thomas G. Hermans-Webster

    Part Two: Heroes & History

    Chapter Five: Canon in Dungeons & Dragons: Insight from Ancient Judaism

    Scott Donahue-Martens and Brandon Simonson

    Chapter Six: The Harrowing of Avernus: Delving into Hell from Antiquity to Dungeons & Dragons

    Andrew J. O’Connor

    Chapter Seven: The Role and Function of Religious Names in the Creative World of Dungeons & Dragons

    Brandon Simonson

    Chapter Eight: Tolkien’s Shadow: The Sub-Creating Influence of Middle Earth on Dungeons & Dragons

    Scott Donahue-Martens

    Part Three: Adventures & Alignment

    Chapter Nine: Abandon All Hope and Roll for Initiative: Reading Dante into Baldur’s Gate: Descent Into Avernus

    Victoria Hawco

    Chapter Ten: The Gilded Gothic Cages: Corruption, Judgment, and Moral Development in Ravenloft’s Domains of Dread

    Martine Gjermundsen Ræstad

    Chapter Eleven: “Does Anyone Here Eat Elf?” Ecotheology in the Dark Sun Campaign Setting

    Daniel Ambord

    Chapter Twelve: A Chaotic-Historical Reflection on Alignment in Dungeons & Dragons

    Nathan P. Gilmour

    Epilogue

    About the Editors and Contributors

Reviews
Reviews
  • The boundary between tabletop roleplaying and religious ritual has always been thin. This volume explores the connections between the two, tracing the religious influences on D&D and illustrating how imaginative quests can shape players morally and spiritually. Since the essays do not presume prior familiarity with D&D or religion, readers who don’t know a natural twenty from natural theology will still learn something worthwhile about ethics, mythology, and collaborative creativity.


    — Russell P. Johnson, University of Chicago


    Theology, Religion, and Dungeons & Dragons is a fantastic resource for scholars and gamers alike. The chapters strike a beautiful balance by situating the joy of collaborative storytelling in the context of thoughtful scholarship in religious studies, theology, and interdisciplinary fields beyond. Researchers looking to understand the applications of gaming to religious theory and practice, or players hoping to better understand the redemption arcs or searches for authenticity around their tables will find much to enjoy here. These chapters brilliantly connect this unique kind of play with the most human and divine moments of healing, identity, and community.


    — Jordan LaBouff, University of Maine


    “In comparison a magic dwells.” So wrote the great and wizardly religion scholar J.Z. Smith. What can the tool kits of religious studies and theology reveal about Dungeons and Dragons? And what can Dungeons and Dragons reveal about things like ethics, mythology, or approaches to scripture? This bold party of scholars has delved deep and uncovered a trove of fascinating insights.


    — Joseph P. Laycock, Texas State University


    The first edition of Dungeons & Dragons, published fifty years ago in 1974, introduced not merely a new form of entertainment but a new medium for storytelling and for the existential reflexivity that has long been recognized as a core dynamic of the production and consumption of fiction, from Aeschylus to Zadie Smith. Serious scholarly study of tabletop roleplaying games has blossomed in recent years, long overdue and no longer more unusual than similar studies of film or television. Scott Donahue-Martens and Brandon Simonson have delivered, in Theology, Religion, and Dungeons & Dragons, a benchmark compendium that fruitfully organizes contributions on the psychology, history, and morality of the world’s most popular roleplaying game, bound together by common interest in practices of theological sensemaking and religious worldmaking. Accessible for newcomers but with enough substance to serve as a reliable research resource for experts, this volume lays extensive groundwork for the interpretive labor that is justly beginning to accompany our moment, in which tabletop roleplaying is more widespread and influential than ever.


    — Aaron T. Hollander, Graymoor Ecumencial & Interreligious Institute


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