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"If God is sovereign, then his lordship must extend over all of life, and it cannot be restricted to the walls of the church or within the Christian orbit." Abraham Kuyper Common Grace 1.1.

Thursday 28 January 2010

A bibliography on a Christian approach to sport



updated 22 Sept 2018.

John Byl and Tom Visker Physical education, sport and wellness. Sioux Center, IA : Dordt College Press, 1999.

Contents: 
  • The Bible and the body: a Biblical perspective on health and physical education / John Cooper
  • The Incarnation and the flesh / Bud Williams
  • Somatospiritual model: a biomechanist looks at the Bible / Brian W. Bergemann
  • Transforming wellness: linking spiritual concepts to personal health / Timothy J. Voss
  • Spirituality and wellness: student perspectives / John Byl
  • Attitudes of member institutions of the Coalition for Christian Colleges and Universities (USA) towards required health and fitness courses in the core curriculum / Allison J. McFarland
  • Developing an aim-centered K-12 physical education program based on Christian tenets / Marvin A. Zuidema
  • Leadership theory as it applies to academic work / Beth A. Easter and Dale E. Gibson
  • Sport education: more necessary than ever / James Timmer, Sr.
  • Intentional integration of scripture into the study of sport sociology / Allison J. McFarland
  • Christian sports and leisure: oxymoron or redundancy? / Carl E. Zylstra
  • We coach "Play the whistle" but what happens when the whistle breaks? / Gregory Gidman and David Turkington
  • Sport ethics via Thoreau / Douglas Hochstetler
  • A reflection on the moral value of interscholastic athletes / Calvin P. Van Reken
  • Pressure to win? But I'm a Christian coach at a Christian college / Karol Hunt
  • Moral reasoning: what is it and how it is best accomplished in the classroom and gymnasium / Sharon K. Stoll
  • The effects of religiosity, education and experience on the moral reasoning levels of NCAA division III male head athletic directors / James R. Timmer, Jr.
  • Senior student's perspectives on physical education and sport / Murray W. Hall
  • Calvinism and Mennonites :a pilot study on SPEPHERDing Christianity and sport in Canada / John Byl
  • A contrast between physical activity in the early church and muscular Christianity: what implications does this have for the 21st century? / Dale E. Campbell.

P Heintzman, G A van Andel and Tom Visker 1994. Christianity and Leisure: Issues in a Pluralistic Society. Sioux Center, IA: Dordt College Press


ContentsSection One: Biblical and historical perspective
  • Work and play: a Biblical perspective / Robert K. Johnston
  • Implications for leisure from a review of the Biblical concepts of Sabbath and rest / Paul Heintzman
  • The Puritan ethic and Christian leisure for today / Leland Ryken

Section Two: Methodological issues
  • Toward a Christian perspective in the leisure sciences / Gordon Spykman
  • Leisure science, dominant paradigms, and philosophy: the expansion of leisure science's horizon / Paul Heintzman

Section Three: Present practices and challenges in leisure
  • Whatever happened to the leisure revolution? / Gordon Dahl
  • Leisure and the New Age movement / Glen E. Van Andel
  • Contemplative leisure within Christian spirituality / Joseph D. Teaff
  • Leisure at L'Arche: communities of faith for persons with developmental disabilities / Cathy O'Keefe
  • Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot / Don DeGraaf

Section Four: Play, sport, and athletics
  • Sport, play, and leisure in the Christian experience / Shirl J. Hoffman
  • Coming to terms with play, game, sport and athletics / John Byl
  • Play, game, and sport in a Reformed, Biblical worldview / Tom Visker
  • Atheletics from a Christian perspective / Marvin A. Zuidema
  • Towards an understanding of 'muscular Christianity': religion, sport, and culture in the modern world / James A. Mathisen
  • Competition in Church sport leagues / Kimberly A. Keller, Gary H. Naylor, and David R. Stirling
  • Christian ethics in North American sport / Murray W. Hall

Section Five: Leisure and culture
  • From the Super Bowl to worship: the roles of story in work and leisure / Quentin J. Schultze
  • From faith to fun: humor as invisible religion / Russell Heddendorf
  • Leisure, drama, and Christianity / Gwen Laurie Wright.

Brian Bolt. 2018. Sport, Faith, Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Calvin Shorts.

Robert Ellis 2014. The Games People Play: Theology, Religion, and Sport. Cambridge: Lutterworth Press.

P Heintzman, G A van Andel Christianity & Leisure II: Issues for the twenty-first century. Sioux Centre, IA: Dordt College Press.

Lincoln Harvey 2014. A Brief Theology of Sport. London: SCM.


Shirl James Hoffman 2010.  Good Game: Christianity and the Culture of Sports. Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press

Robert K. Johnston 1997. The Christian at Play. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Jim Parry, Mark Nesti and  Nick Watson 2013. Theology, Ethics and Transcendence in Sports (Routledge Research in Sport, Culture and Society). London: Routledge.

Clifford Putney 2003. Muscular Christianity: Manhood and Sports in Protestant America, 1880-1920. Harvard: Harvard University Press.
Mark Roques. 2003.  Fields of God: Football and the Kingdom of God  Carlisle: Authentic.

B J van der Walt. 2007. 'Spotlight on sport: a Christian-worldviewish philosophical reflection'. Transforming Power. Potchefstroom: ICCA, ch 13

Tom Visker 2002. Just do it right: the experience of shalom in sport participation. Pro Rege 30:17-21.

Tom Visker 1992-93. Sports participation in a Reformed biblical worldview Christian Educators Journal 32 (Dec 92/ Jan 93): 6-7 and 18-19.

T. L. Visker & S. J. Hoffman.1999  Leisure, Play, Game and Sport in a Christian Perspective Dordt College Press.

Nick J. Watson and Andrew Parker (eds.) 2015. Sports and Christianity: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (Routledge Research in Sport, Culture and Society). London: Routledge.

Nick J. Watson and Andrew Parker. 2014. Sport and the Christian Religion: A Systematic Review of Literature. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press.

D F M Strauss. 2005. Philosophical Perspectives on Leisure, Play and Sport. In: Relativity and relativism: historical and systematic considerations. In: Acta Academica Supplementum. 2005(2):199-231 Journal for Christian Scholarship, Year 40, 4th Quarter (pp.149-168)



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