Theology, Religion, and Dungeons & Dragons : Explorations of the Sacred through Fantasy Worlds

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 understandin