The Games People Play
Theology, Religion, and Sport
by Robert Ellis
Paperback (No longer our product)
(November 2014)
ISBN: 9780718893712
5.98 x 9.02 inches
Price: $45.00
In stock
An exploration of modern sport as a theologically-significant activity, revealing sport’s own quasi-religious aspects and its complex history with Christianity.
In ‘The Games People Play’, Robert Ellis constructs a theology around the global cultural phenomenon of modern sport, paying particular attention to its British and American manifestations. Using historical narrative and social analysis to enter thedebate on sport as religion, Ellis shows that modern sport may be said to have taken on some of the functions previously vested in organized religion. Through biblical and theological reflection, he presents a practical theology of sport’s appeal and value, with special attention to the theological concept of transcendence. Throughout, he draws on original empirical work with sports participants and spectators.’The Games People Play’ addresses issues often considered problematic in theological discussions of sport such as gender, race, consumerism, and the role of the modern media, as well as problems associated with excessive competition and performance-enhancing substances.
- By (author) Robert Ellis
"Ellis convincingly argues that humans at play reach outward and upward, signifying and participating in God toward our playful destiny. Ellis moves deftly between historical considerations of sports and thick descriptions of sport practitioner and spectator motivations, attitudes, and experiences; analysis of theological themes (sin and salvation); and contemporary social, moral, economic, and political matters which Christians must examine as citizens whose loyalty is ultimately to God's will and way on earth as it is in heaven."John B. White, George W. Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University, Waco, TX"The way Ellis takes concepts based on play, salvation, and sin . . . and applies them to sport, arguing that participation in sport can be seen as a participation in God's playful creativity, is groundbreaking."J. Stuart Weir, Verite Sport, Oxford, UK"Ellis masterfully weaves a thread through the church's inconstant history with sport, dissects sport as a modern cultural phenomenon, and armed with a prodigious arsenal of evidence, dares to ask whether the transcendent moments of sport might actually be experiences of God. A must-read for anyone hoping to understand how sport fits within the Christian tradition."Shirl James Hoffman, Kinesiology Today, American Kinesiology Association"...for those seeking a diversely informed, positive account of sport's social and theological value, this book should be considered an important contribution."-Kevin Hargaden, Theology 118.6 2015"This informative and thought-provoking work has contributed to qualitative research in the field with a small but significant study of opinions of amateur sportsmen and -women, and could be developed further. It is of interest to those studying the relation of religion and sport in UK and USA, and those concerned with the theology of sport."-Danielle A. Lynch, Theological Book Review, Vol. 26 No. 2, 2016
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