Spirit and Sport: Religion and the Fragile Athletic Body in Popular Culture

In Spirit and Sport: Religion and the Fragile Athletic Body in Popular Culture, Sean ONeil studies the intersectionality of religion and disability as it exists within contemporary sports. To do so, he calls to the forefront various contemporary stories about trauma and disabilitysome fictional, others biographicaland examines how we tell and interpret these stories within the frameworks of athletic activity, competition, failure, and success. ONeil studies a wide range of perspectives, from John Irvings A Prayer for Owen Meany and the big-screens Signs to the experiences of real-life athletes like Tim Tebow, Muhammad Ali, and Bethany Hamilton. Woven throughout his examination of each is a consideration of religious belief and practice, especially within Christianity, as it relates to athletic abilitythe lighthearted stories of victory and overcoming, the inspiring triumph over fragility and limitation so often couched in religious terms.

ONeils study draws upon his experiences as a hospital chaplain and his own battle with skin cancer. By blending personal experience with sociological observation, ONeil argues that the intersection of religion, sports, and disability in popular culture is a revealing site of cultural struggle over competing myths, identities, and values related to the bodyboth the physical bodies we inhabit as well as the broader social bodies to which we subscribe.

Spirit and Sport is a study with broad appeal: from ONeils autoethnographic storytelling to the wide range of narrative media he examines, religious scholars, sports historians, and general audiences alike are sure to find it a thought-provoking and engaging read.