Religion in Dungeons and Dragons
RELI 295
Spring 2025
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
CJST 295 |
As a fantasy roleplaying game, Dungeons & Dragons has been prevalent for over 40 years. In this game, players partake in fantastical journeys, slaying beasts, completing quests, and interacting with divine beings. Though not often discussed, religion has played an important role in Dungeons & Dragons since its creation: clerics pray to their gods and invoke physical changes in the world, strange cults organize and perform perverse rites, summoning ancient beings for evil. There have been many different editions of Dungeons & Dragons, and each treats these religious elements in a different way. This course answers the questions, "What role does religion play within Dungeons & Dragons and how does the presentation of religion within Dungeons & Dragons map onto scholarly trends within Religious Studies?" |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS RELI |
| Course Format: Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 50% - 74% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
All readings will be available online.
Dungeons & Dragons (OD&D)
OD&D Supplement IV: Gods, Demi-gods & Heroes
"Faith & Avatars" (2nd Edition)
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Deities & Demigods
Dungeons and Dragons (3.5e) Player's Handbook
Dungeons and Dragons (4e) Player's Handbook
Dungeons and Dragons (5e) Player's Handbook
Selections from the Hebrew Bible and other ancient West Asian Texts
Hegel, Lectures of 1827, 223-235
Tomoko Masuzawa, "Original Lost: An Image of Myth and Ritual in the Age of Mechanical Representation," JR 69.3 (1989): 307-25
Tomoko Masuzawa, THE INVENTION OF WORLD RELIGIONS, OR, HOW EUROPEAN UNIVERSALISM WAS PRESERVED IN THE LANGUAGE OF PLURALISM, 1-20
Rappe "Reading Neoplatonism"
Iamblichus "Regarding the Egyptian Mysteries"
Edmonds, "Bewitched, Bothered, Bewildered: Love Charms and Erotic Curses," 91-115
Frankfurter, "The Social Context of Women's Erotic Magic in Antiquity," in Daughters of Hecate, 319-339
Anne Marie Kitz, CURSED ARE YOU! THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF CURSING IN CUNEIFORM AND HEBREW TEXTS (2014), 65-95
Sigmund Freud, "Totem and Taboo"
C. Geertz, THE INTERPRETATION OF CULTURES, 87-125
Durkheim, THE ELEMENTAL FORMS OF RELIGIOUS LIFE, 310-343
Levi-Strauss, STRUCTURALISM AND SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY
Gareth Southwell, "A Beginner's Guide to Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil"
Stephen Mendelsohn, "Man Made God, Becoming Wholly Human," in MISREADING NIETZSCHE
Stefan Lorenz Sorgner, "Nietzsche, the Overhuman, and Transhumanism," in Nietzsche and Transhumanism: Precursor or Enemy
Max More, "The Overhuman in the Transhuman," in NIETZSCHE AND TRANSHUMANISM: PRECURSOR OR ENEMY
Jacques Derrida, "Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourses of Human Sciences"
Donna Haraway, "A Cyborg Manifesto"
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Examinations and Assignments:
3 Reading Responses (1 Page Each)
An In-class Midterm
A Short Presentation (10 minutes)
A Final Paper (12-15 pages) or Project |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course counts toward the "Method & Theory" requirement for the Religion major |
| Instructor(s): Walker,Tanner Ethan Times: ..T.R.. 10:20AM-11:40AM; Location: B2B3 SOUTH; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 19 | | SR major: 5 | JR major: 9 | | |
| Seats Available: 0 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 0 | JR non-major: 5 | SO: 0 | FR: 0 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 1 | 1st Ranked: 1 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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