Page - 201 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/01

Book Review: Gaming and the Divine | 201 tural theology, he shows profound knowledge of historical proposals (e. g. logoi spermatikoi or praeparatio evangelica, 20–25) and of the contemporary approaches of Moltmann and Tillich. After a reference to Vatican II’s Gaudium et Spes, which pledges the Catholic Church to read the signs of the times, the author describes the two main positions of “God” in the modern world: Nietzsche’s “dead God” and the “hidden God” that Bosman prefers, noting “the Western world is the exception to the world’s rule” that being religious is self-evident (31). This enables Bosman to state that the “veiled God” is still “Creator, Savior and Whole-Maker [and] still revealing himself to his crea- tures” (32), yet in new and sometimes surprising forms that are, he concedes, to be critically discussed. In the section that follows, Bosman defines what he understands as video games. He points out the importance of textuality (40–41): in light of their communication potential, video games qualify as texts. These digital, interac- tive, playable and narrative texts (43) communicate meaning and are objects of interpretation. The following paragraphs describe the methodology Bosman proposes: a four-step process of “internal reading” (playing the game), “internal research” (collecting all available in-game information), “external reading” (cross-link- ing intermedial relationships) and “external research” (gathering additional information about the game and its background). This method enables the identification and examination of five forms of religion in any given video game: material religion (the explicit occurrence of religion), referential reli- gion (allusions to religious traditions in the real world), reflexive religion (“the reflection on existential notions that are traditionally associated with religion within the game itself”, 49), ritual religion (the involvement of the player’s avatar in what is usually associated with religious practice) and gaming as religion (the experience of gaming provides the player with feelings usually associated with religious practices). Chapters 3 to 8 discuss the classical treatises of dogmatic theology through the lens of video games, illustrating the main theses with references to repre- sentative games. In chapter 3, on creational theology, Bosman discusses “the three divine attributes”, omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence (60) and points out that these are also the attributes of the “god-gamer”, but only in an imperfect manner, such that the latter is more similar to the gnostic demiurge than to the Christian God, a diagnosis applicable for both the player and the developer of the game. The author then unfolds the Genesis creation myth and points out that while the Genesis narrative holds that the human www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/1, 200–204