Passion Plays: How Religion Shaped Sports in North America (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781469670065)

Randall Balmer was a late convert to sports talk radio, but he quickly became addicted, just like millions of other devoted American sports fans. As a historian of religion, the more he listened, Balmer couldn't help but wonder how the fervor he heard related to religious practice. Houses of worship once railed against Sabbath-busting sports events, but today most willingly accommodate Super Bowl Sunday. On the other hand, basketball's inventor, James Naismith, was an ardent follower of Muscular Christianity and believed the game would help develop religious character. But today those religious roots are largely forgotten.

Here one of our most insightful writers on American religion trains his focus on that other great passion--team sports--to reveal their surprising connections. From baseball to basketball and football to ice hockey, Balmer explores the origins and histories of big-time sports from the late nineteenth century to the present, with entertaining anecdotes and fresh insights into their ties to religious life. Referring to Notre Dame football, the Catholic Sun called its fandom "a kind of sacramental." Legions of sports fans reading Passion Plays will recognize exactly what that means.

Author: Randall Balmer
ISBN-10: 1469670062
ISBN-13: 9781469670065
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Language: English
Published: 09/20/2022
Pages: 192
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 9.29h x 5.98w x 0.79d

Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 07/25/2022
Kirkus Reviews 09/15/2022
Choice 04/01/2023