bleachers. He took another strike and again indicated
his target as Cubs players jeered from the bench. On the
next pitch, he hammered the ball to the deepest part of
the centerfield bleachers, the exact spot he had indicat-
ed. Unlike Casey, the mighty Babe Ruth did not strike
out. (Womack, 2003, p. 150)In this case, Babe Ruth taught a different lesson: he defied
the unsportsmanlike behavior of the opposing team and
demonstrated a form of valor that is undeterred by opposi-
tion. Womack writes, “The same existential conflict that lies
at the heart of religion also gave rise to the sporting contest”
(2003, p. 220). “Sports symbolism,” she states, “usually ex-
presses themes of epic proportions: responsibility to oneself
and others, the moral choice of Right and Wrong, the dilem-
mas of power, and the agony of loss and betrayal. Often, it
is clear that the ‘game’ is life itself, played out in a hazardous
universe” (2003, p. 14).
In a pluralistic society, sport makes mythological themes
accessible to people from many different backgrounds. It is
a fact of modern life that no one religion has a secure hold
on the imagination of its adherents. No matter how strongly
one believes, one knows that others do not believe. This chal-
lenges the absoluteness of one’s faith. The various competing
religions do not provide an overarching symbolic system that
explains ultimate reality, including right and wrong, for all
members of the group. Precisely because it is secularized,
sport provides a symbolic system that unifies rather than di-
vides. It addresses overarching symbolic themes, not specific
theological issues. It deals not with the nature of God, but
with the nature of human beings.
SEE ALSO Ballgames.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bowen, John R. Religions in Practice: An Approach to the Anthro-
pology of Religion. 2d ed. Boston, 2002. Rather than attempt-
ing to develop a unitary definition of religion, Bowen surveys
consistencies and variations in the practice of religion in a va-
riety of contexts.
Durant, John, and Otto Bettman. Pictorial History of American
Sports. Cranbury, N.J., 1952. The authors do not deal specif-
ically with the relationship between sport and religion, but
their richly illustrated book eloquently demonstrates the his-
torical role of sport in American life.
Guttmann, Allen. From Ritual to Record: The Nature of Modern
Sports. New York, 1978. Guttmann notes that sport in what
he calls primitive societies was integral to other activities,
whereas modern sport, with its rules and regulations, is anti-
thetical to spontaneous play.
Harris, H. A. Greek Athletes and Athletics. Bloomington, Ind.,
- Harris provides a comprehensive overview of the four
Greek athletic games—the Olympic, the Pythian, the Isth-
mian, and the Nemean—with particular emphasis on the
events held at each. He also links the athletic contests to the
esteem in which athletes were held, as well as the celebration
of athletic victors in the poetry of Pindar.
Hoffman, Shirl J., ed. Sport and Religion. Champaign, Ill., 1992.
Hoffman has compiled essays dealing with various aspects of
the relationship of religion to sports, including ethics, sport
as ritual, the use of rituals by professional athletes, and such
experiential aspects of sport as runner’s high. Christianity is
the only religion considered in any depth.
Huizinga, Johan. Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in
Culture. Boston, 1950. Huizinga asserts that all cultural
forms arise from play, and from this he deduces that play is
older than culture. He then analyzes play as a “civilizing
function” with respect to law, war, poetry, philosophy, and
art while taking a less positive view of sport, which he consid-
ers antithetical to the spontaneity of play.
Merrill, William L. “God’s Saviours in the Sierra Madre.” Natural
History 93, no. 3 (1983). The Rarámuri (Tarahumara) of
Mexico’s Sierra Madre have adapted the essential message of
Christianity to their own experience of the relationship be-
tween good and evil. Merrill notes that the Rarámuri see
themselves as the protectors of God and his family against
the designs of the Devil and his family. However, the Rará-
muri consider it necessary to placate both God and the Devil.
Morford, Mark P. O., and Robert J. Lenardon. Classical Mytholo-
gy. 4th ed. New York, 1991. The authors include a brief
summary of the importance of the Olympic and Pythian
games for Greek symbolism in their analysis of the complexi-
ties of relationships among the gods of Greece.
Muir, John. Mountaineering Essays. Salt Lake City, Utah, 1980.
Muir describes in religious terms his awe at exploring the
natural wonders of the West.
Scarborough, Vernon L., and David R. Wilcox, eds. The Me-
soamerican Ballgame. Tucson, Ariz., 1991. Scarborough and
Wilcox have compiled a comprehensive analysis of the ritual,
representation, and social context of the Central American
ball game based on the archaeological evidence, ranging from
the American Southwest to Central America.
Schele, Linda, and Mary Ellen Miller. The Blood of Kings: Dynasty
and Ritual in Maya Art. Forth Worth, Tex., and New York,- Schele and Miller conclude that ball games played in
the Maya sphere dramatize the military and religious might
of Mayan rulers, adding that the outcome of the ball game
was prearranged to result in the victory of the ruler and the
sacrifice of his opponent. Thus, the symbolic victory of the
ruler in the ball game dramatized his military victory over his
rival on the battlefield.
Womack, Mari. “Risk and Ritual in Professional Sports.” Paper
presented at the meeting of American Anthropological Asso-
ciation Meeting, Los Angeles, California, 1981. This paper
examines the conditions of risk in professional sports compe-
tition that give rise to uncertainty and anxiety. It concludes
that rites of preparation aid performance in competition by
giving the athlete a sense of control over his surroundings,
which reduces anxiety and allows the athlete to focus on the
game.
Womack, Mari. “Religion and Sport: Sacred and Secular Rituals
of Conflict.” UCLA Center for the Study of Religion, 1991.
This paper defines aspects of contesting in sport that involve
three types of opponents: the opponent in nature, the human
opponent, and the enemy within. Ultimately, sport is closely
allied to religion because the essence of all sport is the contest
against the treacherous aspects of our selves.
Womack, Mari. Sport as Symbol: Images of the Athlete in Art, Liter-
ature, and Song. Jefferson, N.C., 2003. Illustrated through-
8726 SPORTS AND RELIGION