Speaking on first-person shooter video games and zombie apocalypses, three Christian thinkers dug into faith in the digital age at Redeemer’s Beyond Worldview lecture series. Redeemer staff, students and supporters and educators from the Edifide conference packed a lecture hall on October 26, as the Redeemer Centre for Christian Scholarship hosted three headliners, James K.A. Smith, Alissa Wilkinson and Kevin Schut, as part of its annual fall conference.
This year, in a nod toward Redeemer’s new Media and Communications Studies program, the focus of the conference was on media and culture. Hence the video games and zombies.
”What’s Up With the Apocalypse?”
Alissa Willkinson, associate professor of English and humanities at The King’s College (New York City)
Alissa Wilkinson, staff film critic at Vox, dove straight into our fascination with and fear of the apocalypse in her lecture “What’s up with the Apocalypse?” In her book How to Survive the Apocalypse, co-written with Redeemer’s own Dr. Robert Joustra, Wilkinson explores not only our current age’s fascination with end times of all kinds but also teaches Christians how to understand and respond to that fascination.
“Does Jesus Love Headshots?”
Dr. Kevin Schut, professor of media and communication, Trinity Western University
Kevin Schut, an educator, author and avid gamer, took on the provocative question: “Does Jesus Love Headshots?” Schut’s talk built off his theological approach to games in the book Of Games and God, explaining how Christian ethics can be applied to the medium.
”You Might Not Love What You Think”
Dr. James K. A. Smith, professor of philosophy, Calvin College
James K. A. Smith, a professor, public intellectual and cultural critic, talked the spiritual power of habit in his keynote, “You Are What You Love”, titled after his book of the same name.