Sport and Religion in the Twenty-First Century

Brad Schultz is professor of journalism at the University of Mississippi. Mary Lou Sheffer is associate professor in the School of Mass Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Chapter 1: Who’s Got Game?: America’s New Religion
Mary Lou Sheffer

Chapter 2:From Sunday Sermon to Monday Night Football:
The Rise of the Use of Prayer in North American Sports
Alan Goldenbach

Chapter 3:Elegy for the McPheean Moment: False Idols and the
Tyrannical Faith of Celebrity-Sports Culture
Jeffrey B. Kurtz

Chapter 4:Biblical Tales in the Sports News: Narrative and the
Redemption of Michael Vick
Chris B. Geyerman

Chapter 5:An Olympic Religion: Does the IOC Still Have Faith
in the Olympic Games?
Anthony J. Moretti

Chapter 6:“Be Not Conformed”: The Relationship Between Modern Sport and Religion
Brad Schultz


Chapter 7: A Useable Soccer Martyr: The Egyptian Ultras and their Fight for
Legitimacy
Natalia Mielczarek

Chapter 8: Celebrating in a Cemetery: Sport, the Sacred, and a
Search for Significance in Fan Communities
Bruce J. Evensen

Chapter 9: Southern Reconstructing: Sport and the Future of
Religion in the American South
Eric Bain-Selbo and Terry Shoemaker

Chapter 10: Exercising the Spiritual Muscle: Holistic Care Service
Provision in Intercollegiate Athletics
Landon T. Huffman, Robin Hardin, and Steven N. Waller

Chapter 11:Are Sports Programs at Small Church-Affiliated Colleges
and Universities Really Different?
Patrick J. Sutherland

Chapter 12: “Our Hope is Built on Nothing Less”: Why Religion/Spirituality
Matters in the Lives of Black Male College Athletes
Steven N. Waller