CFP: Consequential Play – Theology, Religion and Video Games

Volume Editor: Trevor B. Williams

Abstract + CV due: December 15, 2025

Video games have become a formative aspect of popular culture because they provide special opportunities for interactive storytelling, intense competition, leisure, and even artistic expression. Depending on how one defines the term “video games,” it is estimated that there are over 3.3 billion active players across the world. Yet, despite this global phenomenon, video games have often served as a political lightning rod for the culture wars. Perhaps the most widely known example of such a debate is the reception of Mortal Kombat (1992), a fighting game that features intensely graphic violence (often played for laughs). In response, many critics, politicians, and parents issued the charge that video games make people lazy, at best, or, at worst, inspire them to commit real world violence. Mortal Kombat was even blamed for the Columbine High School Massacre (and many other school shootings) simply because the shooters owned the game. Famously, conservative attorney Jack Thompson claimed that video games had a direct link with Columbine, while Democrat senators Herb Kohl and Joe Lieberman pressed for more regulation of video games. The idea then—and that persists to the present day—was that video games uniquely inspire anti-social behavior due to their interactive nature. In other words, players do not merely learn about violence, they practice it in the comfort of their own homes. Despite the lack of scientific evidence or clear statistics to conclusively prove these connections, such arguments continue to wield immense influence across the political spectrum. In addition, the so-called “Gamergate” (2014-15) controversy exposed a cultural fault line about the meaning of the “gamer” identity, which turned on a dispute about women in gaming, journalism, and internet harassment. This controversy still echoes through the discourse today whenever social media influencers critique political messaging in video games. The role of religion in these debates is often unclear, but concerns about gamers are clearly present across ideological and political lines. Religion typically appears as a tool to stoke moral manic, to inspire acts of resistance, or as mere background material for in-game story elements. Can more be said?

The present volume seeks to grapple with the cultural controversies surrounding video games through the lens of religion. It critically asks whether theology has the intellectual or cultural resources to examine the virtual horizons provided by video games, especially in so far as they have real world consequences. One may think of the concept of spiritual acedia or sloth involved in these concerns, since St. Thomas Aquinas specifies that sloth “denotes sorrow for spiritual good” (Summa II, q. 35, a. 1). Is it too simplistic to ask whether video games enflame such sorrow? Do video games distract human beings from the spiritual goods available to them through prayer and worship? If so, what qualitatively makes them different from other forms of leisure? If not, can gaming experiences function as a site of authentic theological or spiritual reflection? This volume will approach such questions from a diverse array of theological disciplines, including political theology, sacramental-liturgical theology, philosophical theology, etc. The intent is to wrestle with the accusations that gaming makes people lazy, prone to violence, or immature, but not all contributors need to come to the same conclusion. The goal of this volume is to provide a space for essays that do not merely fall into existing political camps. Can theology critique, inhabit, or transform the assumptions that rule this discourse?

List of Potential Topics:

• Various approaches to what make video games “different” from other forms of leisure. These can expand on theologies/philosophies of leisure or play that analyze its value, whether one consults Josef Pieper, Hans Gadamer, or others.
• Perspectives that explicitly draw from confessional backgrounds, including Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox theologies. Such essays should not be didactic in nature (i.e., “this is what the church teaches”); instead, they must use major concepts in a peculiar tradition to illuminate the discourse.
• Cosmology in video games: assumptions, analogies, internal logic, and conflict with the real world: metaphysics and ontology.
• The use of “Judeo-Christian” terminology in analyses of video games.
• Sacramental-liturgical explorations, particularly around notions of catechesis and spiritual formation.
• Religious studies analysis: lived religion, animality, material religion, social analysis, etc. What does religion do?
• Political theology: issues of sovereignty, the secular.
• Phenomenology and philosophical theology: Husserl, Heidegger, Henry, Marion, etc.
• Critique of technology in the tradition of Kierkegaard, Guardini, Ellul, etc.
• Medieval theology and perspectives drawn from patristics.
• Biblical-exegetical engagements with the reception and consequences of the Bible in the discourse.
• Studies of nonbelief in video games and the gaming community.
• Virtual reality, its potential, and risks.
• Historical studies of “gamergate” and other controversies that analyze the role (or lack thereof) of religion and conceptions of moral behavior.
• Essays that critique and assess the role of women in video games: can be from multiple theological perspectives.
• Critiques of video games that appeal to theology or religious studies in ways that express a unique argument that is distinct from those popularly represented in the media.
• Racism in video games, including analysis of NPCs and/or developers.
• Other topics are also welcome!

Abstracts should be 400-500 words in length and present an outline of your proposed chapter and how it fits into the theme. They should also reflect a deep familiarity with a specific theological discipline. If selected, you will receive an email with further instructions about next steps. Both the abstract and CV should be sent to: theologyreligionvideogames@gmail.com with the subject line of “Submission for Theology, Religion, and Video Games_Author Name.” Final drafts will be 6000-8000 words in length (including notes).

Publication Schedule:

CV + Abstract Due: December 15, 2025

Draft Due: March 1, 2026

Draft Edits Returned: June 1, 2026

Final Draft Due (depending on acceptance): September 1, 2026

Trevor B. Williams (Ph.D., Villanova University) is a Visiting Assistant Professor at DeSales University. His research is primarily directed to systematic and philosophical theology, but he also has highly related interests in sacramental theology, biblical interpretation, the reception of Vatican II, and theology in popular culture. He is a co-editor of Theological Discourses on Social Media (Routledge) and has recently published in Philosophy & Theology, the Journal of Catholic Social Thought, and Münchener Theologische Zeitschrift.