Violence, Sports, & Gospel Redux
Last week’s conversation about Ultimate Fighting and the gospel came as an interesting prelude to a few other things that went down this weekend: (1) I got to Christianity Today’s February cover story, “Sports Fanatics: How Christians have succumbed to the sports culture–and what might be done about it“; (2) this was, of course, Super Bowl weekend; and (3) we just finished season 7 of 24 on DVD.
The article, by Shirl James Hoffman, raises all the right questions. In short: have Christians been baptized into the narrative of sports culture rather than critically assessing where it might stand in need of redemption?
Aside: last week I talked about “baptizing” something that I perceived as sub-Christian [Constantinain "Christian" rule] and someone asked, perceptively, whether we aren’t, in fact, called to baptize things that are outside so as to bring them in. I think there’s something to that. But as commonly used, “baptizing” something means “embracing” it rather than “redeeming” it. When we say that something has been “baptized”, I think that what we’re really saying, often, is that it has baptized us. Baptism is to be about being written into the story of God’s work in Christ, but we use the phrase when Christ’s name is written on the byeline of someone else’s story.
So, yes, we should be “baptizing” sports culture, business culture, art culture but that would mean redeeming it, rereading it, transforming it in light of the narrative that we know to be ultimately true of the world [God's self-giving love in Christ] rather than simply inserting “For God’s glory” into the extant narratives of each.
Ok, so the aside took up a whole post. Sorry about that. Next time: what sorts of questions does Hoffman raise about sports that we might need to think more seriously about if we’re to baptize sports culture rather than be baptized by it?
“Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” (on NPR) had a bit poking fun at “Christian” MMR this weekend. Although it was used as a punchline, the fact that it “grossly misrepresents the teachings of Christ” (I’m trying to quote from memory, but forgive me if I got the words wrong) was highlighted.
Daniel,
A quick thought as I take a brief breather from dissertation writing…I agree with your main point very much. I wish to raise another question:
Could it be that “baptizing” in the sense of redeeming/transforming something from culture simply cannot be done with some things? Take Ultimate Fighting for example. I don’t see how this can be redeemed, or be redeemed and remain what it is. In that sense, then, it must simply be done away with for the Christian, and left behind as part of the old life.
Redeeming things in the way that God has redeemed in Christ involves doing away with the old and bringing new creation into existence (or at least beginning this process–already but not yet). I think you would agree with this generally (or perhaps not!). I think (at this point, at least) that with some things in culture this baptism of redeeming/transforming cannot be done; only the people can be redeemed and as new creations walk away from those old and dead/dying elements of culture. I sometimes use a silly analogy with my students: the good news of Jesus Christ is not different or new jelly to fill into an old donut, but an entirely new donut.
Kyle
Just for myself, I have been growing slowly more apathetic towards professional/collegiate sports and slowly more concerned about the time and effort and money Christians spend on them. To some extent my critique of the idea of music in our culture applies to sports: it has become something way pay other people to do for us rather than doing it ourselves, to our own harm.