PROFESSIONAL
Gregory D. Jones, Jr., Ph.D. is a Professor in the Theology Department at Duquesne University. He is in the process of publishing a book with McFarland & Company which examines how a play theology of religions navigates the dialogical problems of the interreligious encounter. Greg also published a related article in Religions journal, and contributed a chapter to The World of Final Fantasy VII. He holds a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Duquesne University, an M.A. in Theology from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism and English from Virginia Tech, and two decades of experience in Broadcasting/Digital Communications, teaching Sunday School, and Youth Ministry. His top research interests involve exploring the theological value and meaning of play experiences, the interplay of religion, media, and popular culture, and interreligious relationality.
PUBLICATIONS
PRESENTATIONS
Insights from theology, media studies, and pop-culture explain how virtual world platforms cultivate "Play-I" (human awareness; humane interaction) for using technology to tell our human stories, and not just the information of technology that is more extractive than it is either artificial or intelligent.
The obscure John Wraith expresses (X-presses) a similarly obscure vantage point within the notably diverse X-Men: the black theological presence. Wraith’s obscurity and untouchability also frames how his words and his actions offer black theological commentary on mutant culture. Each facet of John Wraith illustrates the concept of X-pression: how X-Men comics provide a creative canvas to meaningfully illustrate black theology and other contextual perspectives.
Could the triangle, square, cross, and circle action buttons of the Sony PlayStation controller be a pop-culture symbol for a unified spiritual and theological framework for interpreting reality? This paper explains how pressing each button symbolically “plays out” a particular response to a media environment, by combining the dimensions of play theology with symbols that express the meanings of key insights from several religions.
Jesus's Matthew 22:21 teaching frames a practical and doable schedule of "data balkanization" that prevents having your data belonging in one place, to one company, to do with what they please. Significance: Taking back our digital data from Big Tech is something everyone can do, as an act of protest, self-preservation, and resistance against the powers of the anti-democracy oligarchy.
COURSES
CHURCH / COMMUNITY
