Overview

In the first two seasons of the HBO series Westworld, human guests pay exorbitant fees to spend time among cybernetic Hosts—partially sentient AI robots—and live out often violent fantasies. In Theology and Westworld, scholars from a range of disciplines within religious studies examine the profound questions that arise when the narrative of Westworld interacts with the study of religion. From transhumanism and personhood to morality and divinity, this book contributes to, confounds, and challenges ideas that are found in the study of religion and philosophy. Taken together, the chapters further our understanding of what it means to live in a world where the hard questions of human existence are explored through the medium of popular culture.

Full Product Details

Author:   Juli Gittinger ,  Shayna Sheinfeld ,  Olivia Belton ,  Jacob Boss
Publisher:   Rowman & Littlefield
Imprint:   Lexington Books/Fortress Academic
Dimensions:   Width: 16.00cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 22.80cm
Weight:   0.449kg
ISBN:  

9781978707955

ISBN 10:   1978707959
Pages:   176
Publication Date:   16 June 2020
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Consuming Westworld: Facilitating the Robotics and AI Discussion through Science Fiction Jaime Wright Chapter 2 Techno-Transcendence and Artificial Rapture Olivia Belton Chapter 3 For the Rest of Time They Heard the Drum Jacob Boss Chapter 4 A Comparative Inquiry into the Real Kristin Johnston Largen Chapter 5 Will Robots Too Be in the Image of God? Artificial Consciousness and Imago Dei in Westworld Marius Dorobantu Chapter 6 On Idolatry and Empathy: An Orthodox Christian Response to the Victimization Fantasies of Westworld David K. Goodin Chapter 7 Rethinking the Maze: Africana Religions, Somatic Memory, and the Journey to Consciousness Amanda Furiasse Chapter 8 Exile, the Remnant, and a Promised Land without a God Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr. Chapter 9 “And behold, a black horse”: Heaven, Hell, and Biblical Eschatology in Westworld Tony Degouveia

Reviews

As the editors of this fascinating book note, we are living in a golden age of ""television."" Based on their work and the work of their contributors, I would add that we are also living in a golden age of scholarship examining the relationship between religion and popular culture. This book addresses a myriad of issues raised by that relationship in Westworld, including apocalypticism, AI, embodiness, ethics, rape, scripture, technology, theology, trauma, violence, and more in an illuminating exploration of one of the most thought-provoking series in recent memory.--Dan W. Clanton Jr., Doane University Theology and Westworld tackles the big questions raised by the ideas of artificial intelligence, artificial life, and creation given dramatic life by the television series. Accessible to both people of faith and to those of none, this book is a valuable addition to the scholarly conversation. The volume considers how we imagine ourselves as the creators of artificial progeny, as well as how our own humanity might be disturbed by such a creation and our debt to it. An array of excellent scholars have brought their diverse perspectives to the philosophical, ethical, and social implications of our dreams of other worlds that are filled with other beings in servitude to our 'violent delights'.--Beth Singler, Cambridge University

As the editors of this fascinating book note, we are living in a golden age of television. Based on their work and the work of their contributors, I would add that we are also living in a golden age of scholarship examining the relationship between religion and popular culture. This book addresses a myriad of issues raised by that relationship in Westworld, including apocalypticism, AI, embodiness, ethics, rape, scripture, technology, theology, trauma, violence, and more in an illuminating exploration of one of the most thought-provoking series in recent memory.--Dan W. Clanton Jr., Doane University Theology and Westworld tackles the big questions raised by the ideas of artificial intelligence, artificial life, and creation given dramatic life by the television series. Accessible to both people of faith and to those of none, this book is a valuable addition to the scholarly conversation. The volume considers how we imagine ourselves as the creators of artificial progeny, as well as how our own humanity might be disturbed by such a creation and our debt to it. An array of excellent scholars have brought their diverse perspectives to the philosophical, ethical, and social implications of our dreams of other worlds that are filled with other beings in servitude to our 'violent delights'.--Beth Singler, Cambridge University

Author Information

Juli Gittinger (PhD Religious Studies, McGill University) is program coordinator for religion at Georgia College. Shayna Sheinfeld is honorary research scholar at the Sheffield Institute of Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies (SIIBS), University of Sheffield.

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