Christian Research Journal Reads Episode 137: Blades, Spirits, and the Sacred: Encountering Shintoism in Assassin’s Creed Shadows

This is Episode 137 of Christian Research Journal Reads. This is an audio version of the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL article, “Blades, Spirits, and the Sacred: Encountering Shintoism in Assassin’s Creed Shadows” by Cole Burgett. The following article appeared as an online-exclusive in CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL, volume 48, number 02 (2025).https://www.equip.org/articles/blades-spirits-and-the-sacred-encountering-shintoism-in-assassins-creed-shadows/ 


It was accompanied by the Postmodern Realties Podcast Episode 443: Blades, Spirits, and the Sacred: Encountering Shintoism in Assassin’s Creed Shadows.


This podcast presents audio versions of Christian Research Journal articles. As the flagship publication of the Christian Research Institute, the Journal seeks to equip followers of Christ to think and to live Christianly—to exercise truth and experience life. Truth, especially essential Christian doctrine, forms the basis for how we live our lives in Christ. As the apostle Paul instructed Timothy in 1 Tim. 4:16, “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”The Christian Research Journal enjoyed a print incarnation of almost 45 years. Now exclusively an online publication, the Journal consists of thousands of free articles. We hope that through these audio articles you are not only equipped to proclaim and defend your faith but that as a disciple you also draw closer to Christ in your walk with Him.  You can find the written version of each article that is an episode of Christian Research Journal Reads at the website of the Christian Research Institute, equip.org. All Christian Research Journal articles at equip.org are completely free and do not require a subscription and are not under a paywall.All episodes will be available at the following podcast platforms with more being added daily! You can help spread the word about this new podcast by giving us a rating and review from the other channels we are listed on and telling others!You can view off our Website at the at this link and off our Journal main page. 



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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
This is episode one hundred and thirty seven of the
Christian Research Journal Reads Podcast. Blades, Spirits and the Sacred
Encountering Shintoism in Assassins Creed Shadows by Colbergett. This article
first appeared as an online exclusive in our Cultural Apologetics

(00:29):
column for the Christian Research Journal, Volume forty eight, number
two in twenty twenty five. The Christian Research Journal Reads
Podcast presents audio versions of Christian Research Journal articles. To
read the full text of this article and its documentation,

(00:50):
please go to equip dot org. That's e quip dot rg.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Blades, Spirits and the Sacred Encountering Shintoism in Assassin's Creed Shadows.
This article is by kolberget and is read by an
automated voice. The release of Assassin's Creed Shadows twenty twenty
five marked a long anticipated leap into feudal Japan for
Ubisof's flagship video game franchise. Set in the late Singoku

(01:20):
period sixteenth century, a time of political unrest and complexity
for the nation, the game invites players to embody both
a shinobi ninja assassin and an honorable samurai, but somewhere
beneath the flowing roads and layered armour, and the series
trademark intrigue lies a cultural and religious worldview that is
largely unfamiliar to many Westerners. Shinduism, as with previous entries

(01:45):
in the series, Shadows, is more than willing to let
players exports detailed recreation of historical Japan and give players
glimpses of the routines and rituals of daily life. One mission,
for example, revolves around Nawa the Shnobi, learning the intricacies
of formal teaser mooney shrines, dot the sweeping landscapes, along
with the iconic tory gates at the temple's players can

(02:06):
visit at will. Non playable characters carry out purification rights
and revere both ancestors and cami divine spirits. All these
things contribute to the game's cultural texture, and for discerning
Christian's players, this opens a door to conversations about faith
and its portrayal and video games. How should Christians engage
with portrayals of spiritual systems like Shintoism in popular media.

(02:29):
What does it mean to interact with a world where
the divine is in the wind, the mountain, and the sword,
And what can cultural apologetics offer in response? These are
the questions we'll explore while unpacking the theological implications of Shintoism,
considering how Christian gamers can thoughtfully and faithfully navigate the
spiritual imagination of another culture without losing sight of the
Gospel exploring genetic memories. Since it's debuted in two thousand

(02:55):
and seven, Assassin's Creed has built its reputation on a
unique mixture of stealth gameplay in his historical settings. In
an interview with The Guardian, series architect Patrise Desolates explained
how the team at Ubisoft landed on their core template.
A book called Alamo was an influence. Though this book
is a fictional work, it's based on the historical clan
of Assassins, and it prompted the team who were passing

(03:17):
the book around to do further research about the Assassins
and their time period the Third Crusade. The more we
discovered about these people, the more we wanted to make
a game about them. But all of this has been
framed by a singular, ambitious narrative conceit what if humans could,
via advanced technology, relive the memories of ancestors locked within DNA.

(03:39):
At the heart of the series, is the Animus, a
fictional machine that allows modern humans to access the genetic
memories stored within their own bloodline. Through this device, players
inhabit the lives of assassins across different periods of history.
Jerusalem during the Crusades Assassins Creed two thousand and seven,
Renaissance Italy Assassins Creed the Second two thousand and nine,

(04:02):
Assassins Creed Brotherhood twenty ten, Constantinople under the Ottoman Empire
Assassin's Creed Revelations twenty eleven, the American Frontier Assassins Creed
the Third twenty twelve, Assassins Creed Rogue twenty fourteen, The
Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy Assassins Creed four,

(04:24):
Black Flag twenty thirteen, Tall Make Egypt Assassins Creed Origins
twenty seventeen, Ancient Greece Assassins Creed Odyssey twenty eighteen, Viking
England Assassins Creed Valhalla twenty twenty, and the Basic Caliphate
Assassins Creed Mirage twenty twenty three. Each game is thus

(04:45):
a duel narrative to one degree or another, one set
in the past, in one in a modern or near
future setting, where a secret war rages between the Assassins
and the Templars and their precursor organizations, the Hidden Ones
and the Order of the Ancients. The conflict between the
Assassins and the Templars is largely ideological, explains Caitlin Greeve,

(05:06):
writing for screen Rent. The Templars believe that a perfect,
happy utopia can only be established under extreme rule and order.
The Assassins, on the other hand, prize free will above
all else. From the beginning, Assassin's Creed has largely been
a series of contrasts free will versus determinism, truth versus power,
and similar conceits, But the series has also wrestled with religions,

(05:29):
sometimes clumsily, sometimes with surprising nuance, by portraying Christianity, Islam,
Greco Roman paganism, and ancient Egyptian beliefs as part of
the experiences of its historical characters. Yet the series is
not neutral and often presents organized religion, especially monotheism, as
a tool of control, subtly aligning itself with a kind

(05:50):
of post Enlightenment skepticism. Its overarching mythology involving precursor races
and false gods, offers a secular mythos meant to explain
away the supernatural. This mythos revolves around the Isu, an
advanced pre human civilization whose members were once worshiped as
gods by early mankind. Possessing immense technological knowledge and near immortality,

(06:13):
the Isu created humanity to serve them, encoding obedience directly
into the human genome. This race of beings includes figures
where later remembered in human myths like Minervo, Juno, and Jupiter,
among others, drawing from many different and well known mythologies
across the series. Some of the pieces of Eden, Eyes
to weapons and artifacts from tens of thousands of years

(06:34):
ago were created to allow for instantaneous and total mind
control to keep humanity enslaved. But a conflict between humans
and the Isue broke out when two humans, Adam and Eve,
stole the Apple of Eden and started a rebellion the Eyes,
who were eventually destroyed in a global catastrophe, leaving behind
fragments of their technology, which order of the Ancients and

(06:56):
later the Templars seek to recover in order to construct
a utopia. The Hidden Ones and later the Assassins are
those who seek to prevent the order from recovering the
fragments and thereby enslave humanity all over again. Shadows and
Shinto in shadows. The usual Assassin's Creed formula is applied
to Japan, but unlike previous entries in the series, which

(07:18):
has dealt largely with Western systems of thought, the theological
conversation shifts. Instead of confronting institutional religion or spiritual revelation,
the game steps into a world shaped by Shinto, a
tradition without a central founder, sacred text, or systematized theology. Instead,
it is built on ritual and one's relationship with the

(07:38):
natural and spiritual worlds. For Christian players, the implications are
different here than they were in say, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
twenty ten. The question is no longer what does the
game say about the Church? But what does the game
say about the sacred Shinto, often translated as the Way
of the Gods, is less a codified system of blaef

(08:00):
than it is a posture toward the world, a way
of living in harmony with the unseen forces that dwell
within it. In contrast to religions grounded in revelation and
tabulated in doctrinal statements. Shindo is a deeply relational and
ritualistic tradition that is rooted in the localized communal practices
tied to the land, ancestors, and nature. Before the arrival

(08:21):
of Buddhism in Japan, there were many local cults that
are nowadays grouped under the name Shinto. The focal points
of worship for these local cults were the khami, a
term often translated as gods or spirits, but which might
be better understood as presences. A kami might be a mountain,
a river, a tree, a storm, or an ancestor's spirit,

(08:41):
with many kami looked upon as the ancient ancestors of
whole clans. If a person was particularly virtuous, such as
the emperor, they could become kami upon their death. Human
beings do not worship the kami in the sense of
surrendering to a sovereign deity. Rather, they honor, appease and
coexist with them through ritual Another important aspect of shindo

(09:01):
closely linked with kami is musubi. Explaining this concept, Boy
and William's right, Humans, like all aspects of nature, are
manifestations of a life giving power, a generative creative force
that is the basis of all life. The Shinto term
for this creative principle permeating all forms of life is musubi.
This term also carries the connotations of combination, joining and

(09:25):
binding together. Thus musubi refers to the harmoniously creating and
connecting force that manifests itself in all of great nature.
This makes Shinto a religion of proximity, not necessarily transcendence.
There is no ultimate creator God in the biblical sense. Instead,
divinity is diffused across creation and woven naturally into the

(09:45):
mundane purification rituals misodi, shrine visits, seasonal festivals, and offerings
are traditions, yes, but they are also quite literally how
one keeps balance with the spiritual order of things. Eventually,
Buddhism entered Japan during the six century, and most of
the schools of Japanese Buddhism were established during the Kamakura
period eleven eighty five to thirteen thirty three. Citing Kuroda

(10:09):
Tashio's scholarship, Mark Tiwan and Bernhard Schaid point out that
until at least the Kamakura period, the word Shinto was
used not to refer to a popular religion by that name,
but more or less as a synonym for kami. In
the context of Assassin's Creed Shadows and its recreation of
Singoku Japan, Shintoism is woven into the game's architecture and mechanics,

(10:31):
with shrine serving as points of meditation and reflection that
offer perks or bonuses. Certain missions focus on rituals, such
as the quest in which Yasuka must go through the
stages of purification before the story will continue. Others require
Naua to meditate and reflect in order to unlock playable
sections that flesh out her backstory. For Christian players, these
sections of gameplay can present some interesting moments for reflection.

(10:54):
In a world where sacred space is not defined by
holiness so much as it is by closeness and continuity,
how does one articulate a vision of God who is
both transcendent and near. How does one distinguish between creation
as sacred and sacredness of the creator imminent longing? In
a world like the one presented in Shadows, where sacred

(11:14):
space is diffused across creation, spiritual longing is quite palpable.
Shindoism captures this longing in its own way, recognizing that
there is more to reality than what can be measured.
The ritualism, the attentiveness to nature, and the deep sense
of respect for those who came before all point to
a profound awareness that life is not merely biological. It is,

(11:35):
in point of fact, spiritual. As Christians, we recognize that
this imminent sense of the sacred, what the apostle Paul
might liken to the impulse to rope for him and
find him Acts seventeen twenty seven, was never meant to
terminate with and in nature itself. For the Biblicist, creation
is not the end of the story, but the beginning

(11:56):
of revelation. The heavens declare the glory of God, so
but they do not contain him, and that longing for
connection with the unseen worlds finds its fulfillment not in
cami or musubi, but in Tahara rised the image of
the invisible God Colossans one fifteen. For Christian players, Assassin's
Creed Shadows offers a moment to reflect on what it

(12:17):
means to live in a world at ah for the
sacred and goes looking for sacred space. It invites one
to consider how the Gospel is the unique bomb to
be applied to that particular pain, not by denying the
spiritual reality that Shinda seems to gesture toward, but by
fulfilling it in the one who is both transcendent and imminent,
holy and near. As Paul points out in the latter
half of Acts seventeen twenty seven, he is not far

(12:40):
from each one of us. And this is the work
of cultural apologetics. Not to sneer, nor to try and
baptize other systems of belief uncritically, not to voiste evidence
upon another in a tit for tat approach to see
who is more right, but to simply trace the patterns
of human longing and show how they find their shape
in Kia or Ice Street. It means engaging thoughtfully with

(13:01):
media like Assassin's Creed Shadows as both entertainment and a
cultural artifact that reveals how people imagine and divine and
order their world accordingly and seek meaning and purpose within it.
Where Shindo offers a vision of sacred presence woven into
the fabric of creation itself, the Gospel of Jesus care
Arised offers the presence of a personal God who entered

(13:22):
that world, not as a fickle spirit to be appeased,
but as a savior who came to redeem it. So
in passing through the tory gates or climbing the long
steps leading to a shrine, players can see in Assassin's
Creed shadows the little signs of a world still reaching
for its creator. And it is the Christian's unique position
to be able to say with both confidence and compassion
that He has already reached for us.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
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(14:09):
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(14:31):
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(14:52):
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Speaker 2 (15:00):
The Staton Inflict, the ty Home