web02.fireside.fm Tue, 14 Apr 2026 22:05:13 -0500 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) Play Saves the World - Episodes Tagged with “Moltmann” https://boardgamefaith.fireside.fm/tags/moltmann Sun, 19 Nov 2023 15:00:00 -0500 Daniel and Kevin explore the meaning of play for human flourishing – what it is, what it means, and how people create and maintain playful lives. We explore books, people, places, and ideas committed to engendering play in the midst of busy, working lives. en-us episodic On games and spirituality Daniel Hilty & Kevin Taylor Daniel and Kevin explore the meaning of play for human flourishing – what it is, what it means, and how people create and maintain playful lives. We explore books, people, places, and ideas committed to engendering play in the midst of busy, working lives. no play, gaming, game theory, work, human flourishing, the meaning of play Daniel Hilty & Kevin Taylor thomaskevintaylor@icloud.com Episode 43: Moltmann's A Theology of Play (part 3) – Christ the New Creation https://boardgamefaith.fireside.fm/43 4e04d429-80bc-48a3-addf-d7b3209d081e Sun, 19 Nov 2023 15:00:00 -0500 Daniel Hilty & Kevin Taylor 43 Moltmann's A Theology of Play (part 3) – Christ the New Creation full Daniel Hilty & Kevin Taylor We continue to discuss the seminal work A Theology of Play by Moltmann, who argues that play and games celebrate Christ's resurrection and God's new promised reality. Play is therefore not a distraction from suffering or a trivializing of life but a living out of our true identity. 1:05:11 no How do Christian theology and play intersect? Moltmann's seminal book, A Theology of Play, explores this, and we discuss pages 25-36. Christ Is More than a Remedy for Sin Christ became a human being not just to be a remedy for sin, but to create a new reality or a re-creation of the world. This tells us something about the nature of God: abundance, joy, and newness. “God's love goes beyond his mercy and beyond man's misery. So it reaches beyond the mere restoration of the sick to the healthy state of the new life” (26). “Only those who are capable of joy can feel pain at their own and other people's suffering. [One] who can laugh can also weep. [One] who has hope is able to endure the world and to mourn" (31). In faith we accept ourselves as we are and gain new confidence in ourselves because we have been trusted more than we deserve and ever thought possible." (32) “Games always presuppose innocence” (31) Life Is More than Work and Purpose The final purpose of history is liberation from the tyranny of needing to have a purpose. "Life which is made meaningful by purposes and goals must find the vision of heaven terrible, since that vision only invites infinite and purposeless boredom. Christian eschatology [ideas about the end times] has never thought of the end of history as a kind of retirement or payday …" (34) CALL TO ACTION Subscribe to our newsletter (https://buttondown.email/BoardGameFaith) Support us on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/boardgamefaith/) Interact with us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/boardgamefaith/) Discord us Discord (https://discord.gg/MRqDXEJZ) Chat with us on Wavelength (iOS and MacOS and iPadOS only) (https://wavelength.app/invite/AGSmNhIYS5B#ABhy7aXOO04TO6HTS4lelw--) Moltmann, Christian theology, play, games, game theory, religion, spirituality, Christ, resurrection, purpose How do Christian theology and play intersect? Moltmann's seminal book, A Theology of Play, explores this, and we discuss pages 25-36.

Christ Is More than a Remedy for Sin

  • Christ became a human being not just to be a remedy for sin, but to create a new reality or a re-creation of the world. This tells us something about the nature of God: abundance, joy, and newness.
  • “God's love goes beyond his mercy and beyond man's misery. So it reaches beyond the mere restoration of the sick to the healthy state of the new life” (26).
  • “Only those who are capable of joy can feel pain at their own and other people's suffering. [One] who can laugh can also weep. [One] who has hope is able to endure the world and to mourn" (31).
  • In faith we accept ourselves as we are and gain new confidence in ourselves because we have been trusted more than we deserve and ever thought possible." (32)
  • “Games always presuppose innocence” (31)

Life Is More than Work and Purpose

  • The final purpose of history is liberation from the tyranny of needing to have a purpose.
  • "Life which is made meaningful by purposes and goals must find the vision of heaven terrible, since that vision only invites infinite and purposeless boredom. Christian eschatology [ideas about the end times] has never thought of the end of history as a kind of retirement or payday …" (34)

CALL TO ACTION

]]> How do Christian theology and play intersect? Moltmann's seminal book, A Theology of Play, explores this, and we discuss pages 25-36.

Christ Is More than a Remedy for Sin

  • Christ became a human being not just to be a remedy for sin, but to create a new reality or a re-creation of the world. This tells us something about the nature of God: abundance, joy, and newness.
  • “God's love goes beyond his mercy and beyond man's misery. So it reaches beyond the mere restoration of the sick to the healthy state of the new life” (26).
  • “Only those who are capable of joy can feel pain at their own and other people's suffering. [One] who can laugh can also weep. [One] who has hope is able to endure the world and to mourn" (31).
  • In faith we accept ourselves as we are and gain new confidence in ourselves because we have been trusted more than we deserve and ever thought possible." (32)
  • “Games always presuppose innocence” (31)

Life Is More than Work and Purpose

  • The final purpose of history is liberation from the tyranny of needing to have a purpose.
  • "Life which is made meaningful by purposes and goals must find the vision of heaven terrible, since that vision only invites infinite and purposeless boredom. Christian eschatology [ideas about the end times] has never thought of the end of history as a kind of retirement or payday …" (34)

CALL TO ACTION

]]> Episode 38: Imitating God By Playing Games (Moltmann part 2) https://boardgamefaith.fireside.fm/38 0f9f52c9-ea27-4775-ab12-b966eed4fea7 Sun, 10 Sep 2023 15:00:00 -0400 Daniel Hilty & Kevin Taylor 38 Imitating God By Playing Games (Moltmann part 2) full Daniel Hilty & Kevin Taylor How can we imitate God? By realizing that the world is meaningful but not necessary because God created it that way, and intends us to live lives of beauty, enjoyment, meaning, and not always productive. "We are to glorify God and enjoy God forever" in the Westminster Catechism of 1647; “To put it simply, the birds are singing more than Darwin permits” (Buytendijk). Games and play allow us to be fully and authentically ourselves, from achievement to being. These are topics we explore in our Book Club episode on Moltmann's A Theology of Play (pp. 15-25). 59:52 no Moltmann, A Theology of Play part 2 Pp 15-25 Did God create the world as an act of play? God is a free creator - could have made the world or not, yet is still divine so it can’t be just random. God did not have to create the world, but neither did God make something random. The world is meaningful but not necessary – and necessary labor will not save us. Work is productive and gainful but not play. It is a game in the sense – God made the world for God’s pleasure, God’s play Prov 8:30-31 then I was beside him, like a master worker, and I was daily his delight, playing before him always, playing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race. Without the freedom of play, the world turns into a desert. How we imitate God God can make and play out of nothingness because of divinity – we can only play with reality and created things. But we imitate God when we receive the kingdom of God like a child, when we absorbed and serious about a game but also transcend ourselves in knowing it is just a game. "Where everything must be useful and used, faith tends to regard its own freedom as good for nothing." (15) Henri Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus: one of the greatest temptations of the Christian leader (leader of faith) is to be relevant. "Relevance" is such a difficult topic - both encouraged and discouraged in the church. Perhaps it is really the temptation "to be needed" - to make others dependent on oneself. We are to glorify God and enjoy God forever in the Westminster Catechism 1647. So not through our usefulness or work or purposes, in our service, but in our enjoyment. We negotiate this in a society that only rewards usefulness, labor, and consumption. The problem of the Puritan work ethic. The other challenge of religion only being about ethics, and not about aesthetics. “To put it simply, the birds are singing more than Darwin permits” Buytendijk. Instead of life being “the seriousness of making history,” it becomes the “calm rejoining in existence itself.” Otherwise the seriousness of making history can be demonic, despairing, or all about us (23). To not only play but to be played, as the game of life impacts us. We might be “sheltered by the game,” because “the loser wins” (24, quoting Péguy). Victor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning - our most fundamental drive is in life is for meaning. The spiritual benefits of creation and games (18) * Sincerity * Mirth * Suspense * Relaxation * Full presence * Transcendence * Freedom Our purpose--the purpose of creation--AND the purpose of play--is not found in usefulness or meeting goals, but in the "demonstrative value of being" (Buytendijk, Dutch) (19) Seeing the meaning of life only in terms of usefulness will inevitably lead to a crisis. (19). Ideologies that seek to tell us otherwise are simply trying to turn us into cogs in their machinery. "Infinite responsibility destroys a human being because he is only man and not god." (23) Play shifts the focus away from achievement and more toward simply being. game theory, Moltmann, Christian theology, authentic being, Puritan work ethic, creation, nature, aesthetics, religion, spirituality Moltmann, A Theology of Play part 2

Pp 15-25

Did God create the world as an act of play?

God is a free creator - could have made the world or not, yet is still divine so it can’t be just random.

God did not have to create the world, but neither did God make something random.

The world is meaningful but not necessary – and necessary labor will not save us. Work is productive and gainful but not play.

It is a game in the sense – God made the world for God’s pleasure, God’s play

Prov 8:30-31
then I was beside him, like a master worker,
and I was daily his delight,
playing before him always,
playing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the human race.

Without the freedom of play, the world turns into a desert.

How we imitate God

God can make and play out of nothingness because of divinity – we can only play with reality and created things. But we imitate God when we receive the kingdom of God like a child, when we absorbed and serious about a game but also transcend ourselves in knowing it is just a game.

"Where everything must be useful and used, faith tends to regard its own freedom as good for nothing." (15)

Henri Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus: one of the greatest temptations of the Christian leader (leader of faith) is to be relevant. "Relevance" is such a difficult topic - both encouraged and discouraged in the church. Perhaps it is really the temptation "to be needed" - to make others dependent on oneself.

We are to glorify God and enjoy God forever in the Westminster Catechism 1647.

So not through our usefulness or work or purposes, in our service, but in our enjoyment. We negotiate this in a society that only rewards usefulness, labor, and consumption.

The problem of the Puritan work ethic.

The other challenge of religion only being about ethics, and not about aesthetics.

“To put it simply, the birds are singing more than Darwin permits” Buytendijk.

Instead of life being “the seriousness of making history,” it becomes the “calm rejoining in existence itself.” Otherwise the seriousness of making history can be demonic, despairing, or all about us (23).

To not only play but to be played, as the game of life impacts us. We might be “sheltered by the game,” because “the loser wins” (24, quoting Péguy).

Victor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning - our most fundamental drive is in life is for meaning.

The spiritual benefits of creation and games (18)

  • Sincerity
  • Mirth
  • Suspense
  • Relaxation
  • Full presence
  • Transcendence
  • Freedom

Our purpose--the purpose of creation--AND the purpose of play--is not found in usefulness or meeting goals, but in the "demonstrative value of being" (Buytendijk, Dutch) (19)

Seeing the meaning of life only in terms of usefulness will inevitably lead to a crisis. (19). Ideologies that seek to tell us otherwise are simply trying to turn us into cogs in their machinery.

"Infinite responsibility destroys a human being because he is only man and not god." (23)

Play shifts the focus away from achievement and more toward simply being.

Links:

]]> Moltmann, A Theology of Play part 2

Pp 15-25

Did God create the world as an act of play?

God is a free creator - could have made the world or not, yet is still divine so it can’t be just random.

God did not have to create the world, but neither did God make something random.

The world is meaningful but not necessary – and necessary labor will not save us. Work is productive and gainful but not play.

It is a game in the sense – God made the world for God’s pleasure, God’s play

Prov 8:30-31
then I was beside him, like a master worker,
and I was daily his delight,
playing before him always,
playing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the human race.

Without the freedom of play, the world turns into a desert.

How we imitate God

God can make and play out of nothingness because of divinity – we can only play with reality and created things. But we imitate God when we receive the kingdom of God like a child, when we absorbed and serious about a game but also transcend ourselves in knowing it is just a game.

"Where everything must be useful and used, faith tends to regard its own freedom as good for nothing." (15)

Henri Nouwen, In the Name of Jesus: one of the greatest temptations of the Christian leader (leader of faith) is to be relevant. "Relevance" is such a difficult topic - both encouraged and discouraged in the church. Perhaps it is really the temptation "to be needed" - to make others dependent on oneself.

We are to glorify God and enjoy God forever in the Westminster Catechism 1647.

So not through our usefulness or work or purposes, in our service, but in our enjoyment. We negotiate this in a society that only rewards usefulness, labor, and consumption.

The problem of the Puritan work ethic.

The other challenge of religion only being about ethics, and not about aesthetics.

“To put it simply, the birds are singing more than Darwin permits” Buytendijk.

Instead of life being “the seriousness of making history,” it becomes the “calm rejoining in existence itself.” Otherwise the seriousness of making history can be demonic, despairing, or all about us (23).

To not only play but to be played, as the game of life impacts us. We might be “sheltered by the game,” because “the loser wins” (24, quoting Péguy).

Victor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning - our most fundamental drive is in life is for meaning.

The spiritual benefits of creation and games (18)

  • Sincerity
  • Mirth
  • Suspense
  • Relaxation
  • Full presence
  • Transcendence
  • Freedom

Our purpose--the purpose of creation--AND the purpose of play--is not found in usefulness or meeting goals, but in the "demonstrative value of being" (Buytendijk, Dutch) (19)

Seeing the meaning of life only in terms of usefulness will inevitably lead to a crisis. (19). Ideologies that seek to tell us otherwise are simply trying to turn us into cogs in their machinery.

"Infinite responsibility destroys a human being because he is only man and not god." (23)

Play shifts the focus away from achievement and more toward simply being.

Links:

]]>