“Infinity, Play Again”: Images of play in Philip K. Dick’s “Exegesis”

Science fiction author Philip K. Dick spent the final 8 years of his life writing an “Exegesis,” a handwritten theological journal attempting to understand a series of visionary experiences he underwent in 1974. As with in fictional works like The Game-Players of Titan, Dick drew on images of games and play throughout his theological writing, viewing God’s creation of the universe as a playful act and religious responses to it as a form of play. Ultimately, the “Exegesis” itself is a form of theological play, an effort not to establish a definitive truth but rather to devise compelling and unusual hypotheses. This paper will explore Dick’s use of playful imagery in the “Exegesis” and its place in his developing self-conception.