Telling the Story of Basketball's Relationship with Christianity

Some thoughts on Jesus and James Naismith

Last weekend I sent off a full draft of my next book. The current working title is Jesus and James Naismith: A History of Basketball and Christianity from Origins to the NBA.

Check out the table of contents here:

Why this book?

Basketball is unique among the major world sports in two ways. It has a specific origin story that we can trace back to a person (James Naismith), institution (the YMCA), and day (December 21, 1891); and it has an origin story deeply intertwined with Christianity.

Those religious influences are relatively well known. James Naismith’s famous quote—that he wanted “to win men for the master through the gym”—is often repeated in Christian basketball circles. Nearly every historical analysis of basketball’s early years discusses Naismith’s connection to the YMCA and a movement called “muscular Christianity.” And there have been numerous articles about the spiritual origins of the game (I’ve written a couple of them myself).

But as I read and encountered those accounts of basketball’s religious origins, I always came away wanting more. What do we really mean when we say that basketball was created to “win men for the master through the gym”? What were Naismith’s ideas, and how did theology and culture shape his perspective? How did Christians continue to nurture the game after Naismith’s time?

That last question is crucial. Christian influence on basketball did not stop at its founding. The truth is that Naismith’s creation of the game was the beginning, not the end, of the Christian history of the sport. Even when it developed into a global game embraced by people of all faith traditions, Christians continued to play an active role in cultivating and nurturing its development, in giving shape to its meaning and significance.

My new book aims to tell that story.

It is not comprehensive—I wanted to keep it relatively short and compact. And it does not claim Christian ownership over the sport. In fact, Naismith designed it from the beginning to be a game for all people. But it does draw attention to the Christian athletes and coaches, pastors and sports ministers, who saw basketball as a venue for living and expressing their faith. It provides an account of the deep relationship between basketball and Christianity that is true to the complexities and nuances of the past while also being accessible to readers who might not usually read history.

So what are the next steps?

There is still work to do in refining and editing the manuscript into a final version. It will likely be 2027 before the book is out in the world. I’ll be sure to share status updates here, including when pre-orders from my publisher (shoutout to Eerdmans) are available.

But I’d also love to hear from you. If you’re interested and involved in basketball in some way—or if you know someone who is—I’d love to explore ideas for getting this story into the hands of as many people who love basketball as possible.

Hit me up and let’s talk.

In the meantime, I’ll be over here taking in March Madness, enjoying a month when this beautiful game—a game developed by a Christian minister at a Christian college for Christian purposes—takes center stage in the American sports scene.

From left to right: Baylor men’s basketball coach Scott Drew, Jim and Beverly Naismith (Jim is the last surviving grandson of James Naismith) and me.