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Hemming, Caroline (2024) Sport and the Christian Faith: The Experiences of Christian Athletes in Competitive Sport. PhD thesis, University of Gloucestershire. doi:10.46289/XTVB1737
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Abstract
In recent years there has been a significant increase in the literature surrounding the relationship between sport and Christianity, yet little is known about the experiences of Christian athletes themselves. Drawing on the findings of a small-scale qualitative study, this thesis investigates the relationship between sport and the Christian faith in the lives of 25 UK-based Christian athletes who participated in competitive sport. The study seeks to provide insight into how respondents negotiated the demands and expectations of competitive sport alongside their faith-based values and beliefs, and how this manifested at the personal level. Athlete experiences focus on three key areas: evangelism, prayer and worship, all of which raised their own tensions and dilemmas in terms of personal circumstance. Findings demonstrate that the combining of sport and faith was far from straight forward with the whole notion of ‘competition’ being identified as being particularly complex. In seeking to resolve the issues they encountered in meeting the expectations of both Christianity and sport, athletes found themselves constantly navigating the prioritization of sporting and faith-based values. The thesis concludes that athlete approaches to sport remained largely unchanged, and their approaches to faith were often modified to align with sporting involvement.
| Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | |||||||||
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| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Sport; athletes; Christianity; faith | |||||||||
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BR Christianity G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure > GV557 Sports |
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| Divisions: | Schools and Research Institutes > School of Education, Health and Sciences | |||||||||
| Depositing User: | Anne Pengelly | |||||||||
| Date Deposited: | 06 Oct 2026 14:33 | |||||||||
| Last Modified: | 06 Oct 2026 14:33 | |||||||||
| URI: | https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/16568 |
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