Jr. Faculty Focus: Rachel Wagner

Dr. Wagner's research is featured in Ithaca College's KnowLedges (Volume 8, Number 1, Fall 2007)!

Excerpt (author unknown):

Rachel Wagner, assistant professor of philosophy and religion, began teaching at Ithaca College last August. She is currently conducting research (in collaboration with Kim Gregson of the Park School and television- radio grad Austra Zubkovs ‘07) on religious ritual in Second Life, a virtual world entirely created by its users. 

How would you describe the relationship between virtual reality and religion?
In Second Life, users are building religious structures like churches and temples, playing Catholic priests, holding and attending masses in real time. There are even virtual Bibles and medicine kits. These are humanly created transcendent experiences and spaces. 

What kinds of questions are coming up?
It really makes you think. Can good or bad karma be accumulated, or worked out, in a virtual world? If your avatar sins, is it you sinning? What does it do to a person to have multiple identities-the you in this world and the “you” in Second Life? 

Full article: https://www.ithaca.edu/hs/knowledges/fall2007/rwagner/