ABSTRACT
The 1970s marks a significant watershed in the historiography of 'Religion and Sports' as a field of study but also increasingly so in its evolvement and development as an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary endeavour. The need and rationale for further research, that explores sport and non-western understandings of Christianity, is therefore considerable. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book addresses ways in which traditional world-views of supernatural causality have influenced the nature and practice of Christianity, the innovative ways in which contemporary Pentecostal/charismatic churches have reinvented alternative religious spaces; and unpacks legitimacy of claims that athletes in extreme sports may encounter the mystical and sublime, when examined through a Christian theological lens. The Ghanaian Church is not exempt from this show of patriotism. Yet, the disparity in support by Ghanaian Christians and Church as whole is creating concern for gender activists, feminist theologians and scholars of religions in Ghana.
