But what we have seen here – within the limits of this short essay – is the possibility of connecting sport to our deepest identity. 39-49. vi See Joseph L. Price, ‘An American Apotheosis: Sports as Popular Religion’, in Bruce David Forbes and Jeffery H. Mahan (eds) Religion and Popular Culture in America (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000), 201-218. vii For helpful summary of such accounts, see Robert K. Johnston, The Christian at Play (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), p.32. Though sport may well be corrupted, it does provide us with a way to celebrate the reality of being unnecessary-but-meaningful creatures of the triune God. God creates freely ‘out of nothing.’” Catechism of the Catholic Church, 296. xi This is one of the main themes of Colin E. Gunton, The Triune Creator: A Historical And Systematic Study (Grand Rapids and Cambridge: Eerdmans, 1998). It improves our health, for instance. They are ordered towards goals and targets, and these goals and targets give the activity its purpose. It is both the fabric and intersection of so many cultures. We look at the good, bad, and redeemable in sports. Sporting events tended to function as sacrificial rituals in which the community’s epic myths were narrated. Therefore, we should first think through the question a bit more. Without question, sport is popular. Roman spectacles were again sacred events, this time glorifying the eternal dominance of the Empire, with the Emperor judging both the living and the dead in a pompous display of power. So, let us dive in to this rich treasure chest that emits our joys, struggles, triumphs, and failures in locations that vary from monstrous stadiums to the backyard. They can’t understand why anyone would want to chase after a football on a cold winter’s day, or bother playing cricket in the blaze of the sun. But it does fit the overall pattern. He has attempted to re-imagine the 'killer instinct' of competition – which he sees as a distortion of relationship – and instead offer an account of playing with, rather than against. We are invited into existence in order to share in the love of the Father for his Son in the Spirit. The ancient ballgame of tlatchi is a case in point. Many young theologians were reading Athanasius, Aquinas and Augustine, whilst I was reading Shoot magazine, playing Subbuteo, and practising free kicks in the garden. ix Roger Caillois, Man, Play and Games, trans. Evidence to support Novatian’s charge is easy to find. Footballers do not shoot because it lowers the blood pressure or earns them Air Miles. Simply put, nothing else was in existence to sha… But this is not what the Church teaches. Somehow, I have ended up a theologian. Sports predates Christianity. What is a Christian view of sports / athletics? But these sorts of consequences are secondary. Anyone who did get involved was to be excluded from the life of the Church. In the ancient world, it was often difficult to distinguish a sport from a religious activity. Rowan Williams has drawn out the key implication of this insight for us: I think I will have to understand that… I'm not serious: God is serious; my condition is serious; sin is serious; the Cross is serious. In such instances, it appears that sport’s popularity undermines the church’s prohibitions, and – in face of such pressure – the church instead looks to harness sport to its own agenda (perhaps using jousting as a preparation for the Crusades, or equating an athletic work-ethic with holiness, as in the case of Muscular Christianity). Too often the same “athletic verses” are used to promote an already presumed understanding of God and the Bible. Simply put, nothing else was in existence to shape or compel God at the point of creation Instead, the one God acted sovereignly, free both in designing and executing his decision. Christians are instead called to think things through in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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