God The Goal Posts

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

One football player crossing the goal line with the ball in hand, bends on one knee, crosses himself and looks heavenward, thanking God; a second, having dropped what would have been the winning touchdown pass, tweets angrily the next day: "I praise you 24/7 and you do me this?!?!" Sports and religion repeatedly interweave each other in a range of ways. But this is not new--it goes all the way back to the Bible and the Iliad, and the interwoven relationship has cascaded down through history. Moreover, sports has always been a surrogate for war, and war has been dictated by politics--which has often justified itself through religion. And one way we see this clearly is in visual art, across history and geography. This course will consider the dynamic and fascinating interweave between sports and religion through history, together with the more complex ways in which these two disciplines are interwoven with war, politics and art. It should be an exciting ride, with plenty of twists and turns.