Scott Harrower and Christopher Porter (eds)

In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war… and religion. Lots and lots of religion. The world of Warhammer 40,000 presents a darkly nihilistic picture of the far future in perhaps one of the most popular, diverse, longest running, and firmly religiously-engaged science fiction settings. Religion and theological themes are woven throughout this universe—explicitly and implicitly—from cults of Emperor worship, militant ecclesiarches, various other-worldly “gods,” and entities, alongside themes of sacrifice, redemption, creation, and asking questions about evil, salvation, anthropology, and many more. Spanning an almost 40-year history, this world has been built from the humble beginnings of a role-playing game system, through to a miniature war gaming platform, an extensive novel series of over two hundred titles (the Black Library) that regularly tops the New York Times best-seller lists, and a host of other media that combine to depict this immense dystopian and pessimistic universe. Through the sometimes-playful but often darkly macabre excesses of hyperbole and satire present in the fictional universe, it presents an interesting insight into means for exploring these themes, especially as they intersect with their public reception.

The goal of this volume is to draw together a range of contributors to think through the theological and religious themes that make up the Warhammer 40,000 universe, including precursors in the Horus Heresy and 30K more broadly. We are seeking contributions which will robustly engage with the source material in the Games Workshop codexes and Black Library, along with other representations of the universe, to examine how broad religious and theological themes are implemented and explored within the 40K universe. Themes such as the nature of the divine, apotheosis, ecclesiarchies, evil, history and eschatology, salvation, consequentialism, ritual, humanity and transhumanism, artificial intelligence, belief, reality and corporeality, aesthetics, and monsters/xenos are more than welcome.

Please send a 250-300 word abstract, and a current CV to cporter@trinity.edu.au and harrower.scott@gmail.com by May 15,2024. Full manuscripts will be capped at 6000 words a piece and due on April 30, 2025. The completed volume will be sent to the publisher in December 2025.