Religion and Sports

with Dr. Cody Musselman

Live Recording: July 8th, 2:30 - 4:00 pm EST

Pay What You Want before July 8

What if sports don’t just resemble religion—but actually shape identity, ritual, politics, and belief in ways that rival religion itself?

From raucous games of lacrosse in pre-Columbian North America to Tim Tebow’s gameday prayers, sports have long been used as instruments of social cohesion and to connect people to their gods.

This lecture will examine the close relationship between religion and sport, with special attention to examples drawn from modern North America.

A popular paradigm, when bringing sport and religion into conversation with each other, is that sport is a religion. Sports can certainly seem religious in the way they create moments of awe and “collective effervescence,” necessitate ritual, have demi-gods and icons, and deep lore. But understanding sports-as-religion is only one way to interpret and understand the significance of sport as a medium of exchange between the overlapping influences of celebrity, national politics, religion, and the economy.

In this lecture we will cover how sports and religion intersect with topics like nationalism, gender, race, sexuality, identity formation, commercialism, mass-media, recreation, and labor. Key concepts from religious studies, like ritual, collective effervescence, theophany, and sacred space will be introduced to analyze key historical movements and organizations, such as muscular Christianity, the YMCA, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the Olympics, and more. Together we’ll delve deeper into questions like: How, where, and when do sports act religiously? What do sports and religion accomplish together that they cannot accomplish alone?

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Course Features

90 min Lecture + Q&A

Searchable Transcript

Additional Resources

Your Instructor

Dr. Cody Musselman

Cody Musselman is an Assistant Professor of American Studies at Notre Dame where she teaches and advises in the Sports, Media, and Culture Program. As a scholar of American religion, her research examines the religious aspects of popular culture, with a special emphasis on health, wellness, and sport. She is currently finishing her first book manuscript, Spiritual Exercises: Fitness and Religion in Modern America, which examines the religion of American fitness culture. She has a Ph.D. in Religion from Yale University and has taught at Harvard, Amherst College, Washington University in St. Louis and Yale.

Your Instructor

Dr. Cody Musselman

Cody Musselman is an Assistant Professor of American Studies at Notre Dame where she teaches and advises in the Sports, Media, and Culture Program. As a scholar of American religion, her research examines the religious aspects of popular culture, with a special emphasis on health, wellness, and sport. She is currently finishing her first book manuscript, Spiritual Exercises: Fitness and Religion in Modern America, which examines the religion of American fitness culture. She has a PhD in religion from Yale University and has taught at Harvard, Amherst College, Washington University in St. Louis and Yale.