Annie Blazer – författare

The sports world’s attention was focused on Japan for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. The years-long buildup to and aftermath of the games occurred in the midst of the global pandemic, which delayed the event until 2021. Given all of this, there is perhaps no better time to delve into an often overlooked but critical facet of sport in Japan—namely religion.Religion has long been a part of the Japanese sport tradition—from Shugendō practitioners offering sumo bouts to the gods to soccer players of all ages praying for success at Shintō shrines; from the use of meditation and ritual in martial arts to gain focus or superhuman abilities to religious organizations sponsoring sporting events and teams and school sports clubs. Religion and Sport in Japan brings together historians and sport and religious studies specialists from Japan, the US, and Europe to address sport’s ties to corporate and national identity, politics, environmentalism, ritual, and sacred space. Major themes discussed include the spiritual geographies of sport, sport as invented tradition, technologies of self, material culture, and civil religion. The chapters are written so that sport historians with no background in the study of Japan or religious studies scholars who have never before examined the world of sport will find the material accessible. To provide further grounding for non-field specialists, the volume begins with two background chapters that introduce sport studies in Japan and the study of religion and sport.

This book shows how both sports and religions reflect realities far beyond the boundaries of stadiums and churches. Chapters explore how sports and religions are intertwined with American cultural elements including capitalism, race relations, gender norms, and ­­­­­nationalism. These explorations encourage readers to apply critical inquiry to deeply embedded facets of American culture.Each chapter contains:- A summary of existing scholarship- Case studies and examples- A brief excerpt from a primary source- Guided analysis of the excerpt- Discussion questions- Suggested further resourcesDrawing out the historical context, social and cultural implications of sports and religion, and the inter-relatedness of sports, religions, economy and politics, this book is an innovative introduction to American culture and society.

This book shows how both sports and religions reflect realities far beyond the boundaries of stadiums and churches. Chapters explore how sports and religions are intertwined with American cultural elements including capitalism, race relations, gender norms, and ­­­­­nationalism. These explorations encourage readers to apply critical inquiry to deeply embedded facets of American culture.Each chapter contains:- A summary of existing scholarship- Case studies and examples- A brief excerpt from a primary source- Guided analysis of the excerpt- Discussion questions- Suggested further resourcesDrawing out the historical context, social and cultural implications of sports and religion, and the inter-relatedness of sports, religions, economy and politics, this book is an innovative introduction to American culture and society.

When sports ministry first emerged in the 1950s and 1960s, its founders imagined male celebrity athletes as powerful salespeople who could deliver a message of Christian strength: "If athletes can endorse shaving cream, razor blades, and cigarettes, surely they can endorse the Lord, too," reasoned Fellowship of Christian Athletes founder Don McClanen. But combining evangelicalism and sport did much more than serve as an advertisement for religion: it gave athletes the opportunity to think about the embodied experiences of sport as a way to experience intimate connection with the divine. As sports ministry developed, it focused on individual religious experiences and downplayed celebrity sales power, opening the door for female Christian athletes to join and eventually dominate sports ministry. Today, women are the majority of participants in sports ministry in the United States. In Playing for God, Annie Blazer offers an exploration of the history and religious lives of Christian athletes, showing that evangelical engagement with popular culture can carry unintended consequences. When sport became an avenue for embodied worship, it forced a reckoning with evangelical teachings about the body. Female Christian athletes increasingly turned to their own bodies to understand their religious identity, and in so doing, came to question evangelical mainstays on gender and sexuality. What was once a male-dominated masculinist project of sports engagement became a female-dominated movement that challenged evangelical ideas on femininity, marriage hierarchy, and the sinfulness of homosexuality. Though evangelicalism has not changed sporting culture, for those involved in sports ministry, sport has changed evangelicalism.