The Gridiron Gospel

Faith and College Football in Twentieth-Century America

Hunter Hampton

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English

University of Illinois Press
23 December 2025

History of religion; Christianity; Higher & further education, tertiary education; Sporting events, tours & organisations; American football

Series: Sport and Society

The game's surprising influence on Christianity in the United States

From the game's early days, college football and a strain of muscular Christianity built a mutually reinforcing culture that taught lessons in America's dominant religious, gendered, and racial belief systems. Christians of many denominations embraced the game to shape and reshape their faith to meet the changing social demands of the twentieth century.

Hunter M. Hampton analyzes the impact of football on Christian college campuses. Baptists and Latter-day Saints, Evangelicals and Roman Catholics sought spiritual and personal meaning on the gridiron. Fans watched the action to find God's lessons for them. Wins and losses expressed the divine will while the game's popularity offered a potent way to evangelize non-believers. Hampton also investigates the sport's place in providing a stage for fostering Christian manhood, male community, gender dominance, and on-the-field displays of heroic savagery that served a higher purpose.

Provocative and engaging, The Gridiron Gospel looks at the All-American fusion of physical and spiritual muscle.

By: Hunter Hampton
Imprint: University of Illinois Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9780252088995
ISBN 10: 0252088999
Series: Sport and Society
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 23 December 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Reviews for The Gridiron Gospel: Faith and College Football in Twentieth-Century America

""In The Gridiron Gospel, Hunter Hampton deftly explores how Christianity and college football became intertwined, rooted in the country's virtues and vices. Hampton tells a powerful story about how religious universities have used football not only as a bulwark against attacks from outsiders but also as a means of assimilation and advancing cultural aspirations."" --Johnny Smith, author of Jumpman: The Making and Meaning of Michael Jordan