{"title":"Annie Blazer","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"playing-for-god-book-annie-blazer-9781479818136","title":"Playing for God","description":"When sports ministry first emerged in the 1950s and 1960s, its founders imagined male celebrity athletes as powerful salespeople who could deliver a message of Christian strength: \"If athletes can endorse shaving cream, razor blades, and cigarettes, surely they can endorse the Lord, too,\" reasoned Fellowship of Christian Athletes founder Don McClanen. But combining evangelicalism and sport did much more than serve as an advertisement for religion: it gave athletes the opportunity to think about the embodied experiences of sport as a way to experience intimate connection with the divine. As sports ministry developed, it focused on individual religious experiences and downplayed celebrity sales power, opening the door for female Christian athletes to join and eventually dominate sports ministry. Today, women are the majority of participants in sports ministry in the United States.       In Playing for God, Annie Blazer offers an exploration of the history and religious lives of Christian athletes, showing that evangelical engagement with popular culture can carry unintended consequences. When sport became an avenue for embodied worship, it forced a reckoning with evangelical teachings about the body. Female Christian athletes increasingly turned to their own bodies to understand their religious identity, and in so doing, came to question evangelical mainstays on gender and sexuality. What was once a male-dominated masculinist project of sports engagement became a female-dominated movement that challenged evangelical ideas on femininity, marriage hierarchy, and the sinfulness of homosexuality. Though evangelicalism has not changed sporting culture, for those involved in sports ministry, sport has changed evangelicalism.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50377265021201,"sku":"CIN1479818135G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52138163568913,"sku":"NLS9781479818136","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1479818135.jpg?v=1751405509"},{"product_id":"american-culture-through-religion-and-sport-book-annie-blazer-9781350197077","title":"American Culture through Religion and Sport","description":"This book shows how both sports and religions reflect realities far beyond the boundaries of stadiums and churches. Chapters explore how sports and religions are intertwined with American cultural elements including capitalism, race relations, gender norms, and ­­­­­nationalism. These explorations encourage readers to apply critical inquiry to deeply embedded facets of American culture.  Each chapter contains:  - A summary of existing scholarship - Case studies and examples - A brief excerpt from a primary source - Guided analysis of the excerpt - Discussion questions - Suggested further resources  Drawing out the historical context, social and cultural implications of sports and religion, and the inter-relatedness of sports, religions, economy and politics, this book is an innovative introduction to American culture and society.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":52101101093137,"sku":"NGR9781350197077","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53158765756689,"sku":"NLS9781350197077","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781350197077.jpg?v=1764239494"},{"product_id":"american-culture-through-religion-and-sport-book-annie-blazer-9781350197084","title":"American Culture through Religion and Sport","description":"This book shows how both sports and religions reflect realities far beyond the boundaries of stadiums and churches. Chapters explore how sports and religions are intertwined with American cultural elements including capitalism, race relations, gender norms, and ­­­­­nationalism. These explorations encourage readers to apply critical inquiry to deeply embedded facets of American culture.  Each chapter contains:  - A summary of existing scholarship - Case studies and examples - A brief excerpt from a primary source - Guided analysis of the excerpt - Discussion questions - Suggested further resources  Drawing out the historical context, social and cultural implications of sports and religion, and the inter-relatedness of sports, religions, economy and politics, this book is an innovative introduction to American culture and society.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":52101150048529,"sku":"NGR9781350197084","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781350197084.jpg?v=1770287716"},{"product_id":"playing-for-god-book-annie-blazer-9781479898015","title":"Playing for God","description":"When sports ministry first emerged in the 1950s and 1960s, its founders imagined male celebrity athletes as powerful salespeople who could deliver a message of Christian strength: \"If athletes can endorse shaving cream, razor blades, and cigarettes, surely they can endorse the Lord, too,\" reasoned Fellowship of Christian Athletes founder Don McClanen. But combining evangelicalism and sport did much more than serve as an advertisement for religion: it gave athletes the opportunity to think about the embodied experiences of sport as a way to experience intimate connection with the divine. As sports ministry developed, it focused on individual religious experiences and downplayed celebrity sales power, opening the door for female Christian athletes to join and eventually dominate sports ministry. Today, women are the majority of participants in sports ministry in the United States.       In Playing for God, Annie Blazer offers an exploration of the history and religious lives of Christian athletes, showing that evangelical engagement with popular culture can carry unintended consequences. When sport became an avenue for embodied worship, it forced a reckoning with evangelical teachings about the body. Female Christian athletes increasingly turned to their own bodies to understand their religious identity, and in so doing, came to question evangelical mainstays on gender and sexuality. What was once a male-dominated masculinist project of sports engagement became a female-dominated movement that challenged evangelical ideas on femininity, marriage hierarchy, and the sinfulness of homosexuality. Though evangelicalism has not changed sporting culture, for those involved in sports ministry, sport has changed evangelicalism.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52138169237777,"sku":"NLS9781479898015","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781479898015.jpg?v=1757561220"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-annie-blazer.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}