Board games and sexual theologies. Bodies, sexualities, and dissidence on the theological game board

This article examines the relationship between theology and board games as a framework for understanding how religious narratives, doctrinal imaginaries, and theological practices are constructed, negotiated, and contested. The study addresses the limited attention given to board games within theological research, arguing that they should be understood not merely as recreational artifacts but as cultural texts that reveal symbolic structures, pedagogical functions, and relations of power within religious traditions. The article aims to develop a situated and critical theological hermeneutic capable of interpreting both games and theology through the logic of play. Methodologically, the study employs an interdisciplinary qualitative approach that combines theological hermeneutics, cultural analysis, situated epistemology, and queer/cuir/marica and liberationist theological perspectives. The analysis proceeds through a double interpretive movement: examining board games with explicit theological content and interpreting theology itself as a symbolic and strategic form of play. The theoretical framework draws on play theory, theology of play, and queer/cuir/marica and indecent theologies. Through the analysis of various games, the article argues that theology operates as a dynamic field structured by rules, exclusions, and interpretive struggles. Its principal contribution lies in showing how bodies, sexualities, and gender dissidences disrupt dominant theological frameworks and open possibilities for more inclusive and transformative theological imaginaries.