Good Game: Christianity and the Culture of Sports [Paperback]

Shirl James Hoffman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2010

In recent years the United States has seen an influx of Christian athletes and coaches into big-time sports, as well as a heightened importance placed on sports in church programs and enormous platforms for intercollegiate sports at Christian schools and colleges. However, as Shirl Hoffman critiques, a Christian vision of sport remains merely superficialreplete with prayers before free throws and praises after touchdowns but offering little if any alternative vision from the secular sports culture. Far from being the kind of life-affirming, faith-affirming events that they could be, games played in Christian college gymnasiums, for example, too often end up as mockeries of the faith statements given prominence in their mission statements. Here, in this thoughtful, narrative-driven exploration, Hoffman retells numerous fascinating stories from the world of ancient and contemporary sports and draws on the history of the Christian tradition as he seeks to answer the question What would it mean to think Christianly about sport?

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Tom Krattenmaker’s recent Onward Christian Athletes (2009) explored the efforts of the Christian Right to join Evangelical Christianity with professional sports. Here Hoffman takes a slightly different approach to what is essentially the same subject, tackling the relationship between faith and sports from a more ideological perspective. He suggests that while Evangelical Christian groups are forging connections with sports (because sports is a high-profile platform), they really don’t understand the nature of sports. He explores the fundamental paradox of joining sports (which encourages and celebrates success) to religion (which “consistently stresses the importance of losing”). The essential problem, he says, is that, in harnessing itself to sports, the Christian community doesn’t really have a clear sense of its goal or a coherent plan to achieve it. As a result, sports are becoming, in many ways, a mockery of Christianity, a superficial set of rites and behaviors with no spiritual or philosophical foundation. Many readers may disagree with the author’s thesis, but even they will agree that he supports it abundantly and argues it well. --David Pitt

Review

[Hoffman] suggests that while evangelical Christian groups are forging connections with sports (because sports is a high-profile platform), they really don't understand the nature of sports.... Many readers may disagree with the author's thesis, but even they will agree that he supports it abundantly and argues it well. --Booklist Magazine (Jan i, 2010)

Wonderful! This is an amazing achievement, blending sociological expertise, theological savvy, and profound spiritual sensitivities to focus on a subject that desperately needs the kind of insights he provides. --Richard J. Mouw, President and Professor of Christian Philosophy, Fuller Theological Seminary

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Product Details

• Paperback: 356 pages
• Publisher: Baylor University Press (February 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932792104
• ISBN-13: 978-1932792102
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #288,861 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Shirl J. Hoffman, Ed.D. is Professor Emeritus of Kinesiology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He has served at all levels of education, beginning his career as a physical education teacher in White Plains, New York before moving on to positions as head basketball coach at Westchester Community College (NY). After completing his graduate work at Teachers College, Columbia University, he served successively as professor at The King's College (NY,the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the University of Pittsburgh for 13 years before moving to University of North Carolina at Greensboro as department head in 1985. He has an extraordinarily broad background in the field spanning motor learning and performance, sociology of sports, and sport philosophy. His work has appeared in Journal of Motor Behavior, Perceptual and Motor Skills, Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sports, Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, Quest, The Journal of Sport Philosophy, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Chronicle of Kinesiology and Physical Education in Higher Education and Journal of Sport Behavior. He has spoken to such wide-ranging groups as The Canadian Psychomotor and Sport Psychology Symposium, the Research Consortium of AAHPERD, The North American Society for Sport Psychology and Physical Activity, the International Congress on Physical Education, the Sport Sociology Academy, The American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education, The Second National Symposium on Teaching Kinesiology and Biomechanics in Sport, British Sport Psychology Conference and the Fourth European Congress on Sport Psychology.

Hoffman has been a frequent contributor to the national dialogue on issues in kinesiology and higher education. He is a former editor of Quest and former associate editor of the Chronicle for Physical Education in Higher Education. He was named Distinguished Scholar by National Association for Kinesiology and Physical Education in Higher Education (NAKPEHE). He is a member of the International Society of Sport Philosophy and a fellow emeritus of the American Academy for Kinesiology and Physical Education. Currently he is Executive Director of the American Kinesiology Association, an association of over 100 college and university departments of kinesiology across the U.S. and Canada.
His interest in reconciling the ethical parameters of popular sport and the Christian faith spans several decades. He has spoken and written widely on the subject. He has been the featured speaker at a number of Christian colleges and has lectured on the topic at the National Conference on New Religions and Revitalization Movements, the Joint Conference for the North American Society for Sport Sociology and the International Association for the Philosophy of Sport, The Popular Culture Association, Joint meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and American Academy of Religion, and the Second International Conference on Sport and Religion at St. Olaf College. He recently delivered a keynote address at the Inaugural International Conference on Sport and Spirituality at York St. John University in England. His work on sport and religion has appeared in Christianity Today, The Nebraska Humanist, The Journal of Philosophy of Sport, Quest, The American Baptist, The Banner, and The Word and World, Christianity and Leisure: Issues in a Pluralistic World, and he has spoken on the topic to numerous community interest groups.
He is editor of the first book on the subject (Sport and Religion, Human Kinetics, 1992) and has been featured in a number of nationally aired televised documentaries on sport and religion on CBS, ("Sport and Ethics") ESPN ("Time to Pray, Time to Play"), Channel 4 in Britain ("Praying to Win") and on nationally aired broadcasts on NPR ("A Whole New Ballgame") BBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Company ("Inside Track") and various local and regional talk shows.
Hoffman and his wife, Claude Mourot, reside in Greensboro, North Carolina where he enjoys golf, traveling, and hiking in the near-by mountains.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dense, thoughtful and needed, March 20, 2010

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LAM (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Good Game: Christianity and the Culture of Sports (Paperback)

This is a very long (300+ pages), dense and thoughtful book. I didn't always agree with the arguments Hoffman set forth, but he does an excellent job at thinking critically about a topic needs further exploration - namely the intersection between Christian faith and sports. A point that Hoffman often comes back to is that Christians have been influenced by sports more than the other way around.

The first half of this book is a history of the church's relationship with sports. This was an important section, though I found it hard to get through at times. It felt more like a book I would read for class rather than for pleasure. The second half of the book was more contemporary and tackled topics such as the killer instinct and prayer on the athletic field. I enjoyed this section much more and would recommend reading it first if you are interested in this treatise, but don't have time to go through the whole thing.

Overall, I found this book well-researched (the bibliography is massive) and necessary. Hoffman is an expert on the topic of faith and sports. He uses many stories and anecdotes across generations that I had either never heard or were buried in my mind and does a masterful job weaving it all together. Sports need to be brought into the conversation between Christ and culture. Hopefully, this book will open some much-needed dialogue regarding some insidious aspects of sports and competition. It gets into some solutions at the end, but just being aware and surfacing issues is an important first step.

(The book was provided for review by the publisher.)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A worthy read for Christian athletes, April 12, 2010

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Good Game: Christianity and the Culture of Sports (Paperback)

There's more to faith in sports than a pre-game prayer. "Good Game: Christianity and the Culture of Sports" looks into the relationship of Christianity and the sports that so many Christians love and embrace, often thanking God for their successes or the very least hoping for it. Stating that much of the religion in modern sports is empty and soulless, Shirl James Hoffman provides many stories of genuine faith in sports. "Good Game" is a worthy read for Christian athletes.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking with much to ponder, February 20, 2010

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Mocha with Linda (Texas, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Good Game: Christianity and the Culture of Sports (Paperback)

Is there a difference between how Christians view sports and competition as opposed to the rest of the world? Should there be?

Shirl James Hoffman addresses our society's obsession with sports. This is a fascinating book with much to ponder. I especially urge believers to thoughtfully read this and take a look at their attitudes toward sports. This will not be a popular book, and will likely make some folks angry or, at the least, defensive. But for those who read it with an open and reflective spirit, it will transform how they view the athletic competitions of our day.

Hoffman details the history of the Christian response to sport from the days of the early church to modern times. At various times in history, the "church" frowned upon athletics because of the mind-set needed and the potential for obsession. In modern times the church has not only accepted sports but embraced it in what the author calls Sportianity. The author also takes a look at character, and how sport impacts that, which, surprisingly, isn't always for the better.

Hoffman isn't a sports hater; on the contrary, he simply points out some troubling aspects of this obsession and provides suggestions for sports to become the well-played game it should be.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher; I was not required to write a positive review.