"Make your own religion": The fictive religion assignment as educational game. (19th October 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zeller, Benjamin E.
• Is Part Of: Teaching theology & religion. Volume 21:Number 4(2018)
• Page Start: 321
• Page End: 335
• Publication Date: 2018-10-19
• Subjects: fictive religion -- game‐like learning -- gamification -- New Religious Movements -- role‐play and simulations; Religion -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; Theology -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; 200.71
• DOI: 10.1111/teth.12461
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1368-4868

Abstract

Abstract: This article considers the "create your own religion" or "fictive religion" assignment as a pedagogical tool, contextualizing it within the scholarship of teaching and learning, and positioning it as a tool for broad adoption in a variety of courses. I argue that we ought to conceptualize the fictive religion assignment as an instructional game, and make use of scholarship on teaching through games as a foundation for my analysis. While I offer the example of my own fictive religion assignment as a case study, the overall argument is a theoretical one, namely that the assignment works because of the nature of games.