Race, Sports and Faith: The Identity Crisis of Black Male Christian Student-Athletes

• In Event: Thursday Roundtable Session 4:20 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Spirit, Sport, and Universal Worth (Table 13)

Abstract

Abstract: In the sports field, athletics and Christianity is generally dominated by a White-American narrative, which is rooted in the Eurocentric views of Muscular Christianity in America. Thus, Black thought on Christianity shaped by the Black experience is not embraced by the dominant Christianity in sport culture in America. The aim of this article is to conceptualize the historical and cultural influence of Eurocentric Christianity in Sport and the potential impact on Christian African American male Christian identity formation within the lens of critical race theory. We suggest cultural themes of Christian expressions rooted from The Black Church and racial socialization play a notable role to unify a fragmented racial, Christian, and athletic identity of Black male Christian athletes.

Authors

• Brandon Crooms, Trinity University

• Lawrence Lowell Scott, Texas A&M University - San Antonio