| Contents |
To everything a season: the peculiar passion surrounding team sports -- It breaks your heart: the Industrial Revolution and the origins of baseball -- A great moral force: the Civil War and the origins of football -- Soul of a nation: the Canadian Confederation and the origins of hockey -- A labyrinth of wanderings: urbanization and the origins of basketball -- Shut up and dribble: from the sanctuary to the stadium. |
| Abstract |
"Randall Balmer was a late convert to sports talk radio, but he quickly became addicted, just like millions of other devoted American sports fans. As a historian of religion, the more he listened, Balmer couldn't help but wonder how the fervor he heard related to religious practice. Houses of worship once railed against Sabbath-busting sports events, but today most willingly accommodate Super Bowl Sunday. On the other hand, basketball's inventor, James Naismith, was an ardent follower of Muscular Christianity and believed the game would help develop religious character. But today those religious roots are largely forgotten. Here one of our most insightful writers on American religion trains his focus on that other great passion - team sports - to reveal their surprising connections"-- Provided by publisher. |
| General note | "A Ferris and Ferris book." |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Issued in other form | ebook version : 9781469670089 |
| Genre/form | History. |
| LCCN | 2022015059 |
| ISBN | 9781469670065 hardcover ; alkaline paper |
| ISBN | 1469670062 hardcover ; alkaline paper |
| ISBN | electronic book |
| ISBN | electronic book |
