The Faith of Fifty Million

by Evans, Christopher Hodge; Herzog, William R.

• ISBN13: 9780664223052
• ISBN10: 0664223052
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-02-01
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Pr

Summary

The Faith of 50 Millionfeatures essays by religion scholars who analyze the relationship between baseball and theology in American culture. Topics include the sense of national identity, baseball and civil religion, "saints and sinners," baseball and the American Dream with regard to racial integration, women and baseball, baseball as metaphor, and baseball as spiritual autobiography. Readers will love this fascinating intersection of baseball, race, American civil religion, and contemporary sports culture.

Table of Contents

Foreword	xiii
Stanley Hauerwas
Acknowledgments	xix
Introduction: More than a Game: The Faith of Fifty Million	1	(12)
Christopher H. Evans
William R. Herzog II
PART I: BASEBALL AND AMERICAN RELIGION: THE THEOLOGICAL QUEST FOR A NATIONAL IDENTITY
Baseball as Civil Religion: The Genesis of an American Creation Story	13	(22)
Christopher H. Evans
The Kingdom of Baseball in America: The Chronicle of an American Theology	35	(16)
Christopher H. Evans
PART II: SAINTS AND SINNERS
``Matty'' and ``Ol' Peter'': Divergent American Heroes	51	(32)
Donald K. McKim
The World of Spirit or the World of Sport? Figuring the Numbers in Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea	83	(14)
C. Harold Hurley
From Scapegoat to Icon: The Strange Journey of Shoeless Joe Jackson	97	(48)
William R. Herzog II
PART III: BASEBALL AND THE SEARCH FOR ``THE AMERICAN DREAM''
Baseball's Surprising Moral Example: Branch Rickey, Jackie Robinson, and the Racial Integration of America	145	(22)
Fred Glennon
A Diamond Is Forever? Women, Baseball, and a Pitch for a Radically Inclusive Community	167	(20)
Eleanor J. Stebner
Tracy J. Trothen
PART IV: THE LURE OF THE ELYSIAN FIELDS
The Coming of Elijah: Baseball as Metaphor	187	(28)
William R. Herzog II
Baseball: A Spiritual Reminiscence
Tex Sample	205	(10)
Conclusion: The Faith of Fifty Million: A Kingdom on Earth?	215	(8)
Christopher H. Evans
William R. Herzog II
Endnotes	223	(34)
Selected Bibliography	257	(6)
Contributors	263	(2)
Permissions Acknowledgments	265	(2)
Index of Names	267	(4)
Index of Subjects	271