JAN. 18, 2005

SPORTS
Gods and games: Is sports a religion? Is religion a sport?

IN THE NORTHEAST
• Clifford Putney teaches American religious history at Bentley College in Waltham, Mass. He is the author of Muscular Christianity: Manhood and Sports in Protestant America, 1880-1920 (Harvard University Press, 2001), regarded by many as a definitive work on the relationship between Protestantism and sports in America. Contact 781-891-2285, cputney@bentley.edu.
• Warren Goldstein teaches American history at the University of Hartford, where he chairs the history department. He is the author of Playing for Keeps: A History of Early Baseball (Cornell University Press, 2001), and he wrote an essay in the Nov. 1, 2003, Christian Century magazine titled, "Winning Isn't Everything: Baseball as a Theological Discipline." Contact 860-768-4630, wgoldstei@hartford.edu.ngland. Contact 617-884-4227, mcnaa@aol.com.

IN THE EAST
• Charles Prebish is a professor of religious studies at Penn State University and editor of Religion and Sport: The Meeting of the Sacred and Profane (Greenwood Press, 1992). Prebish wrote several of the essays, and other sports and religion experts provided the others. Contact 814-865-1121, csp1@psu.edu.
• John Fitzsimmons Mahoney, author of The Tao of the Jump Shot: An Eastern Approach to Life and Basketball (Ulysses Press, 1999), is a former high school basketball coach in New Jersey and author of books on Eastern religions who uses both sport and religion to illuminate each other. Contact 973-482-3546, john_mahoney18@msn.com.
• The Rev. Kent Berghuis is a pastor at First Baptist Church in Lansdale, Pa., and until fall 2004 was a professor of systematic theology at Dallas Theological Seminary. He co-authored a paper, with Matt Blackmon, titled, "Would Jesus Play Texas Hold-Em? Reflections on Religion and the World Poker Tour." The paper explores intersections between religion and the growing popular phenomenon of poker-playing, including a World Poker Tour pro who looks like and calls himself "Jesus," and religious computer icons chosen to identify players on popular on-line poker sites such as PokerStars.com. Contact 215-855-3457, kberghuis@fbcl.com.

IN THE SOUTHEAST
• John Wilson is a professor of sociology and director of graduate studies at Duke University in Durham, N.C. He has written widely about religion and leisure, and he teaches a class on sport and society. Contact 919-660-5622, jwils@soc.duke.edu.
•Shirl J. Hoffman is a professor of sports science in the school of health and human performance at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is the editor of Sport and Religion (Human Kinetics Press, 1992), which reflects a long-standing interest in the topic, and is writing a book about sports and evangelicals. Contact 336-273-4382, sjhoffma@uncg.edu.

IN THE SOUTH
• Robert Higgs is a professor emeritus of English at East Tennessee State University. He is the author of the book God in the Stadium: Sports and Religion in America (University Press of Kentucky, 1995), as well as numerous articles on sports and cultural history. His latest book, written with Michael C. Braswell, a professor of criminology at East Tennessee State, is An Unholy Alliance: The Sacred and Modern Sports (Mercer University Press, 2004). Counter to the prevailing views, the authors argue that recent scandals and abuses in sports show that athletics today are the opposite of divine. Contact Higgs at 423-926-1215, rjhigger@aol.com. Contact Braswell at 423-439-5963, braswell@etsu.edu.
• Donna Bowman is a professor of religious studies at the Honors College of the University of Central Arkansas and has written on the role of sports and faith. At the American Academy of Religion meeting in 2002 she presented a paper titled, "The Sacred Game: Representing Religious Experience in the Baseball Film," that looked at movies from Bull Durham to Field of Dreams and included the Ken Burns documentary of baseball. Contact 501-450-3631, DonnaB@uca.edu.

IN THE MIDWEST
• James A. Mathisen is a professor of sociology at Wheaton College in Illinois and the author of an essay, "American Sport as Folk Religion: Examining a Test of Its Strength" in From Season to Season: Sports as American Religion (Mercer University Press, 2001). He also co-wrote the book Muscular Christianity: Evangelical Protestants and the Development of American Sport (Baker Book House, 1999). Contact 630-752-5059, James.A.Mathisen@wheaton.edu.
• Christopher Thomforde is president of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., which hosted a June 2004 seminar on "Sport and Religion: An Inquiry Into American Cultural Values." A 6-foot 9-inch former Princeton University basketball star, Thomforde spoke about the danger of sports becoming a civil religion unto itself. Contact 507-646-3000, president@stolaf.edu.
• John Rosengren is a Minnesota writer and author of several books about sports and religion. His January 2004 essay in U.S. Catholic magazine, "Let Us Play," examined the relationship of sports to sacramental faith. Rosengren has an article in the January 2005 issue on the downside of Catholic schools' catering to sports. Contact 612-926-8835, johnrosengren@qwest.net.

IN THE SOUTHWEST
• Matt Blackmon is a doctoral student teaching systematic theology at Dallas Theological Seminary and co-author with Kent Berghuis of a paper titled, "Would Jesus Play Texas Hold-Em? Reflections on Religion and the World Poker Tour." Contact in Garland, Texas, at 972-495-7116, blackmon@cs.utk.edu.
• Kirk Wakefield, chairman of the department of marketing at Baylor University in Waco, has expertise in sports ethics and marketing and fan behavior. Contact 254-710-4267, Kirk_Wakefield@baylor.edu.
• Blake Burleson, senior lecturer in sports at Baylor University in Waco, has expertise in sports ethics. Contact 254-710-3940, Blake_Burleson@baylor.edu.

IN THE WEST/NORTHWEST
• Joseph L. Price is a professor in the religious studies department at Whittier College in Whittier, Calif., and editor of From Season to Season: Sports as American Religion (Mercer University Press, 2001), a collection of 14 essays, six of which Price wrote. They include "The Super Bowl as Religious Festival" and "The Final Four as Final Judgment: The Religious and Cultural Significance of the NCAA Basketball Championship." Contact 562-907-4803, jprice@whittier.edu.
• Stephen G. Miller is a classical archaeologist at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of Ancient Greek Athletics (Yale University Press, 2004). He is an expert in the origins of the games and their religious significance. Contact 510-642-5924, sgmnemea@socrates.berkeley.edu.
• John Savant is a professor emeritus at Dominican University of California and author of an essay, "The Saving Grace of Sport: Why we watch & play" in the Sept. 26, 2003, edition of Commonweal, an independent Catholic magazine. Contact ojsavant@yahoo.com.