Robert Geraci argues that virtual worlds and video games have become a locus for the satisfaction of religious needs, providing many users with communities, a meaningful experience of history and human activity, and a sense of transcendence.

• Contents


• Acknowledgments


• Introduction: Real Stories in Virtual Worlds


• 1) A Cultural Adventure


• 2) Polite Society


• 3) A World with Meaning


• 4) The Flow of Faith Online


• 5) Another Life for Religion


• 6) Sacred Second Lives


• 7) Reassembling Religion


• Appendix: On Method in the Study of Virtual Worlds


• References


• Notes


• Index

Robert M. Geraci is Professor in the Department of Religion at Manhattan College. He is the author of Apocalyptic AI: Visions of Heaven in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Virtual Reality and many essays that analyze the ways in which human beings use technology to make the world meaningful. He was the principle investigator on a National Science Foundation grant to study virtual worlds and the recipient of a Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Award (2012-2013), which allowed him to investigate the intersections of religion and technology at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.