Playing with God: Religion and Modern Sport

by William J. Baker

The spectacle of modern sport displays all the latest commercial and technological innovations, yet age-old religious concerns still thrive at the stadium. Coaches lead pre-game and post-game prayers, athletes give God the credit for home runs and touchdowns, and fans wave signs with biblical quotations and allusions. Like no other nation on earth, Americans eagerly blend their religion and sports. Playing with God traces this dynamic relationship from the Puritan condemnation of games as sinful in the seventeenth century to the near deification of athletic contests in our own day.

Early religious opposition to competitive sport focused on the immoderate enthusiasm of players and spectators, the betting on scores, and the preference for playing field over church on Sunday. Disapproval gradually gave way to acceptance when "wholesome recreation" for young men in crowded cities and soldiers in faraway fields became a national priority. Protestants led in the readjustment of attitudes toward sport; Catholics, Jews, Mormons, and Muslims followed. The Irish at Notre Dame, outstanding Jews in baseball, Black Muslims in the boxing ring, and born-again athletes at Liberty University represent the numerous negotiations and compromises producing the unique American mixture of religion and sport.

Genres: Sports, History

336 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 2007

Reviews

[marcus miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

A teacher friend found this book at a thrift shop and thought I might enjoy it since I coach a high school boys soccer team at a Mennonite high school. The book is well researched and looks at the ways different religious groups either embraced sports or held them at arms length. It brought back memories of playing softball on Sunday afternoons with my conservative Mennonite cousins, though if we were at one uncles house the only allowed activity on a Sunday afternoon was napping, talking, or reading your Bible or the Martyrs' Mirror. Needless to say, most of us enjoyed playing softball a bit more.
In addition to white evangelicals and the "muscular Christianity" movement Baker looks at the Mormons, the Nation of Islam, Jewish groups and the different ways Catholics used sports. Baker provides a balanced and useful perspective.
I sort of wish a book like this existed when I was doing my graduate studies and most of my professors sort of looked down on those writing about sports.

[Josh Trice · Rating 4 out of 5]

(**I did not read the entire book, only chapters assigned in seminary**) This is a well-sourced historical account of religion in sports. I enjoyed it overall as it gives insight into significant figures, thoughts and movements in history with regard to sport. It does read a little dry at times, but overall is worthwhile.

[Richard Wolff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers the broadest look at religion and sport from the nineteenth century to the present I have encountered. Approachable and filled with examples to balance the historical analysis, it looks at many faith traditions, from fundamentalist to mainline Protestant, to Catholic, Jewish and Muslim encounters with religion. It also looks at a range of sports, from the most recreational to the more demanding and brutal. As such, it is comprehensive. If a fairly objective overview and socio-historical review of the relation of sports and religion is what interests you, this will fill the bill.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful overview from a liberal Christian perspective.

[Mark · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book has little or nothing to do with modern sport.

[Aric Broderick · Rating 3 out of 5]

For masters