Religion, Sport, and Play Unit
The Religion, Sport, and Play Unit seeks individual paper and panel proposals for two sessions at the 2025 annual conference.
Playing video games (or gaming) is now a predominant recreational activity for millions and millions of people. As a billion-dollar industry alone, eSports attracts the attention of players, fans, and spectators alike. Popular games, in virtual, RPG, augmented realities, now allow for world-building/making and many draw on religious themes and narratives for their efficacy.
This session seeks individual papers or panel proposals that address the relationship between religion and gaming/gaming culture. Topics might include but are not limited to:
- Games, World Building, and Qualities of Religion
- Lived Religion and Online/VR Game Play
- Religious Themed Computer and Virtual Games
For the second session, any paper or panel proposals addressing the interaction of religion and sport; religion and play; or religion, sport, and play will be considered.
However, priority will be given to proposals addressing the connections and/or disruptions regarding gender, religion, and sport/play. What approaches help elucidate how gender gets politicized, regulated, and adjudicated within spaces of sport/play, and what are the lived realities under the gender binary? What, if any, is religion's relationship to these situations? Topics might include but are not limited to:
- Religious Attitudes, Gender Variations/Resistance, and Sport
- Gendered Bodies and Lived Religion
- WNBA, Caitlyn Clark, and Iconography
The Religion, Sport, and Play Unit is committed to inclusion. Our Unit requires pre-arranged sessions or panel proposals to incorporate gender diversity; diversity of race, ethnicity, and rank are also highly encouraged.
This Unit provides an opportunity for scholars to engage in emerging research at the intersection of religion and sport, games, and play. We are interested in examining these topics across broad geographical areas, religious traditions, and historical eras. We encourage critical reflection regarding relationships of religious institutions to sport, play, and games; theological and spiritual experiences of participants and spectators invested in these activities; and the cross-cultural applicability of the received categories.