Gregory Price Grieve is a Professor at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. He is also the director of UNCG’s Network for the Cultural Study of Videogaming. He researches and teaches at the intersection of Asian religions, media, and theory. Specifically, he is a leader in the field of digital religion and a pioneer in the emerging field of religion in digital games. He publishes books and articles and presents internationally on these subjects.
Kerstin Radde-Antweiler is Professor for Religious Studies at the University of Bremen, Germany. Her research focuses on mediatized religion, especially in online environments such as games. She edited edited volumes and special issues on the interrelation of culture and digital media and published several articles. She is co-editor-in-chief of gamevironments, the first academic journal with a specific focus on video gaming and religion.
Christopher Helland completed his doctorate examining early forms of online religious activity. He was heavily influenced by the writings of William Gibson and Neal Stephenson and has been an avid gamer (both online and offline) since his teenage years. His current research is examining the transfer of the sacred into cyberspace. In particular he is exploring the wiring of sacred pilgrimage sites and online ritual activities. He is also working closely with diaspora religious groups as they develop internet technology to help maintain their religious identities. He has a number of influential publications examining religion on the Internet and was one of the pioneering researchers in this developing field of study.
Xenia Zeiler is Associate Professor for South Asian Studies at the University of Helsinki, Finland. She holds a Ph.D. in Cultural and Religious History of South Asia from the South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg in Germany, and so far has been equally working in two academic subjects, South Asian Studies and Religious Studies. Her research and teaching foci include (new) media and religion in India and contextualizing textual Hindu and Tantric traditions in contemporary popular and mainstream religions. She published on mainstreaming Hindu and Tantric traditions, on mediatized and globalized Hinduism, on video games as related to Hindu traditions and religion, and on video gaming and religion, in general. Her current research focuses on mediatization processes in recent Hinduism, for the first time also highlighting video gaming as related to Indian religious contexts.
Kathrin Trattner is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Religious Studies, University of Bremen. She studied Religious Studies and German Philology at the University of Graz, Austria. Her research focusses on critical investigations of religion and its intersections with race and gender within digital media, particularly video games. She is currently conducting a research project investigating the multiple interrelations between video gaming and constructions of national identity.
John Borchert is the Associate Director of UNC Greensboro’s Network for the Cultural Study of Videogaming and a Lecturer in the Religious Studies Department. He is interested in how religious practices and media technologies intersect across American religious histories, particularly their impact on embodiment and death. He teaches on American religion, embodiment, death, Christianities, and religion and media/technology. John is Co-Chair of the Religion and Media Workshop of the American Academy of Religion and you can follow him on Twitter @JohnWBorchert
Lisa Kienzl is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Religious Studies, University of Bremen, Germany. She holds a PhD in Cultural Anthropology and in Religious Studies. Her research interest focus on qualitative methods, the (de-)constructions and transformations of religion and gender in pop culture, as well as the notion of the nation and gaming cultures.