Real-World Religion and the World of Warcraft, featuring Pastor Fisk

From time to time BJS has featured videos from Rev. Jonathan Fisk’s “Worldview Everlastingyoutube channel, where being relevant and technological doesn’t mean backing down from classic Lutheran theology. But what many people don’t know about Pastor Fisk (and not a few other LCMS pastors) is that they lead a double life. By day they are mild mannered proclaimers of the Gospel, but by night they “roflstomp” through the fantastic world of Azeroth, as trolls and orcs, elves and gnomes, while playing the “massively multiplayer online role playing game” of World of Warcraft.

“WoW” (as it has come to be known) is the most successful MMORPG, a behometh in the gaming field, with over 5 million gamers worldwide logging into a tremendous fantasy-genre-world where you can spend time cooking, training up your seamstress skills to sew a magic carpet, playing the market of the auction house, or delving into 10-player only “raid dungeons” to overthrow old fallen gods and new demonic forces which threaten to wipe out life as we – er, they – know it.

This week, Pastor Fisk was interviewed by WoW Insider, the official news site for the game. In the regular feature “15 Minutes of Fame,” WoW Insider takes up the question of “Gaming and Religion,” with Pastor Fisk (as a confessional Lutheran!) providing the answers. Here’s what Lisa Poisso had to say about her interview with Pastor fisk:

“Over the years, 15 Minutes of Fame has been through more than a couple of aborted conversations with pastors about the intersection of real-world religion and the World of Warcraft. Whether the questions get a little too pointed, or the potential for reaction from the pews gets a little too hot … Whatever the case, the interviews don’t make it through to print. Until now. Hats off to Fisk for what’s turned out to be a tour de force of an interview examining one man and one denomination’s insights on the convergence of gaming, pop culture and WoW.”

You can read the interview (and see what Pastor Fisk looks like as a Troll and just how big a dragon he’s not afraid to take on) by following this link.

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