Good Game

Wonderful! This is an amazing achievement, blending sociological expertise, theological savvy, and profound spiritual sensitivities.

~Richard J. Mouw, President and Professor of Christian Philosophy, Fuller Theological Seminary

This should be required reading for every thoughtful Christian.

~Robert K. Johnston, author of The Christian at Play

Remarkable in its scope, ranging from early Roman Imperial games to contemporary athletic contests of every kind, this volume provides a powerful examination of the relationship between sport and Christianity.

~Bryan Stone, E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelicalism, Boston University School of Theology

Tom Krattenmaker’s recent Onward Christian Athletes (2009) explored the efforts of the Christian Right to join evangelical Christianity with professional sports. Here Hoffman takes a slightly different approach to what is essentially the same subject, tackling the relationship between faith and sports from a more ideological perspective. He suggests that while evangelical Christian groups are forging connections with sports (because sports is a high-profile platform), they really don’t understand the nature of sports. He explores the fundamental paradox of joining sports (which encourages and celebrates success) to religion (which "consistently stresses the importance of losing"). The essential problem, he says, is that, in harnessing itself to sports, the Christian community doesn’t really have a clear sense of its goal or a coherent plan to achieve it. As a result, sport is becoming, in many ways, a mockery of Christianity, a superficial set of rites and behaviors with no spiritual or philosophical foundation. Many readers may disagree with the author’s thesis, but even they will agree that he supports it abundantly and argues it well.

~Booklist Magazine

The breadth of [Hoffman's] knowledge of the history of sport, especially in its relationship to religion, and his keen insights into what it might mean to think Christianly about sports contribute to a readable and impassioned plea for more careful and more spiritual reflection about what sports have come to mean for us and our world.

~Journal for the Sociological Integration of Religion and Society

[ Good Game] will open your eyes to ideas and knowledge that may have never crossed your mind.

~Hard Music Magazine