Made creative in the image of the creator

by James Wyatt

Then God said, 'Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness...' So God created humankind in the image of God...—Genesis 1:26-27.

It would be interesting to study the varying interpretations this passage has received in Jewish and Christian theology over the centuries, but I have not yet done that. In the Bible, the word image most often describes an idol—an unliving image of a false god. St. Paul interpreted the Genesis passage as a reference to Christ, "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation" (Colossians 1:15), but went on to talk about how Christians are reshaped into Christ's image in order to better reflect the image of God.

At any rate, one of the more intriguing ideas I've run across in discussing the image of God is the idea that part, at least, of what it means to bear God's image is to be creative. God is, of course, the Creator, who formed the universe and brought life into being. As my wife has begun a doctoral program in religion and the arts, she has run across a number of people suggesting that, as God's creatures, we carry some of the divine creative spark within us.

The only author I've run across who specifically connected that idea with roleplaying was Rev. Arthur Collins, who wrote an article called "Reflections of a Real-Life Cleric" for TSR's Dragon Magazine many years ago. With extensive reference to J.R.R. Tolkien's essay, "On Fairy-Stories," Rev. Collins talked about the creative work involved in fantasy roleplaying as an exercise of the creative image of God, and as a vehicle for the Gospel. Unfortunately, I no longer have a copy of the article (I sold my whole collection when I moved to California), so I can't be much more specific than this in describing it.

What I said on the main page is the key thing for me, though. The most interesting part of roleplaying, for me, is creating worlds—developing my own realms of fantasy and science fiction, populating them with strange races and fascinating characters, and constructing elaborate plots for adventures on those worlds. These are not utopias, they attempt to be as realistic as the genre allows (once one accepts the existence of magic on these worlds) in terms of human nature and the reality of evil. But I try somehow to make each one reflect the truth my faith has taught me. In some, like Petroyeska, I've done that by making Christianity a part of the world as it is a part of ours. In that world, Christian humans are a persecuted minority in an evil hobgoblin empire—a setting that allows heroic roleplaying in an explicit Christian context. Another of my worlds, Night, Christ is never named, though he is present in the form of a wounded black unicorn, a symbol of the divine presence among faithful people who have been enslaved by demons. God's name in this world is Javen, an alteration of the Hebrew name of God often misspelled as Jehovah. The name of the evil one is Zovel, derived from Beelzebul, the Biblical "ruler of the demons".

In other worlds, the influence of my faith is more thematic than explicitly stated. The religions of Aquela, for example, are polytheistic and bear no real connection to Christianity. I did, however, introduce a movement within the heavily ritualistic Temple Cult that emphasized personal experience, personal encounter with the Divine, and the equality of all races before the gods. A fractured image of Christianity, but the image is there.

Other pages describe more about how I see the portrayal of religions in a game world reflecting the truth I know in this world.

I hope to get my hands on another copy of Rev. Collins' article soon (and I'd love to meet him someday!), and I will try to flesh out this page if that happens. Also, I intend to read some of my wife's materials on art and religion and think through the connection between creativity and the Creator a little more extensively. Finally, I am interested in the Ignatian tradition of spirituality with its emphasis on imagination, and what bearing that might have on roleplaying. Please share your thoughts and comments on the message board.