God in the Stadium: Sports and Religion in America

by Higgs, Robert J.

• ISBN13: 9780813108537
• ISBN10: 0813108535
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-11-02
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Kentucky

Summary

From the worship of Michael Jordan to the downfall of O.J. Simpson, it has become clear that sports and sports heroes have assumed a role in American society far out of proportion to their traditional value. In this powerful critique of present-day American popular culture, Robert J. Higgs examines the complex and increasingly pervasive control that sports wield in shaping the national self-image. He provides a thoughtful history and analysis of the ways sports and religion have become intertwined and offers a stringent indictment of the sports-religion-media-education complex.

Author Biography

Robert J. Higgs is professor emeritus of English at East Tennessee State University.

Table of Contents

Preface
From Sabbath Bans to Super Sunday	p. 1
The Old Knight in the New World	p. 22
Revolutionary Heroes and Fighting Parsons	p. 36
The Acrobatic Christianity of the Early Frontier	p. 53
The Soul of American Knighthood	p. 73
The Consecration of College Sports	p. 100
Manliness Moves West	p. 120
Playful Alternatives	p. 145
Sportianity versus Mountainity	p. 167
Builders of Character and the YMCA	p. 189
Cloning West Point on the American Campus	p. 208
Symbols of the Union of Caesar and Christ	p. 229
Power in the Sweat	p. 246
Field Generals of the Crusade	p. 262
Power in the Tube	p. 286
The Knight and the Shepherd	p. 309
Works Cited	p. 334
Index	p. 359
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