Muscular Christianity

In the Victorian era manly Christian endeavour and moral value were combined in a movement called muscular Christianity. This movement carried with it notions of spiritual, moral and physical purity. As we approach the Olympics and are already surrounded by wall to wall European football and will soon have Wimbledon on top, sport and religion seem an interesting topic for musing.

Muscular Christianity had its roots in a number of ethical concerns prevalent in the nineteenth century: the protection of the weak, the plight of the poor and the promotion of moral virtue. These ideas of spiritual and moral purity through physical endeavour resulted in the establishment of a series of values that underpin the relationship between sport and religion even today. (Fair play, respect for oneself and others, strength both physical and emotional, perseverance,  deference, subordination, obedience, discipline, loyalty, cooperation, self control, self sacrifice, endurance, courage, temperance and esprit de corps (teamwork : a shared spirit of dedication to a cause.) These values underpin the Olympic games themselves. 

This movement started in the English public schools and this was where the rules for all modern sports and games were devised. (Tom Brown's Schooldays was published in 1857.)

The social backdrop to this movement was industrialisation and a change in social life. In fast growing new towns and cities there were concerns about public health and welfare amongst the poor. Churches and other groups developed sports clubs to redirect the energies of the working classes away from drinking gambling and disorder to more socially acceptable and healthy behaviour. In this way many of the modern football clubs were formed.

These thoughts were prompted after reading an article in the magazine of the bible society.