In his persuasive study The Eternal Present of Sport, Daniel Grano rethinks the sport-religion relationship by positioning sport as a source of theological trouble. Focusing on bodies, time, movement, and memory, he demonstrates how negative theology can be practically and theoretically useful as a critique of elite televised sport. Grano asserts that it is precisely through sport's highest religious ideals that controversies are taking shape and constituting points of political and social rupture. He examines issues of transcendence, "legacy"-e.g., "greatest ever," or "all-time"-and "witnessing" through instant replay, which undermine institutional authority. Grano also reflects on elite athletes representing especially powerful embodiments of religious and social conflict, including around issues related to gender, sexuality, ability doping, traumatic brain injury, and institutional greed. Elite sport is in a period of profound crisis. It is through the ideals Grano analyzes that we can imagine a radically alternative future for elite sport.

Book Information
ISBN 9781439912805
Author Daniel A. Grano
Format Paperback
Page Count 286
Imprint Temple University Press,U.S.
Publisher Temple University Press,U.S.