READING REPORT

9 Gospel-shaped sports chaplaincy A theologically driven sport ministry

John B. White

Introduction

Christian sports chaplains undertake pastoral care as specialists in public con- texts outside traditional places of congregational life and worship, not unlike chaplains in other secular settings. Sports chaplains experience ministry on the margins of congregational life proper (Threlfall-Holmes and Newitt, 2011). Holst (2006) describes this for hospital chaplains as walking between two worlds – religion and medicine, which, for the purposes of this book, means a walk between religion and sport, or the church and the institutions of sport. Consequently, this walk between different contexts raises a number of con- cerns, if not conflicts and tensions, which Christian chaplains need to address if they are to negotiate the ideological differences and power struggles. For example, because many sports chaplains are embedded in Olympic, professional and collegiate sporting contexts, they are serving privileged individuals in posi- tions of power.

The economic and social advantages possessed by these individuals can con- flict with and even distort gospel virtues such as those taught in the Sermon on the Mount (Kotva, 2012). Conflict is exacerbated by the fact that the nature and values of sport can be juxtaposed with concerns such as those posed by the environment, poverty, hunger, disease, unemployment and illiteracy. These everyday moral matters are also ecclesial dilemmas when considering how to justify the time and resources spent on sport (let alone sports chaplaincy), when the world is in pain and suffering (Twietmeyer, 2007). Additionally, there are plenty of instances in the world of sport of sexism, racism, exploitation of ath- letes, violence and religious discrimination, which bump up against gospel pat- terns of speech and action. In this chapter, I consider two main questions: how are the convictions of the gospel fundamental to Christian sports chaplaincy, and how should the good news inform and transform the way in which these sports chaplains serve? My claim is that the culture of sport requires sports chaplains to be apprehended and shaped by the whole gospel: this is a theologi- cal task and responsibility.

To explore these questions, requires an understanding of what the gospel is so that sports chaplains minister in a manner worthy of the gospel (Phil. 1:27–30).

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What this means in principle and practice has everything to do with how well chaplains embody the good news in the liminal spaces of ministry in sport. Biblical interpretation is complex but what I am interested in here are general biblical themes.

Gospel truths: what is the Gospel?

The gospel is the good news about God’s saving work in Jesus Christ. The God of the gospel confronts our human existence, for as Paul asserts it is God’s power that brings salvation (Rom. 1:16–17), accomplishing redemption in the salvific acts of Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:21–6). Newbigin (2003) writes about this confrontation as God in Christ breaking into and becoming present in our human history, calling for healing and liberation from the idolatrous pow- ers that oppress. The good news is about Jesus, who liberates or saves us from sin, to which this world is in bondage, estranging humans from God and one another.

The apostle Paul accents the gospel he was entrusted with as the ‘ministry of reconciliation’, for he writes that ‘in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself ’ (2 Cor. 5:18–19). This claim witnesses to the reality of reconciliation for the work of Christ ‘had as its effect the bringing of the “the world” back to God’ (Green and Baker, 2011: 84). Paul makes it clear in this passage (2 Cor. 5:11–21) that God in Christ is both the source and substance of the good news. Reconciliation is ‘in’ and ‘through’ Christ: the events of his death and resurrec- tion alone are the means. That implies, if God is the gracious subject who initi- ates reconciliation, then humans are the objects, since the problem of sin and estrangement lie with humans who inhabit a world that needs a comprehensive restoration. God’s action in Christ reconciles sinners and the world to himself and inaugurates a cosmic renewal of all of life (Collins, 2013).

Paul concludes his exposition of reconciliation as an event in which Christ’s death is the punishment for sin; He took away our sin in that He takes our place by suffering and dying the death of a sinner on the cross. Paul further claims that the result of Christ’s death is that ‘in [Christ] we might become the right- eousness of God’ (2 Cor. 5:21). Here Paul connects being reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:18–20) and Christ’s death with the biblical concept of being made right with God. God’s forgiving activity of reconciliation means we become the righteousness of God. Although there are a plurality of images and other pertinent passages for elucidating the atonement (Green and Baker, 2011) and even more explicit references to justification (Romans 3–5), Paul’s point is that the sacrificial death of Jesus is the basis for sinners being declared righteous. Reconciliation means human beings stand in a right relationship with God, because our justification is accomplished in the event of the cross; Christ as the means of our justification exchanges our state of sin for the righteousness of God (Collins, 2013). This truth of the gospel is that God justifies the ungodly or sinners (Rom. 4:5). In the Christian tradition, the consequence of humankind’s transition from one condition into another is because Jesus Christ became what

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we are as sinners in order to make us what He is. This final point is important in the proceeding discussion on justification and sport.

The trajectory of 2 Corinthians 5:11–21 reminds us that ministry is the direct consequence of the good news concerning Jesus Christ. Just as God called Paul to the ministry of reconciliation, God graciously invites sports chap- lains to implement reconciliation as a witness to God’s new way of life in Christ for the world of sport. What follows is a discussion of two specific inferences for sports chaplaincy that come from an affirmation of the good news as articu- lated in terms of the cross event. The first explores a pastoral care implication concerning personal identity, whilst the second mines a prophetic implication of doing sports chaplaincy.

Gospel conclusions for sports chaplaincy

Justification and sport: pastoral considerations of personal identity

If justification is accomplished in the event of the cross, then the glory of the cross says, ‘No!’ to sportspersons’ absurd and hopeless efforts to justify them- selves in and through their performances (White, 2012). This is not to say that sportspersons cannot gain a relative appreciation for who they are as they play sports: namely, healthy pride and confidence which fits a proper love of self. However, the ‘gospel according to sport’ is self-justification, for it attempts to travel the penultimate road of sports as an ultimate authority for determin- ing personal worth. This gospel proclaims and performs a plausibility structure, which legitimizes self-justification, counter to faith in Christ alone. Coakley (2009) explains sociologically that this quest is real because the normative cul- ture’s sport ethic is an over-conformity to particular interpretations of values, norms, and goals of sport. What often follows is that the identities of sportsper- sons become habituated to this logic and thus cemented in sport itself. Accord- ing to Hughes and Coakley (1991: 312), athletes who most commonly adopt this sport ethic are those ‘whose identity or future chances for material success are exclusively tied to sport’, because ‘self-identification becomes lodged within sport’. Indeed, Hughes and Coakley go on to argue that ‘the role of the ath- lete (player, climber, skier, runner, etc.) becomes extremely salient to a person’s identity’ (ibid. 318).

How self-justification works: relationships and recognition

German theologian Eberhard Jüngel helps to explain further what this concept of justification means existentially within contemporary society. He describes how our lived experiences connect to and mediate a pre-understanding of the meaning of justification. He claims that ‘to justify something, to justify oneself, to be justified – these are primary life-processes that occur daily’ ( Jüngel, 1999: 28). Humans normally justify their actions when they fail or when something is misunderstood by vindicating or defending themselves. On a more basic level,

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when people justify themselves, they assert that their lives fundamentally have a meaning. Jüngel further states that this worldly life process, the act of justifica- tion, always occurs before some authority or other. He holds that these different authorities function as courts of law in that the event of justification summons us before others, whether that tribunal is a human institution, myself or even before God (although God relativizes all others because He is the true source and means of justification). The nature of life is such that we exist before these kinds of forums which question and evaluate us: that is, athletes before their teammates, opponents and spectators; coaches before media and management; children before their parents; and so on. In these events, a person existentially experiences her or himself ordered to appear before someone to justify her or himself. We even do this before ourselves, which Jüngel concludes is our own conscience serving as a tribunal. With this whole account, the challenge of justification is how everyday life inculcates evaluative interpretations about a person’s identity, which form her or his self-understanding as something she or he must vindicate, regardless of the relationship or sphere of life.

Jüngel (1999) argues that there are two essential aspects of our humanity, which explain why we justify ourselves. The first is that because we exist and live as social creatures in relation to others (even to ourselves), our existence implies a responsibility before others, ready to be summoned to accountability and hence, to defend and to justify, if necessary. The second aspect is the human longing for approval: we were made in such a way that we depend on recogni- tion. As Jüngel (1999: 29) states, ‘the will to justify ourselves springs from this fundamental anthropological need for approval’. The problem with this drive for approval or self-justification, when understood in relation to sport, is that even though sport performances may witness to a person’s identity and even temporarily satisfy the demands of this tribunal, they do not merit God’s jus- tification and so leave this desire for justification unsatisfied. With regard to the human condition Jüngel goes on to argue that theological reality rebukes all human attempts at justification, since the ‘one who is in the wrong before God is incapable of any such things. Before God, no wrong can be made right. Before God, all “making right” is excluded’ (ibid.).

Kelsey (2009) verifies that what is so dangerous about human attempts at self-justification is that they skew reality. Humans falsely believe that they author the worth and meaning of their lives and identities. This can make us too dependent on the acknowledgement and affirmation of others. If our identities and self-worth are fully contingent on the affirmation of others, then we are in a treadmill that is in ‘bondage to the assessment of others’ (Kelsey, 2009: 873). For Kelsey, inherent in self-justification are beliefs and habits that something is wrong enough with humanity to question the worth of human life and thus, seek justification in reference to some penultimate strategy. Kelsey sees any existential ‘hows’ (strategies) that try to bring worth to personal identities apart from reconciliation in Christ as deeply insecure and this ‘insecurity generates a living death of endless and vicious cycles’ (ibid.). The only solution to this prob- lem is found in the gospel in which God’s reconciliation blesses and establishes

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the unrighteous as righteous; God justifies and so people are given definitive approval and forgiveness through the word of God’s grace ( Jüngel, 1999).

The ‘Gospel according to sport’ in Friday Night Lights

In Friday Night Lights, Buzz Bissinger describes this pre-understanding of justification through his ethnographic narrative about how one high-school (American) football team seemed to animate Odessa, a town in West Texas, holding it together in some sense. Bissinger and his family relocated from Phila- delphia to spend a year interviewing and learning the ethos of this town, where almost 20,000 fans would show up on a Friday night because ‘football went to the core of life’ (Bissinger, 2000: xii). Bissinger chronicles how unresolved and complex tensions related to ‘race’, sport, education, religion and politics fuelled a community to seek justification vicariously in and through the works of their high-school coaches and athletes. In turn, he interrogates how coaches and athletes experienced this tribunal or others’ expectations and its effect on the identities of the main characters. One main character, in particular, is Boobie Miles, who until his tragic knee injury in a scrimmage game was perceived as the anointed one. He relentlessly sought recognition from others with his apparent invincibility and requisite attitude in football boosting his team and town’s aspirations for proving themselves. Boobie exemplifies what Coakley (2009) argues happens when athletes equate their identities with their sporting prowess and performance: they overconform to the normative values of sport. Bissinger reports, for example, how Boobie stood existentially before different tribunals (members of his family, uncle L.V., fans, media, teammates, coaches, opponents and rivals, the team physician, Caucasians and African-Americans, teachers and college recruiters) which summoned him to meet their expecta- tions. These generalized others socialized Boobie to earn their recognition, jus- tifying whether his life project to make it to ‘the pros’ and be somebody would prove meaningful.

Although Boobie’s story extends the problem of justification beyond the New Testament, his example illustrates the issue of justification as it relates to identity amongst athletes. Moreover, Boobie’s context for justifying himself is a competitive zero-sum game which means, according to Kelsey, that he is driven to compare himself with others (Kelsey, 2009): a logic which necessarily means that there must be a winner who justifies his or her identity and a loser who does not. Before Boobie’s injury he commanded respect, securing and winning his identity, but after his injury his winning status became vulnerable, begetting deep insecurity and tentativeness in how he played, for he was no longer a winner and the balance of affirmation shifted to the success of other teammates.

Kelsey (2009) argues that this way of defining personal identities binds humans to a vicious cycle of death, which in Boobie’s case was driven by the vice of envy. Bissinger accounts for Boobie’s envy (along with other emotions) in how he reacted toward Chris Comer, a teammate who had replaced Boobie

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in the backfield after his injury as the new distinguished running back. Prior to Boobie’s injury, he had succeeded in defining his identity as successful, since he was the honoured athlete who had earned the praise of others. During this time, Boobie even cheered Comer’s accomplishment as a running back second to Boobie, presumably, because when he compared himself to Comer, Boobie had kept his status as the winner and thus, Comer was not a real threat to his identity. This comparison only increased Boobie’s own sense of righteousness. Bissinger (2000: 15–16) notes the dramatic shift after Boobie’s injury:

As the season progressed and Comer became a star while Boobie lan- guished, the cheers [from Boobie] stopped. He made no acknowledgement of Comer’s score. He sat on the bench, his eyes staring straight ahead, burn- ing with a mixture of misery and anger as it became clear to him that the coaches had no intention of playing him tonight . . . . He sat on the bench and felt coldness swirl through him, as if something sacred inside him was dying, as if every dream in his life was fleeing from him and all he could do was sit there and watch it disappear amid all those roars that had once been for him.

Bissinger gives voice to how Boobie’s emotions illustrate the inner workings of this cycle of death with Boobie feeling alienated and estranged not only from himself but also from others, for in comparison, his own worth and value are diminished and denigrated. In sum, Boobie’s identity is condemned to this false quest for success through social approval.

When applying Kelsey’s analysis, Boobie’s case draws attention to how per- sonal identity can get distorted by the ‘gospel according to sport’. The logic of self-justification in sport occurs when sportspersons answer the existen- tial question ‘Who am I?’ with ‘My sport performance justifies my personal identity.’ It is theologically problematic to reduce one’s worth to one’s athletic abilities, since self-justification only further estranges sportspersons from God, others and themselves, keeping them in their condition of sin which leads to death in many complex and nuanced ways (personally, socially and spiritually).

The Christian Gospel speaks to the ‘Gospel according to sport’

The ‘gospel according to sport’ affords sports chaplains opportunities to embody and speak the Christian gospel as it confronts the liminality between God’s justification and self-justification. The gospel erupts in such elemental crises in which life and death confront personal identity ( Jüngel, 1999). Here is a cultural discourse and practice in which the true gospel meets vulnerability and neediness. This helplessness as illustrated for many is a chain of tragic self- justifications which paradoxically can set the stage for sportspersons who are downtrodden and heavy-laden with this burden to prove themselves, to receive the good news ‘like cold water to a thirsty soul’ (Prov. 25:25). The word of

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reconciliation about Jesus Christ addresses all of humanity at the core of their personhood, for what it means to be truly human is grounded in Christ; it is a new union as derived from God’s undeserved gift of righteousness, a conse- quence of Christ’s death and resurrection. ‘The word of the cross’ (1 Cor. 1:18), when contextualized for sport, constrains sports chaplains to address sportsper- sons where they are and as they are, to be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:20) and, thus, to experience the benefit of God’s grace as forgiveness of sin.

The good news is a radical paradigm shift through which a sportsperson’s whole existence is reinterpreted, emancipating them from their living lies and death ( Jüngel, 1999). The quest for self-justification is over, and they are now justified by faith in Christ. It is the unconditional nature of this event of jus- tification and its application that has always frustrated and offended the world, especially in zero-sum contexts and for those who believe that their works or winning should determine their standing or identity. What lurks primarily in this way of human self-understanding is an identity that is actualized by what athletes do, namely, their performative works of righteousness. Works right- eousness is incompatible with and condemned by the doctrine of justification. God’s final word of justification puts an end to this achievement-oriented quest for finding one’s true identity (White, 2011).

Prophetic imagination for sports chaplaincy

If justification as revealed in the message of the cross radically breaks into, con- flicts with and judges this present (evil) age and the old way of life under sin (2 Cor. 5:14–21), then the good news prophetically calls into question the status quo. Paul employs apocalyptic imagery when he uses such language as ‘new creation’ (2 Cor. 5:17) to describe how Jesus’ death made effective the miracle of a new ‘world-order change’ (Green and Baker, 2011: 88–9). The cross not only declares a new state of affairs for sinners but for the entire cosmos, in that the power of the gospel speaks to all spheres of life.

The cross is a sign of what happens when one takes God’s account of real- ity more seriously than Caesar’s. The cross stands as God’s (and our) eternal no to the powers of death, as well as God’s eternal yes to humanity, God’s remarkable determination not to leave us to our own devices.

(Hauerwas and Willimon, 1989: 47)

Jesus Christ crucified means God judges what is evil. Ironically, God chose the folly of the cross to accomplish this. How Jesus died was offensive and scandal- ous to the Greco-Roman world (1 Cor. 1:18–30). The cross was a horrible, gruesome form of punishment in an honour-and-shame based culture that the Romans used to intimidate observers and to humiliate the subversives, crimi- nals, outcasts and rebellious slaves who were put to death. The reality of Christ crucified is at odds with many aspects of the world in its present fallen form.

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Moreover, Jesus embodied the Kingdom’s good news in his life and ministry by advocating justice for the marginalized and defying the use of violence (Sider, 1993).

Taking a prophetic stance on problems in sport

An immediate implication is that just because the people and institutions of sport act in a particular way, it does not necessarily follow that this is the way it should be:

[Christ’s] death publicly exposes and condemns all of the sporting world’s abuses of God’s intention for the human body [and personal identity], all of sports’ spiritual, moral and relational lies like pride, envy, idolatry, violence, disrespect, greed, cheating, taunting, preening, and the vitriol and anger of coaches and parents [and athletes].

(White, 2012)

Sports chaplaincy which does not take a prophetic stance on these abuses is not grounded in the gospel, since good news reveals how the bad news oppresses and harms human beings. Furthermore, because justification stands at the cen- tre of how chaplains should relate to a world that cries for justice, ethics is core to the doctrine of justification. How sports chaplains must think and act has ethical significance for who they are as new creations and what should be done to put things right.

Newbigin (1986) understands the power of the gospel to transform the entire human situation. The reach of the gospel, in his view, is cosmic, since Christ as Creator and Redeemer reclaims and restores all. Not only are indi- viduals and creation affected, but the social order is also to be transformed: human institutions, such as sport, are affected by human sin and are in need of the gospel’s leavening influence and renewal. The gospel story applies to the entire human race and all creation. Who we are and what creation and culture should be finds its meaning in relation to the story of Jesus. For sports chaplains, their witness in word and deed is not then merely to individual souls getting saved, but to a gospel directed to the whole person and the whole culture of sport. Ellis (2014) notes that the tendency of sports chap- lains and ministries is to keep their public engagement to that of evangelism and individual pastoral care, but because of the reality of the whole gospel this witness remains incomplete. The gospel demands that sports chaplains widen their concerns to include systemic and social issues (‘race’, family, economics, gender, media practices and so on). The gospel poses an inclusive ministry focus.

This gospel conclusion further problematizes the narrow construal of the gospel to the spiritual dimension, to organized religion, to the individual, to the

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after-life or to the soul. Frank Deford originally reported a similar observation almost 40 years ago having interviewed individuals from prominent sport min- istries in North America. He lamented the fact that these chaplains neglected to consider social and moral matters: cheating, the evils of recruiting, dirty play, racism (Deford, 1976). Why does this happen?

A diagnosis of the problem of neglect: a malfunction of sports chaplaincy

Volf (2011) explains that one reason for this neglect is because of idleness of faith. Chaplaincy idles when chaplains fail to obey the prophetic demands of the gospel, not doing what they should, getting stuck, because of what Volf sees as a result of the power of systems. All institutions operate from some kind of ideology for ensuring order and positing what is acceptable and not acceptable. Chaplains do not serve and work in a vacuum but in a context dependent on processes such as economic and political relations and values. The dominant culture of sport, for example, overpoweringly narrates how each contribut- ing part fits into the whole, including coaches, athletes, management, families, chaplains and media. Each part needs to play a role in order for the whole to operate efficiently. The power of such systems with their own convictions and interests, according to Volf, can tempt and trap chaplains, just as it can sport- spersons, to act and to assume roles in accordance with the normative values of sport instead of the gospel. Budde and Brimlow (2002) recognize how easy it is for chaplains then to get co-opted by different worldviews and purposes, espe- cially since their positions require them to conform materially, affectively and spiritually to the formative processes within the power structures and practices of an institution. Here is where the practice of the gospel in sports chaplaincy is especially susceptible to compromise.

In their research on the roles and responsibilities of collegiate sports chap- lains, Dzikus, Hardin and Waller (2012) show how two chaplains at different (US) public universities were used by athletic departments to promote a posi- tive image for their sport programmes. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, football team featured their chaplain in the 2007 University of Tennessee Football Guide with testimonials about the chaplain’s role being to mould athletes into well-rounded players, making them into good men and inspiring the entire university, which the guide used as a public relations and recruitment strategy. Because the chaplain is accountable in some sense to this football programme, then his own loyalty to and the programme’s acceptance and endorsement of him relates to their institutional interests. Their assessment and use of him in this programme was based on whether he upheld the university’s ideals. So long as this chaplain conforms to this programme, he receives institutional bless- ing. Although the cause of the gospel takes up human flourishing and even contributes to the common good in sport (Christian chaplains care about the

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well-being of coaches and players), our witness to the gospel can be altered by the normative purposes and values of sport. That is, the prophetic direction of the gospel must resist equating the scandalous nature of the gospel with the exclusive message and distorted values of an institution like football. The gospel entails that chaplains interpret their work, and what it means to be human, which in the case of the University of Tennessee’s guide is what it means to be a man, in a manner worthy of the gospel. However, this prophetic conclu- sion of the gospel does not mean a chaplain is out to confront for confronta- tion’s sake, nor does it imply that the gospel and sport are incommensurable. On the whole, what is at stake in the University of Tennessee’s guide and use of their chaplain are their normative judgements about what makes a well- rounded, good man. Gospel-driven chaplaincy envisages what it means to be fully human in terms of God’s revelation in Jesus Christ. The good news con- cerning Jesus Christ is the true goal of our humanity, and it is in his image that we are conformed (Col. 3:10). This brings into relief how the agenda of the University of Tennessee’s guide might get confused, if not conflated with that of the gospel. Implicit in this confusion is a tacit accommodation. While the chaplain may facilitate chapels, religious meetings, lead weekly devotionals and Bible studies and meet for personal counselling and discipleship, the ideology of American football (or of any institution for that matter) and how this material, embodied performance forms a male, can compete with and be antithetical to a gospel understanding of what it means to be a man.

This is troubling, for as Messner (2007) argues, because sports are sites for constructing gender, then this conception of masculinity embedded in the University of Tennessee’s guide reproduces traditions and conventions con- cerning masculinity and shapes reality. Although many other social institutions and experiences contribute to gender identity, organized sport in general and American football in particular produces scripts about masculinity which are not neutral or value-free. Fogel (2011) refers to ‘sporting masculinity’ as one particular script to which male athletes subscribe in order to meet the expecta- tions of their peers. So, for instance, when being a good man as promoted by the University of Tennessee’s guide is associated with physical toughness and power, aggression, heroic conquests or slogans such as ‘no pain, no gain’, then ‘sporting masculinity’ is not consistent with the model given by Jesus Christ. Practically this means that, even though the chaplain encouraged the individual piety of the coaches and athletes, unless he analysed and exposed how such hegemonic myths of manhood and personal identity located in the power of this social sys- tem can oppress and exploit sportspersons, then he condoned institutional evil. Again, just because certain notions of masculinity and the attendant behaviour are part of the given order of sports, it does not follow, according to the gospel, that this is the way it is supposed to be.

Furthermore, might this chaplain’s failure to confront the sin of systems be perceived as divine validation of the goals and objectives of the University of Tennessee’s guide (Kotva, 2012)? Consider, also, how the presence of the gospel in this example is not so much a distinct way of life, but is morphed by and into

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this institution’s rhetoric and practices (Volf, 2011). Not only does religion use sport in this form of sports chaplaincy, but sport uses religion (Coakley, 2009). This trivializes the gospel and domesticates its transformative power. When reli- gion is used for public relations and as a tool for recruitment, it sacralizes an institution’s power structures.

Additionally, in sport where such malfunctions exist, the gospel should awaken sports chaplains to question the power of the system when athletes are instructed to do something – deliberately take out an opponent, feign injury, employ tactics which purposefully intimidate both physically and psychologi- cally or hate the other side – which outside sport many would not affirm (Volf, 2011). Obedience to the institution of sport may contradict Christian moral convictions.

A Gospel-shaped solution: prophetic inquiry and criticism

In order to counter and resist such strategies, chaplains need to incorporate what Brueggemann (2001: 13) calls the prophetic imagination, which is ‘to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us’. Since this critical stance is intrinsic to the gospel, the prophetic role is part of the calling and responsibility of the sports chaplain. In this sense, sports chaplains are moral leaders, not only spiritual advisors giving pastoral care to support players and coaches.

The gospel emboldens the prophetic vision, since in Jesus Christ incarnated, crucified and resurrected the old has passed and the new has come (2 Cor. 5:16–17), giving sports chaplains in their union with Christ the prophetic imagination to discern the difference between the way things are and the way they should be in Christ. This prophetic imperative invokes a myriad of ques- tions, which chaplains can and should raise. What are the morally wrong actions and systemic injustices in how sports are currently organized and practised? How is the human body abused and misused in sport? How should chaplains advocate justice for women, gay, lesbian and disabled athletes and other minori- ties in sport? What are the economic injustices and disparities in sport? How have the economic interests of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and other sporting organizations exploited sportspersons and misshaped sport? What kind of reform should we advocate in relation to players’ rights? Admit- tedly, because the prophetic voice has often been absent in sports chaplaincy, and because chaplains are normally in post by way of privilege, the challenge to existing policies and practices is significant (Ellis, 2014), but such voice is necessary for the sake of the whole gospel, for the whole sportsperson and for the whole culture of sport.

Furthermore, when chaplains fail to critique the moral and social matters that Deford wrote about in Sports Illustrated in 1976 including racism and sex- ism, they risk supplanting the direction of the gospel and, instead, tolerate

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norms internal to the social order of sport. Instead of responsibly witnessing to the new order as inaugurated by Christ’s death and resurrection, their evan- gelistic witness underwrites what this cultural discourse considers best, for this gives chaplains relevance while preserving the status quo (building character, winning, team unity, making good men, excellence and so on). There is a tragic trade-off when the gospel is confused with sport, and, moreover, the more the chaplain conforms then the less likely the gospel’s call for repentance and correction will be heard, for it loses its distinct voice and identity (Volf, 2011). Volf (2011: 95) aptly states that the gospel ‘means the good news – something good, something new, and therefore something different’. Again, this does not mean that the prophetic stance of the gospel is merely dissent in that it only condemns what is wrong within a particular context (Biggar, 2011), for Jesus Christ as the source and substance of the good news affirms the created order as revealed in the incarnation and resurrection (O’Donovan, 1994).

Conclusion

In this chapter I have argued that the gospel justifies sinners which can not only liberate sportspersons but can transform how chaplains imagine and relate to such cultural realities as sport. The good news concerning Jesus Christ is both the basis of the identity of all sportspersons and the reason for sports chaplains to confront prophetically the concrete theological predicaments of the people of sport. The gospel calls chaplains back to the work of Christ as definitive for how they care for the people of sport. When sportspersons reflect and practise a distorted identity, chaplains must graciously speak in word and deed God’s perspective on sport and life, no longer from an worldly vantage point but ‘in Christ’ as a ‘new creation’ (2 Cor. 5:16–17).

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