Includes bibliographical references (pages 305-307) and index.
Contents:
Introduction: Religion, art, politics, war, and sports -- Sports, athletic heroes, and God in the shaping of Israelite history -- From war games to funerary games in epic Greek poetry: warrior-athletes in the Iliad -- The epic continuum: from Odysseus to Aeneas -- From lyric to tragic to comic: Pindar's heroic athletes and their poetic successors -- Gladiatorial contests from the pagan era to the early Christian era -- Sports and war in medieval Christendom: from jousting to crusading for God -- Sports and spirituality from the ancient Near East to the Far East and back -- Religion and sports within and beyond the Muslim world-- Jews in sports from Nahmanides in Barcelona to Mendoza in England -- Sports and Judaism since emancipation -- America from the Maya to the birth of "the national pastime" -- Twentieth-century American sports and its intersection among immigration, religion, and race -- God on the gridiron and elsewhere: from locker room to finish line -- Epilogues: Sports, religion, and politics: from old visual art to new stars of the pulpit and screen.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.