Sports Religion and Disability

<p>This ground-breaking book provides a fascinating insight into the relationship between sports (and leisure), religion and disability. In the shadow of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, at which athletes that were both able-bodied and disabled, provided an extravaganza of sporting excellence and drama, this text is a timely and important synthesis of ideas that have emerged in two previously distinct areas of research: (i) ‘disability sport’ and (ii) the ‘theology of disability’. Many of the elite athletes at this global sporting mega-event often explicitly displayed their religious beliefs, and in turn their importance in the context of sport, by observing different religious rituals, and or, utilising the multi-faith sports chaplaincy service. This raises a whole range of unanswered questions with regard to the intersections between sports, religion and disability, which to-date has been under- researched. Examples of subjects addressed in this text include: elite physical disability sport--<i>Paralympics</i>; intellectual disability sport--<i>Special Olympics</i>; reflections on the illness narrative of the cyclist Lance Armstrong through the lens of the theology of ‘radical orthodoxy’; the application of biblical athletic metaphors in understanding modern conceptions of disability sport; the role of sport and spirituality in the rehabilitation of injured British Military personnel, and; the importance of sports and leisure in <i>L’Arche</i> communities. This book begins a critical conversation on these topics, and many others, for both researchers and practitioners.</p><p></p><p>This book was based on two special issues of the <em>Journal of Religion, Disability and Health</em>.</p> <p>Preface 1. Special Olympians as a ‘Prophetic Sign’ to the Modern Sporting Babel 2. Disability as a Path to Spiritual Enlightenment: An Ethnographic Account of the Significance of Religion in Paralympic Sport 3. Running the (Special) Race: New (Pauline) Perspectives on Disability and Theology of Sport 4. Towards a Theology of Disability Sport: A Misconstrued Game Plan 5. The Experience of Spirituality and Disability Sport for British Military Personnel Traumatically Injured in Iraq and Afghanistan: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis 6. Nature-Based Recreation, Spirituality, and Persons with Disabilities 7. Researching Religion, Disability, and Sport: Reflections and Possibilities 8. “Celebration” as the Spiritual Expression of Leisure and Sport: Reflections on the L’Arche Tradition and the Special Olympics 9. A Modern Conception of Flesh: Towards a Theology of Disability Sport 10. A Postcolonial Approach to Understanding Sport-Based Empowerment of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Zambia: The Case of the Cultural Philosophy of Ubuntu 11. Radical Orthodoxy and the Emergence of Spiritual Hero-Athletes: Examining Lance Armstrong’s “Illness” Narrative 12. Meet My Exes: Theological Reflections on Disability and Paralympic Sport—A Continuum of Ephemeral Deaths and Eternal Resurrection 13. Triumph From Anguish: The Inspiration of the Special Olympics 14. Christianity, Sport and Disability: A Case Study of the Role of Long-Distance Running in the Life of a Father and his Son who is Congenitally Blind and has Profound Intellectual Disabilities</p>