Sporty Theology

My college (Taylor University College) had an awards ceremony this morning and as coach of the volleyball team I presented awards for MVP, Most Improved, and Sportsmanlike (or should that be sportspersonlike...honestly). To my surprise, I also received an award for Greek studies from Zondervan and a free book of my choosing. Mmmmm...free book...aaghalagha!

One of the guys I took Greek with asked what I was doing in the fall (for a while I had been thinking of going to Trinity Western University to take Biblical Studies). I started telling him about The House idea and he was quite excited. Anyway, we started talking about the whole emphasis on education in evengelical thought. Both of us are quite scholarly minded and value knowledge but there is, what I think to be, a serious flaw in the view that education is a prerequisite for faith, or at the very least the best way to ensure strong faith.

The idea that we must educate people to death in order for them to have a real faith is very short-sighted. It takes away the mystical side of faith and makes our faith a series of lectures or chapters in a textbook. I do agree that deeper knowledge can bring deeper understanding and a fuller faith, but so can connection with nature, community, family, Oreo on Oreo ice cream action, and even athletics. This lead me to think about athletics and competition in general as it relates to Christian life.

Where do athletics fit into our relationship with Christ? It's part of the whole realm of physicality in spirituality and it's an area where western philosophies, including evangelicalism, have little to say and almsot nothing positive to offer. The idea of having a spirituality that includes physicality is one of the things I will enjoy exploring the most at The House.