A Theologian and a Baseball Fan

A Theologian and a Baseball Fan PDF Author: Dan Flanagan
Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
ISBN: 163985746X
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 151

Get Book Here

Book Description
There are a number of baseball players who live out a profound faith. There are also people of faith who love the game of baseball. To find people who understand the nuances of the game of baseball through a framework of theology is unique. A Theologian and a Baseball Fan: What Could Go Wrong? explores aspects of the game of baseball that evoke images from biblical stories and theological themes. Using a theological framework to analyze the game of baseball provides a much more interesting, if not deeper, experience of the game. It is much more than a game from this perspective. It is much more than life. Baseball becomes a reflection of the deepest meaning of life. Both baseball and faith can be described as journeys. The journey of faith begins in the wilderness as we pursue the call of God in our lives. The journey of baseball comes on two levels--one as a player striving to become a major leaguer and two as a fan whose love of baseball may be generational or dream inspired or both. We begin with the journeys of faith and baseball in section 1. Section 2 looks at the social and cultural context of faith and baseball. Both have experienced and initiated social change. Section 3 identifies how baseball and faith deal with rule breakers or sinners. Section 4 shows the relationship between baseball and faith in their unusual personalities and goals of perfection. Section 5 is a potpourri of theological images that can be found in baseball. Finally, any theological discussion requires consideration of sacrament. Maybe surprisingly, there are sacramental images in baseball. On one level, A Theologian and a Baseball Fan: What Could Go Wrong? is an autobiography of Dan Flanagan. He traces how he was first introduced to baseball through his playing days and into his professional involvement in broadcasting, which gave him access to major league baseball in a way he was unable to achieve as a player. His multiple universes of interest come together in this book. His years of biblical teaching is evident. The breadth of his reading adds interest. His years of playing the game provides a flavor of legitimacy of one who knows the game of baseball. A Theologian and a Baseball Fan: What Could Go Wrong? will challenge you and entertain you as a baseball fan and as a person of faith. It will expand your love of both!

A Theologian and a Baseball Fan

A Theologian and a Baseball Fan PDF Author: Dan Flanagan
Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
ISBN: 163985746X
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 151

Get Book Here

Book Description
There are a number of baseball players who live out a profound faith. There are also people of faith who love the game of baseball. To find people who understand the nuances of the game of baseball through a framework of theology is unique. A Theologian and a Baseball Fan: What Could Go Wrong? explores aspects of the game of baseball that evoke images from biblical stories and theological themes. Using a theological framework to analyze the game of baseball provides a much more interesting, if not deeper, experience of the game. It is much more than a game from this perspective. It is much more than life. Baseball becomes a reflection of the deepest meaning of life. Both baseball and faith can be described as journeys. The journey of faith begins in the wilderness as we pursue the call of God in our lives. The journey of baseball comes on two levels--one as a player striving to become a major leaguer and two as a fan whose love of baseball may be generational or dream inspired or both. We begin with the journeys of faith and baseball in section 1. Section 2 looks at the social and cultural context of faith and baseball. Both have experienced and initiated social change. Section 3 identifies how baseball and faith deal with rule breakers or sinners. Section 4 shows the relationship between baseball and faith in their unusual personalities and goals of perfection. Section 5 is a potpourri of theological images that can be found in baseball. Finally, any theological discussion requires consideration of sacrament. Maybe surprisingly, there are sacramental images in baseball. On one level, A Theologian and a Baseball Fan: What Could Go Wrong? is an autobiography of Dan Flanagan. He traces how he was first introduced to baseball through his playing days and into his professional involvement in broadcasting, which gave him access to major league baseball in a way he was unable to achieve as a player. His multiple universes of interest come together in this book. His years of biblical teaching is evident. The breadth of his reading adds interest. His years of playing the game provides a flavor of legitimacy of one who knows the game of baseball. A Theologian and a Baseball Fan: What Could Go Wrong? will challenge you and entertain you as a baseball fan and as a person of faith. It will expand your love of both!

The Kingdom of God Is Like . . . Baseball

The Kingdom of God Is Like . . . Baseball PDF Author: James S. Currie
Publisher: Cascade Books
ISBN: 9781498212427
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Jesus used parables to teach his disciples certain truths about the gospel. The parables employed word pictures, such as of planting seeds and other agricultural images, that were familiar to his listeners. What kind of imagery could be used today to talk about the gospel? Baseball, ""America's pastime,"" might be one source of such familiar images. In this book Currie has attempted to find theological themes and to describe the gospel in the sport of baseball. ""From Jim Currie's superbly assembled community of historical baseball players, baseball aficionados, and biblical parables and characters, God's grace, light, healing, and new life emerge, even to those who may think they have little in common with either baseball or the Bible. Readers will smile, belly laugh, remember struggles and losses, and nod affirmatively, deeply grateful for many new insights received."" -Ted Foote ""Jesus' kingdom parables are few and short, and I long for more. That desire is satisfied in these pages: provocative, enticing, enriching, inviting. Those who love God, baseball, either, or both will find interwoven in this book refreshing gifts from God's kingdom in Currie's love for the game's people and story and his grounding in grace and holy texts. The line between them is shown gloriously blurry, a joyous new parable . . . and home run."" -Howard Reed ""Baseball fan and theologian, Jim Currie, gives us a wonderful look at ways the national pastime embodies themes that form the fabric of Christian faith. Each chapter is filled with delightful baseball lore that brings memories flooding back to baseball fans. But Currie goes on to relate these stories, events, and sentiments to what matters most in life: what Jesus said and did when he talked about the kingdom of God. No fan with faith should miss this book!"" -Donald K. McKim ""James Currie's The Kingdom of God Is Like . . . Baseball is theologically intriguing and fascinatingly written for the Community of Saints. As one who has 'used' baseball as a place to go and mourn, to be 'lost' and, therefore, to be comforted until, on each occasion, I made my way back 'Home, ' I relished each comparison. Centered on the parables of Jesus, each chapter draws the reader in to react, to make choices, to find the 'Holy' in the 'ordinary' Game of Life. We who call ourselves followers of Jesus, get 'Home' when we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear the word of God."" -Ann Weems James S. Currie has been a Presbyterian minister since 1979 and currently serves as pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Pasadena, Texas. He is the author of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary: Completing a Century of Service (2002) and Planting Trees: A History of the Presbyterian Pan American School (forthcoming).

Baseball as a Road to God

Baseball as a Road to God PDF Author: John Sexton
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101609737
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 267

Get Book Here

Book Description
The president of New York University offers a love letter to America’s most beloved sport and a tribute to its underlying spirituality. For more than a decade, John Sexton has taught a wildly popular New York University course about two seemingly very different things: religion and baseball. Yet Sexton argues that one is actually a pathway to the other. Baseball as a Road to God is about touching that something that lies beyond logical understanding. Sexton illuminates the surprisingly large number of mutual concepts shared between baseball and religion: faith, doubt, conversion, miracles, and even sacredness among many others. Structured like a game and filled with riveting accounts of baseball’s most historic moments, Baseball as Road to God will enthrall baseball fans whatever their religious beliefs may be. In thought-provoking, beautifully rendered prose, Sexton elegantly demonstrates that baseball is more than a game, or even a national pastime: It can be a road to enlightenment.

The Faith of Fifty Million

The Faith of Fifty Million PDF Author: Christopher Hodge Evans
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
ISBN: 9780664223052
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 318

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume features essays by religion scholars who analyze the relation of baseball and theology in American culture. Topics include issues of national identity, baseball and civil religion, baseball as a metaphor and more.

The Games People Play

The Games People Play PDF Author: Robert Ellis
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1630873845
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 360

Get Book Here

Book Description
In The Games People Play, Robert Ellis constructs a theology around the global cultural phenomenon of modern sport, paying particular attention to its British and American manifestations. Using historical narrative and social analysis to enter the debate on sport as religion, Ellis shows that modern sport may be said to have taken on some of the functions previously vested in organized religion. Through biblical and theological reflection, he presents a practical theology of sport's appeal and value, with special attention to the theological concept of transcendence. Throughout, he draws on original empirical work with sports participants and spectators. The Games People Play addresses issues often considered problematic in theological discussions of sport such as gender, race, consumerism, and the role of the modern media, as well as problems associated with excessive competition and performance-enhancing substances. As Ellis explains, "Sporting journalists often use religious language in covering sports events. Salvation features in many a headline, and talk of moments of redemption is not uncommon. Perhaps, somewhere beyond the cliched hyperbole, there is some theological truth in all this after all."

Laptop Theologian

Laptop Theologian PDF Author: Rev. Dr. Luonne Abram Rouse
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1503594688
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 147

Get Book Here

Book Description
Laptop Theologian speaks to the spiritual and clinical need in grief recovery. Readings from the 66 books of the Christian Bible are recommended with existential reflections and the Jesus Prayer as sources for healing and guiding persons in grief recovery. In sixty-six days readers may experience restoration to soundness and wholeness on the journey toward healing through various aspects of human loss. Utilizing life experiences, the book provides guidance through the acceptance of death and dying into the assurance of eternal life. Respecting reality of feelings of human loss, readers experience compassion as an ethical choice of care.

Power Up! Diamond

Power Up! Diamond PDF Author: Dave Branon
Publisher: Our Daily Bread Publishing
ISBN: 9781627074186
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
This hard-hitting devotional offers examples from the world of baseball to illustrate biblical principles to help you live your faith like a champion.

The Word Became Culture

The Word Became Culture PDF Author: Miguel H. Díaz
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
ISBN: 1531505821
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 77

Get Book Here

Book Description
Exploring Latin@ theologies and the power of revelation. The Word Became Culture enacts a preferential option for culture, retrieving experiences and expressions from across latinidad as sources of theologizing and acts of resistance to marginalization. Each author in this edited volume demonstrates the many ways in which Latin@ theologies are disruptive, generative, and creative spaces rooted in the richness, struggles, texts, and rituals found at the intersections of faith and culture. With a foreword by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Culture, this book situates Latin@ theologies in the ongoing search for and recognition of the “Word becoming” within the particularities of diverse cultural experiences.

And God Said, Play Ball!

And God Said, Play Ball! PDF Author: Gary Graf
Publisher: Liguori/Triumph
ISBN: 9780764814754
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book manages to be entertaining and educational, as well as fanciful and inspirational. It draws from the lives of Jesus Christ and Yogi Berra, Joseph of Nazareth and Joe DiMaggio, Moses and Hank Aaron, Saint Peter and Jackie Robinson. "And God Said, "Play Ball "" makes the Bible more approachable by relating it to a game loved by both children and adults. It shows that baseball is not only a game, but a never-ending series of lessons about life, as well. "And God Said, "Play Ball "" will appeal to Christian Athletes of any denomination. The author has been a baseball fan for more than forty years and a Catholic a lot longer than that. He has played, coached, watched, or taught baseball since he was seven years old. He is very active in lay ministry and catechetics at his Catholic parish in Seattle, and has found both the Bible and baseball to be among the greatest teachers in his life. This book includes 8 pages of timeless photographs. You won't find a more inspiring gift for that baseball player in your life--of whatever age--or that fan in front of your TV "Paperback" PDF Samples Selected Excerpts Listen to an interview with Gary Graf.

Christianity, Race, and Sport

Christianity, Race, and Sport PDF Author: Jeffrey Scholes
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000380076
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 148

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book provides a rigorously researched introduction to the relationship between Christianity, race, and sport in the United States. Christianity, Race, and Sport examines how Protestant Christianity and race have interacted, often to the detriment of Black bodies, throughout the sporting world over the last century. Important sporting figures and case studies discussed include: the sanctification of baseball player Jackie Robinson; the domestication of Muhammad Ali and George Foreman; religious expressions of athletes in the NFL; treatment of African American tennis player Serena Williams; Colin Kaepernick and his prophetic voice. This accessible and conversational book is essential reading for undergraduate students approaching religion and race or religion and sport for the first time, as well as those working within the sociology of sport, sport studies, history of sport, or philosophy of sport.