Introduction: A Grandstand View at the Cotswold Olimpicks 1 Reaching for the Heavens: A (Very) Brief History of Religion and Sport Sacred Sport? "Keeping Company with the Devil"? Conversion to Sport? Conclusion 2 A Question of Sport: Sport in Contemporary Society Sport and Business Sport and the Media Sport and Consumerism Sport and Gender Sport and Ethnicity Sport and Politics Conclusion 3 1851 and All That: Losing My Religion? Sundays: "the Lord's day" or "a day at Lord's"? Religion and Sport in the UK: What the Numbers Tell Us American Exceptionalism: Sport and Religion Sport and the Functions of Religion Conclusion 4 Play and Sport: Initial Theological Explorations Defining "Play" and "Sport" Sport in the Bible? Paul's Sporting Imagery God the Creator: Deus Ludens and the Game of Love Playful Wisdom: Proverbs, the Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes Sabbaths and Festivals: Playful Rest Play, "Signal of Transcendence" The End of Play 5 "A Matter of Life and Death"? Playing and Winning Why Play Sport? What the Players Say Why Play Sport? Sociocultural Factors Why Play Sport? Sport and "Religious Experience" Why Winning Matters Abusing Ourselves to Win: Competition's Dark Side? Deus Ludens, Deus Victor: God the Winner 6 "To Boldly Go": Sport as Divine Encounter? Imago Dei: Further Thoughts Transcendence and the Transcendent Vicarious Sport Sin and Salvation in Sport? Conclusion: "The Theology Behind All Cultural Expressions" Highlights Some Loose Ends Concluding Observations on a Practical Theology of Sport Bibliography Name and Subject Index Scripture Index

"Ellis convincingly argues that humans at play reach outward and upward, signifying and participating in God toward our playful destiny. Ellis moves deftly between historical considerations of sports and thick descriptions of sport practitioner and spectator motivations, attitudes, and experiences; analysis of theological themes (sin and salvation); and contemporary social, moral, economic, and political matters which Christians must examine as citizens whose loyalty is ultimately to God's will and way on earth as it is in heaven." John B. White, George W. Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University, Waco, TX "The way Ellis takes concepts based on play, salvation, and sin . . . and applies them to sport, arguing that participation in sport can be seen as a participation in God's playful creativity, is groundbreaking." J. Stuart Weir, Verite Sport, Oxford, UK "Ellis masterfully weaves a thread through the church's inconstant history with sport, dissects sport as a modern cultural phenomenon, and armed with a prodigious arsenal of evidence, dares to ask whether the transcendent moments of sport might actually be experiences of God. A must-read for anyone hoping to understand how sport fits within the Christian tradition." Shirl James Hoffman, Kinesiology Today, American Kinesiology Association "...for those seeking a diversely informed, positive account of sport's social and theological value, this book should be considered an important contribution." -Kevin Hargaden, Theology 118.6 2015 "This informative and thought-provoking work has contributed to qualitative research in the field with a small but significant study of opinions of amateur sportsmen and -women, and could be developed further. It is of interest to those studying the relation of religion and sport in UK and USA, and those concerned with the theology of sport." -Danielle A. Lynch, Theological Book Review, Vol. 26 No. 2, 2016