ABSTRACT

While the relationship between sport and religion is deeply rooted in history, it continues to play a profound role in shaping modern-day societies. This edited collection provides an inter-disciplinary exploration of this relationship from a global perspective, making a major contribution to the religious, social scientific and theological study of sport.

It discusses the dialectical interplay between sport and Christianity across diverse cultures, extending beyond a Western perspective to include studies from Africa, South America and Asia, as well as Europe, the UK and the US. Containing contributions from leading experts within the field, it reflects on key topics including race, gender, spirituality, morality, interfaith sport clubs, and the significance of sport in public rituals of celebration and mourning. Its chapters also examine violent sports such as boxing and mixed martial arts, as well as reflecting on the cult of sporting celebrity and the theology of disability sport.

Truly international in scope, Global Perspectives on Sports and Christianity is fascinating reading for all those interested in the study of sport, sociology and religion.

chapter |10 pages

Introduction

part 11I|34 pages

Some transdisciplinary considerations

chapter 1|16 pages

Challenging the secular bias in the sociology of sport

Scratching the surface of Christian approaches to sociology

chapter 2|16 pages

Sports in the biblical narrative

part II|114 pages

Non-Western perspectives on sport and Christianity

chapter 3|17 pages

Interreligious football

Christianity, African tradition, and the religion of football in South Africa

chapter 4|16 pages

Soccer fandom as catechism

Practices of the sacred among young men in Argentina

chapter 5|16 pages

Soccer victory authorized by the gods

Prophecy, popular memory and the peculiarities of place *

chapter 6|18 pages

The church and FIFA World Cup in Ghana

A gender perspective

chapter 7|15 pages

Religion and sport in multireligious Nigeria

The case of Kaduna City Interfaith Football Club

chapter 8|16 pages

Spirituality and martial arts

‘Fitting’ in the life-world

chapter 9|13 pages

Playing and praying in the Premiership

Public display of beliefs in English football

part 160III|119 pages

Western perspectives on sport and Christianity

chapter 12|14 pages

Sport, celebrity and religion

Christianity, morality and the Tebow phenomenon

chapter 13|16 pages

Church, sports, and tragedy

Religion and rituals of public mourning in the Ibrox disasters of 1902 and 1971

chapter 14|18 pages

Sport and Christianity in American cinema

‘The beloved grew fat and kicked’ (Deuteronomy 32:15)

chapter 15|20 pages

Christianity, boxing and Mixed Martial Arts

Reflections on morality, vocation and well-being

chapter 16|16 pages

Hillsborough and the Church of England

The Right Reverend Bishop James Jones KBE