Seven Steps to Jesus

A while back I was told that there is a Wikipedia game “Seven Steps to Jesus” which resembles the better-known “Seven Degrees of Separation” game involving Kevin Bacon. (And for those keeping count, you will recall that my “Bacon Number” is 3.)  I initially didn’t find any online documentation about the game, and so I thought I would share here what I was told about it. It basically involved trying to get from any Wikipedia page to the Wikipedia page about Jesus in at most seven clicks. Eventually (through a small number of clicks) I learned that the reason I did not initially find it is because the original version involves five clicks to Jesus. But that seems too easy to me, and so I am inclined to stick with “Seven Steps to Jesus.”

I am trying to think of ways to utilize this game for educational purposes. But in the meantime, presumably the best way to get you involved in thinking about this is to challenge you to get from the Kevin Bacon page to the Jesus page on Wikipedia in seven steps or less. Surprisingly, the five-clicks Wiki Race game does not mention Kevin Bacon and the seven degrees of separation, which would have made the connection a direct one.

I invite you in turn to use the comments section to challenge other blog readers (as well as me) to figure out the path that leads to Jesus from any other Wikipedia page you might choose. I guarantee you that the distances are not going to be anywhere near as great as you might first think. For instance, even apart from his regular presence at the imagined “dinner with any 5 (or other number) historical people, living or dead” that many are given the chance to host, the Last Supper gets a mention on the Wikipedia page about dinner, and so anyone that you can connect with food, you can connect with him.

And so the challenge for you is to find the path from whatever page another presents you with to Jesus in less than seven steps. And the other challenge for you is to come up with a page from which others will not be able to find a path to Jesus’s Wikipedia page in seven or fewer steps.

Have fun, and good luck!

P.S. Please note that you are not allowed to leave Wikipedia for the purpose of the game, which precludes connecting Jesus and Bacon via tweets about pancakes…

Wife is making Jesus and Kevin Bacon pancakes. Gonna have Kevin Bacon pancakes with bacon pic.twitter.com/sicYEbaz0A

— VeloBusDriver (@VeloBusDriver) October 2, 2014