Sports and Christianity

This interdisciplinary text examines the sports-Christianity interface from Protestant and Catholic perspectives. In addition to a "systematic review of literature," field-pioneering contributors such as Michael Novak, Shirl Hoffman, Joseph Price and Robert Higgs address a wide range of topics from the sporting world, including biblical athletic metaphors, disability, evangelism, professionalism and celebrity, humility and pride, genetic enhancement technologies, stereotypes, sport as art and British and American historical analyses of sport and Christianity. Insightful chapters from Scott Kretchmar, one of the world's leading philosophers of sport, and Father Kevin Lixey, the head of the Vatican's 'Church and Sport' office (2004-), add further depth and breadth to this book, making it accessible and interesting to academic and practitioner audiences alike. Within the context of this relatively new and rapidly expanding area of inquiry, this collection provides a unique and important addition to the current literature for both undergraduate and postgraduate students, and serves as a point of reference for scholars of theology and religious studies, psychology, health studies, ethics and sports studies. The book may also be of interest to physical educators and sports coaches who wish to adopt a more "holistic" and ethical approach to their work. As modern sport is often intertwined with commercial and political agendas, this book offers an important corrective to the "win-at-all-costs" culture of modern sport, which cannot be fully understood through secular ethical inquiry.

Nick Watson is Senior Lecturer in Sport, Culture and Religion at York St John University, and was the Founding Director of the Centre for the Study of Sport and Spirituality (2003-2009). He is the co-author and co-editor respectively of: Sport and Spirituality: An Introduction (2007) and Theology, Ethics and Transcendence in Sports (2011), both published by Routledge. Andrew Parker is Professor of Sport and Christian Outreach and Director of the Centre for Sport, Spirituality and Religion (CSSR) in the Faculty of Sport, Health and Social Care at the University of Gloucestershire (UoG), UK.

Foreword Michel Novak. Introduction. Andrew Parker and Nick J. Watson Part 1: Historical Perspectives on Sport and Christianity 1. Sports and Christianity: Mapping the Field Nick J. Watson and Andrew Parker 2. Was St. Paul a Sports Enthusiast? Reality and Rhetoric in Pauline Athletic Metaphors Victor C. Pfitzner 3. Sport and Religion in England, c.1790-1914 Hugh McLeod 4. Harvesting Souls in the Stadium: The Rise of Sports Evangelism Shirl James Hoffman 5. Stereotypes and Archetypes in Religion and American Sport Robert J. Higgs Part 2: Contemporary Perspectives on Sport and Christianity 6. Special Olympians as a 'Prophetic Sign' to the Modern Sporting Babel Nick J. Watson 7. The Technoscience Enhancement Debate in Sports: What's Religion Got to Do With It? Tracy J. Trothen 8. The Quest for Perfection in the Sport of Baseball: The Magnanimous Individual or the Magnanimous Team? Jacob L. Goodson 9. The Vatican's Game Plan for Maximizing Sport's Educational Potential Kevin Lixey 10. Hard-Won Sporting Achievements and Spiritual Humility: Are They Compatible? Scott Kretchmar