The controversy over athletes kneeling during the national anthem reveals America's unholy trinity of patriotism, militarism, and sports.
american football
In Concussion, Dr. Bennet Omalu is a Nigerian immigrant and an outsider. This status is complicated by competing ideas of what America is.
Touchdowns for Jesus and Other Signs of Apocalypse, by Marcia W. Mount Shoop
Grantland Rice compared the Notre Dame backfield to the four horsemen. Marcia Mount Shoop realigns football with apocalyptic thought—and makes a theological critique of the sport's systemic dysfunction.
(RNS) Too often, it can be easy to assume that some issues are less prevalent in the church. We forget that, as a collective of individuals shaped by the culture at large, sin is indiscriminate in whom it touches. Many church leaders do not realize that all evils are present in their congregations, especially sins that carry a heavy culture of silence. A new LifeWay Research poll shows that 74 percent of pastors misjudge the prevalence of sexual and domestic violence within their congregations.
The NFL gambled on fans’ willingness to endure the replacement refs. It was wrong—a good development for whatever ethical margin a football fan might claim.
A sociologist might see in football a society's need to control and ritualize violence. The church fathers, however, weren't much for sociologists.