Christianity and Sport Articles

Eric Goldbach. “Protestantism–Capitalism–Sport.” JSH. 3,

1977, 285-294.

Introduction

• Goldbach states that the puritans began recreation and sports before capitalism transformed sports into a business as we know it today. The church, back then, encouraged people to recreate and get involved with sports as a way to keep the body in tune with the mind. Since then sports and recreation has fallen into the hands of capitalists and developed it into a business that the church now has to compete with.

• • “The church people are searching for new means to

attract the publics attention to church affairs” Goldbach

Early Church & Reformation

• The early church was never interested in activities for the body, but more it was interested in challenging the mind. There was a huge emphasis on theological and philosophical ideas of that time. They believed that the greatest way of life was in complete devotion to God, like a monk or a friar.

• Luther changed all this with the reformation. He wanted people to work as a service to God.

• “Work of all sorts, be that the governing of a land by a prince, the cleaning of a house by a maid, ... was considered a service rendered to God.” Luther

• Calvin on the other hand introduced the unconditional predestination into the thoughts of the puritans. Some people are saved and some are damned. This was the introduction to self examination.

• “What shall I do, that I may live more perfectly, more watchfully, more fruitfully, before the glorious Lord.” Calvin

• Calvin helped people understand that working was not about impressing God but more about glorifying him. Work became more of a relief and an expression, rather than an anxious time of impression for the puritans. It began the start of the puritan work ethic. Which was work hard at everything you do, don’t let your God given talent go to waste, no matter what the task is.

Protestantism and Capitalism

• There is no direct correlation between Protestantism and capitalism, but more Protestantism merely aided in the success of capitalism. The protestant work ethic worked wonders for the capitalists, it allowed the capitalist to receive the most out of the employee without paying much.

• Max Weber a German Sociologists put it this way, “Protestants helped pave the way for the rise of capitalism”.

• There is not a cause and effect relationship, because if you were to remove the cause the effect would continue on by itself. The cause merely aided the effect.

The Beginning of Sport & Recreation

• The division of the day into three parts was a huge benefit for the rise of sport and recreation. The division was eight hours for sleep, eight hours for work, and eight hours for leisure (eating, cleaning and playing sports).

• Many of the early church writers encouraged recreation and sport in moderation to how much work you did. A sport had to be chosen carefully to suit the individuals needs and talents, if one were to choose sport that was not fitting for their needs it was considered a sin. For to waste ones talents went against the puritan work ethic. Sports were viewed as necessary to give the body strength and to avoid untimely deaths.

• Some of the sports that were recommended were: shooting the bow, wrestling, leaping, running, walking, and fencing.

• “Those who neglect a time of rest and think that they can spend their whole time in labour, foolishly tempt God.” John Downame, Bishop of Chester

Capitalism• There is no direct correlation between the two: Protestantism and

capitalism. Only the protestant work ethic created the atmosphere that was an advantage for the capitalist. They could spend little and gain a lot. It works in the capitalists favour. The division of the work day allowed for the capitalist to use sport as a money making venue It was a business that was booming outside of the regular business hours. So, sport became advantageous to capitalism as well.

• Sport as we know it today is the last exploitation of capitalism. In the work force there is a push for the protection of the employee, cutting the amount of hours of work in a day, and job security, just to name a few. In sports, it is the opposite. There is a demand from the owners to increase the amount of work hours and there is increased injury through physical exertion to the employee (athlete). There is a whirlwind of hiring and firing and now there is fourteen and fifteen year old athletes competing and breaking records. Do the child labour laws not effect sports?

Conclusion• Sports developed before capitalism, and it was not the cause of the

growth of capitalism, but it did help. Still today it is one of the greatest crimes in the labour world today.

• The development of super athletes and athletic heroes who perform in front of millions of people every year, puts smiles on the faces of capitalists and frowns on the faces of the leaders in the church. Sports today has created a new religion, and it is in competition with the religion of the church. This is why churches are searching for new ways to attract people to church. Sport and recreation was once a way to balance your body and mind, but now has become a source of idol worship. It was once promoted by the church and now is looked down upon in many cases.

Peter Wagner. “Puritan Attitudes Towards Physical

Recreation in 17th Century New England.” JSH. 2, 1976, 139-

151.

Colonial Recreation Scene as Portrayed in Most Literature

• ... And when the severe frontier conditions occasionally yielded a small amount of leisure time, the very nature of the colonists’ religion made all kinds of recreation -particularly physical recreation- virtually impossible. For the adherents of the Puritan religion were suspicious of, if not hostile to, sports and recreation: “an ascetic Puritanism taught that pleasure was an offense in the sight of the Lord.” “The Puritan, who held the concept that work and piety were synonymous, denounced any form of play as evil. Whatever was pleasurable was sinful.” Hence one must conclude that in seventeenth century New England “sport grew up...like a flower in a macadam prison yard.”

Wagner’s Criticism of Sport Historians’ Research and Literature

on Puritan Recreation• Most literature portrays Puritans as having

a negative view towards recreation.– Abundant Terminological Vagueness

• No proper definitions given to words like “physical education”, “sport”, “play”, “ recreations”, “amusement”

• What did those terms mean in the17th Century?

• Projecting Modern Terms into Puritan Age– Sport historians make mistake of projecting

terms into an age in which they were not known or held a different meaning than our contemporary meaning.

• Conclusions based on a vague & erroneous basis will not be historically accurate.

• Tendency to adopt judgment of previous authors.– Literature discussing 17th Century recreation is

scarce.– Historians tend to spend little time in research on 17th

Century Puritan recreation. They prefer to study the growing recreational life in the 18th & 19th centuries.

– Most historians adopt and slightly vary views of previous authors, thus further propagating negative view of Puritans.

• Projection of contemporary meaning of “Puritan” into 17th Century– Puritan is often associated with descriptions

like: prohibitive, stern, strict, plain, forbidding, severe.

– Word “Puritan” becomes an “emotional outlet for a prejudiced opinion”.

How did the Negative Criticism of the Puritan Attitude Begin?

• Samuel Peters– Colonial New England man who had to leave

Connecticut in 1774 because of political opinions.– Wrote A General History of Connecticut by a

Gentleman of that Province to “stigmatize the inhabitants of the colony”.

– In his book he added numerous falsified “blue laws” to the true list of New Haven Colony Laws which he claimed had existed.

• History of Peters continued to be read and quoted in following generations.– Historians knew about the biased view of Peters, yet it

continued to be used.

Literature’s Portrayal of Puritan Attitudes Towards Recreation

• Two Contradictory Interpretations:– Majority of Literature:

• Hardships of frontier life and the Puritan doctrine were unfavourable to allowing recreation in society.

– Minority of Literature:• “There is enough evidence to indicate that Puritans

were not opposed to diversion and recreation”.

• World History of Physical Education (Neg. View)– Religious sanction of labour and detestation of

idleness placed play outside the pale of approved social behavior.

– Puritans’ desire to eliminate any activity that was tinctured with Catholicism tended to purge traditional means physical ed.

– Determination to improve morals through spiritual espionage and external discipline eventually accelerated into condemning nearly every natural desire of man.

World History of Education inconsistent with important, highly

regarded Puritan leaders.

• Richard Baxter: – “some sport and recreation is lawful, yea

needful, and therefore a duty to some men.”

• William Burkitt:– “It being impossible for the Mind of Man to be always

intent upon Business, and for the Body to be exercised in continual labours, the Wisdom of God has therefore adjudged some Diversion or Recreation, (The better to fit both Body and Mind for the service of their maker) to be both needful and expedient, such is the Constitution of our Bodies, and the Complexion of our Minds, that neither of them can endure a constant Toyl without some Relaxion and delightful Diversion.

– ...let Religion choose such proper Recreations as are healthful, short, recreative, and proper, to refresh both Mind and Body.

Puritans: For or Against Recreation?

• Evidence Against:– Reverend Michael Wigglesworth complained

about his Harvard students who “sought recreation too much”.

– Numerous citings in history books regarding strict laws indicate Puritan suspicion of religion.

– Sermons and Puritan publications rebuking “erring sheep” and giving evidence of “sinful” diversions and amusements of the church

• Evidence For:– Writings by Baxter, Burkitt, and others that encourage

recreation.– Diaries and travel reports by non-Puritan visitors that

describe recreational activities of Puritans.– Fact that Testimony of Evil Customs mentions

diversions and entertainment at ordinations, weddings, huskings, lecture days, court meetings, etc.

• Pluralistic Aspect of New England Puritan Movement– Few Puritans agreed on all aspects of doctrine– Puritanism is a diverse, complex movement, yet always

described as a unified, unmoving, and unchanging society

Inaccurate Historical View of Puritans?

• Common Puritan authors studied today were in the minority group in their society. – Excellent classical education (7 yrs.

Grammar school & 4 yrs. College.– Devoted leisure time to intellectual recreation

(astronomy, geology, medicine, etc)– Mather - “slighted pastoral functions, visiting

sick, and catechizing the young, in favour of studying and preaching.”

• Spectrum of Attitudes Within Puritans as a Group– Determined by personal religious doctrine and secular

laws.– Bible unquestioned authority, but enough freedom to

take controversial positions:• Physical recreation as a means of staying healthy• Physical recreation allowed only under certain conditions• Physical recreation welcomed as a pleasure-yielding activity

Conclusions

• The Puritan Society was diverse in its attitudes towards recreation. It ranged from Harvard graduates delighting in intellectual “recreation” to clergy and common citizens enjoying bowling, hunting, and card playing.

• Authors/historians needs to have an objective analysis of works by influential Puritan authors. If they pick and choose certain Puritan rules or principles to prove a point, they will be portraying a warped view to the public.

• Exceptional scholars and clergymen such as Mathers and Wigglesworth published extensively and voiced opinions loudly. Historians who focus only on such works will not acquire an accurate historical picture of the Puritans.

• American Sport History needs to reevaluate certain preconceptions of the Puritans.

Nancy Struna. “Puritans and Sport: The irretrievable tide of change.” JSH. 1, 1977, 1-21.

Bill Baker. “Disputed diamonds: The YMCA debate over baseball in the late Nineteenth Century.” JSH.

1992, 3, 257-262.

• In the late 19th century, The YMCA had an influence on sports.

• There were some who deemed baseball the only sport worthy of being called our national “sport”

• It was clean, healthful, invigorating and recreative, both to the player and to the spectator

• However many YMCA people staunchly opposed baseball and freely expressed their opinions– “the diamond became ‘a contested terrain’”

Decades of Debate

• The loudest voice of opposition came from the people who thought that the Y should not promote any kind of competitive athletics.

• 1) Robert J. Roberts believed that youths should never enter competitive sport.

• 2) R.L.Weston believed that the tone of baseball played today is demoralizing – The Y is for working out and working out is hard work. Baseball is

much too fun for muscular Christians

• 3) Sports should add to physical fitness and well-being – Only sports that add to the all-around development of the human

body should be allowed

Reasons why Baseball didn’t Provide Physical Fitness and Well-

Being• Time has transformed it from a game of running

to practically a game of standing; from that of hitting the ball to that of hitting at the ball; from scores of one hundred to scores of nothing.– Overhead pitching- tilting the game in the pitcher’s

favour– “Baseball seemed an exaggeration of the tendency of

competitive athletics to attend to the “contest skills” of the few rather than to the physical well-being of the majority.”

• 4) Baseball went professional in the 19th century– This meant playing for money– Professionalism aims at money and even

sacrifices health and morals to obtain it– Political corruption, social immorality and

demon rum was associated with professional sports

– Professional Baseball created many bad habits in players such as Sabbath playing, betting, drinking and the like

Resolutions

• The YMCA wanted to keep everyone happy while still sticking to their mission statements – While still lauding the gymnasium and the primacy of

healthful indoor exercise, physical directors supervised the formation of teams and leagues and the purchase or lease of athletic fields for outdoor games

– YMCA started assisting municipal governments, churches, industries and schools to organize baseball teams and leagues

John Byl. “Calvinists and Mennonites: A Pilot Study on

Shepherding Christianity and Sport in Canada. In John Byl & Tom

Visker (Eds). Physical Education, Sport, and Wellness: Looking to God as We Look at Ourselves.

Sioux Center: Dordt Press, (1999).

Calvinists & MennonitesA Pilot Study on Shepherding

Christianity and Sport in Canada“Is there a unique Mennonite way

of doing sport?”

METHODCompare two Christian denominational reviews to gain an understanding on the relative attention to

sport and recreation

Journal 1 – Canadian Calvinist, now the Christian Courier serving the Dutch Canadian population

Journal 2 – Mennonite Brethren Herald

Results• In the CC 445 Articles were written while in the

MBH there were just over 200 articles about Sport

“The CC and the MBH both agreed that sport was of value, however, the value it had and the dangers that

came with it, was viewed quite differently.”

The CC’s population thought Sport was an opportunity to display God given talent positively

What is the Purpose of Sport?

The MBH saw sport as an opportunity for evangelism.

However, both groups did have reservations towards Sport

• CC’s were scared that sport would begin to be played on Sunday and distract people from worship

• MBH’s main concern was with violence in sport and objections to the idolatry found within professional sport

• “Professional Sport is a business that turns a few people into Gods and the rest into drooling worshippers which is hardly a thing to be addressed without judgment and warning.”

Competition - “The CC community wanted to work

within the world where the MBH wanted to save people from it.”

Recreation- MBH had twice the number of articles as the CC had about Recreation

- CC’s thought recreation was a chance to “meet God outdoors and know him a little better”

So Where is Each Focus?

Christian Courier: Sport Recreation Mennonite Brethren: Recreation Sport