This week I was a guest on the Gospelbound podcast, hosted by Collin Hansen.

It’s one of my favorite podcast conversations so far. We got to dive into my book and touch on all sorts of topics related to sports and Christianity: the culture wars, the creation of sports ministry, the influence of Barstool Sports, the Christian athlete GOAT, racial reconciliation, and much more.

During our conversation, Collin asked two questions that I’d like to highlight here.

First, he asked if the study of sports and Christianity is growing as an academic field. Second, he shared his own experience in Christian media and publishing. Christians seem to love watching sports, he said, but they are less interested in deeper reflection about sports. He asked if I saw that trend too, and why that might be the case.

Check out the episode to hear my full response. What I didn’t share in the moment is that I think the two questions are related.

When I started my doctoral program in history twelve years ago, there was a stigma around studying sports. It was fine as a passion project, the sort of thing you did with your second book, after you got tenure. But it wasn't “serious” enough for academics, certainly not for those looking to establish their credentials.

Of course, there were pioneering scholars who paved the way for people like me: Shirl Hoffman, James Mathisen, Clifford Putney, Joseph Price, William Baker, and others. But they were exceptions to the norm, operating in a variety of academic disciplines that did not always intersect (kinesiology, sociology, history, religious studies, theology).

Over the last decade, acceptance and interest has grown. Major academic publishers are more open to books on sports and Christianity, from Annie Blazer’s Playing for God: Evangelical Women and the Unintended Consequences of Sports Ministry (NYU Press) to Randall Balmer’s Passion Plays: How Religion Shaped Sports in North America (University of North Carolina Press) to my own book with Oxford University Press. There are a variety of reasons for this—perhaps I’ll get into them in a future post. But the main point is that, although no area of higher education is thriving right now, the study of sports and Christianity has increasingly become a legitimate subject of inquiry.

And that brings me to the second question. As the conversation about sports and Christianity has expanded in academic circles, editors and writers at Christian publications have grown intrigued as well. But, as Collin noted, interest from the intellectual class does not automatically translate to interest from ordinary Christian readers. Those readers might love sports and love Jesus, but they don’t necessarily want to read the articles or buy the books that encourage deeper reflection on those subjects.

Why is this?

For one, much of the intellectual work on sports and Christianity is not written for people outside of those intellectual spaces. It prioritizes theory over practice. It’s critical more than constructive. It’s detached more than engaged. It often requires familiarity with the tools and texts of advanced graduate studies, creating a higher bar of entry into the conversation. It’s also a conversation about sports among people who are not usually participants within sports.

To be clear, we need scholars doing their thing, ideally from a variety of perspectives and from the distance needed to honestly and critically evaluate sports as a cultural practice. But we should not expect that Christian sports fans and practitioners are automatically going to find scholarly work helpful, meaningful, or worth engaging simply because it’s about a thing that they love. If we want scholarship and theological reflection to connect with practice, we need people inside and outside the academy to work together to cultivate spaces for shared conversation and collaboration.

Here's the good news: I think we are seeing signs that this sort of work is happening, and that Christians are growing more interested in deeper reflection about sports. I see this in my role leading the Faith & Sports Institute, where I get to regularly connect with people like:

• Sports ministry leaders who are seeking out and developing stronger and more robust theological resources for their work.

• Athletic directors and coaches at Christian high schools and colleges who are drawing on research to implement comprehensive approaches to faith and sports integration.

• Parents with kids in youth sports who are seeking guidance on how to lead and disciple their kids well.

The response to my book is another example. Although it was written with the tools and methods of academic history, what stands out to me the most are the positive reactions I’ve received from non-academic readers, especially sports ministry leaders.

It’s true that continued challenges remain. There is plenty of scholarship that isn’t helpful at all for sports fans and practitioners, and there are strong incentives within the sports industry that keep Christians from asking hard questions or engaging in introspection. But I see lots of opportunities ahead for Christians who love and care about sports, and who also want to analyze and reflect on how best to integrate athletics with faithful Christian perspectives and practice.

If you are in that category, two events this summer can help you get more involved. From June 8-10, Baylor’s Center for School Leadership is collaborating with the Faith & Sports Institute to host a gathering for Christian coaches and ADs. Baylor Athletics will be participating as well, with several panels featuring coaches and staff. The goal is to bring together Christians who are pursuing high-level competitive excellence and authentic faith formation, and to discuss challenges and possibilities in that work. Get more details here.

Then from July 31 – August 2, the Faith & Sports Institute is hosting the 4^th Global Congress on Sport and Christianity. Held every three years since 2016, the Global Congress has helped to galvanize growth in both the academic study of sports and Christianity and also deeper reflection from Christian practitioners. Check out Sport.Faith.Life. to learn more and stay connected to the Global Congress movement, and visit the conference website to get information about the gathering this summer.

I’ll be at both events, and so will other leaders who will be sharing their experience, expertise, and wisdom. If you want to think more deeply about the connections between sports and Christianity—and help others do the same—I’d love to see you this summer.

Let’s keep the conversation going!

Want to get a glimpse of the people you’ll get to connect with at the Global Congress? Here’s a selection of books authored by speakers and participants: