Abstract
The topic of religion and sports has long been marginalised in sports studies and ‘studies focused purely on the secular dimensions of sport can be unhelpfully narrow’ (Shilling and Mellor, 2014: 352). Thankfully, this secular bias is now being addressed by a number of scholars writing from theological, philosophical, psychological, historical and sociological perspectives. Nick J Watson and Andrew Parker, the editors of Sports, Religion and Disability (which is based upon two special issues of the Journal of Disability and Religion), are amongst the most prominent contributors to this emerging field (cf. Watson and Parker, 2013, 2014). They claim that Sports, Religion and Disability is a ‘ground-breaking book’ providing an ‘insight into the relationship between sports (and leisure), religion and disability’ (p. i). The interesting and original chapter contributions that follow mean the book certainly lives up to this claim. After the introduction there are 14 chapters by a total of 14 different authors. As one might expect from an ‘exploratory’ book (p. xiv), chapter contributions are eclectic and vary widely in both style and scope. Whilst space restricts a detailed analysis of all 14 chapters, I will provide some discussion of two of them whilst referring briefly to some of the others.
The first is Sarah Green’s chapter (5) that explores ‘the spiritual experience of disability-sport-rehabilitation’ (p. 74) and is based upon an interpretative phenomenological analysis of 11 interviews with British service personnel (nine male, two female) who were traumatically injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. Like Paul Heintzman’s chapter (6) that follows it, Green’s study has a psychological slant. Green’s study certainly has merit in that it acts to counter ‘the relative absence of scholarship and empirical research on the spiritual aspects of disability sport’ (p. 75). As in other studies on ‘spirituality’, the concept is employed quite loosely in terms of not being linked with any specific faith. Even those participants who referred to themselves as ‘Christians’, were described by the author as having ‘secular, postmodern conceptualizations of spirituality’ referring quite simply to what ‘gave meaning to life’ (p. 79). This manifested in the participants asking ‘existential questions in the aftermath of trauma and the sudden onset of disability’ (p. 81). It was found that despite participants’ initial negativity surrounding the trauma and onset of disability, over time ‘disability sport helped them in their quest to re-establish meaning and purpose and an overall sense of spiritual well-being’ (p. 81). Goal striving and goal attainment ‘also provided meaning and purpose to the lives of participants’ (p. 83). Whilst this study was interesting in that it drew upon interview data, it seemed a little constrained by its rigid psychological focus and could have been enhanced through some engagement with the Christian theological literature on disability that is now being applied to sport, including work in this volume by Amos Young (Chapter 3), Graeme Watts (Chapter 4) and Peter Hopsicker (Chapter 9).
Stuart Braye’s chapter (12) is also worthy of more detailed discussion as it provides a ‘unique personal perspective’ in order to consider ‘a practical theology of disability’ (p. 195). In terms of being based on the author’s life experiences, there are similarities with David Howe and Andrew Parker’s chapter (2) which draws upon Howe’s 25 years of experience within the Paralympic movement (p. 26). Moreover, to some extent Braye’s contribution shares Watt’s critique of the current theology of disability sport as ‘misdirected’ and ‘counterproductive to the interests of athletes with a disability’ (p. 59). Yet the main thrust of Braye’s chapter is completely original in that it argues against the marginalisation of Christian experiences of disabled athletes from ‘disability sports discourse’ (p. 195). Braye criticises specific examples of literature within this discourse for either ignoring Christianity completely or for regarding Christian faith as a remnant of past history. To counter this, Braye advocates a consideration of the possibility ‘to be both a Christian and a disabled activist’ (p. 196). This argument is based upon a clear understanding of disability sports discourse on the one hand and the bible on the other, corroborated by personal narratives from the author’s own life journey. Braye reflects on three aspects of his socialisation: first into becoming a disabled person, second into becoming a Paralympic athlete and third into becoming a Christian. Throughout the essay one can see how the assumed juxtaposition between disability activism and Christianity is what Norbert Elias (1978) might have referred to as a ‘false dichotomy’ as it fails to recognise the complexity of lived reality. Overall, Braye successfully achieves his objective of providing a novel ‘practical theology of disability’ (p. 207).
The editors claim to offer a ‘“starting point” for thinking critically about the rich and fascinating interconnections between sport and leisure, disability and religion’ (p. xiv) and I would definitely say that the book achieves this end. The chapters are seemingly diverse yet there is a sense of a coherent narrative regarding the inter-sections of religion/spirituality, disability and sport/leisure. The book as a whole also successfully achieves the intention of bringing together two seemingly distinct areas of research: ‘disability sport’ and the ‘theology of disability’ (p. i).
On a more critical note, whilst the broad aims of the book are clearly set out, the editors’ introduction is very short and does not provide a clear outline for the rest of the book. The book would have also benefitted from having a concluding chapter that summarised the gaps that still need to be addressed by future research. It would have also been helpful to see a list of author biographies. Finally, chapter numbers are not used on the first page of each chapter which makes the book difficult to navigate.
That said, Sports, Religion and Disability does provide an effective foundation for future studies within this emerging field, which is set to expand further following the forthcoming Inaugural Global Congress on Sports and Christianity taking place at York St John University 24–28 August 2016. Keynote lectures are to be given at this event by prominent theologian of disability John Swinton and former British Paralympic wheelchair racer Anne Wafula Strike that, alongside a dedicated thematic strand on the Theology of Disability Sport, will advance this emerging area of study.