In the Hands of God: Theology and the Benefits of American Football

Abstract

This essay investigates the active role of theology in the practice of American football. In particular, it shows how the positive benefits of football are articulated using the language of mainline American theology. In the founding period of football, coaches like Walter Camp and Amos Alonzo Stagg promoted a progressive reformed theological approach to football that shared analysis with the Social Gospel and Muscular Christianity. As the sport was professionalized, coaches like Vince Lombardi used an evangelical theology mixed with a Christian American realism. The essay then critiques these theologies of football from the perspective of Jewish theology.