Baseball as a Road to God, John Sexton
Baseball as a Road to God, John Sexton
3 Rating(s)
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Baseball as a Road to God
Seeing Beyond the Game

Author: John Sexton, Thomas Oliphant, Peter J. Schwartz

Narrator: Christopher Lane

Unabridged: 8 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/01/2013


Synopsis

A love letter to America’s most beloved sport and an exploration of the deeper dimensions it revealsFor more than a decade, New York University president John Sexton has used baseball to illustrate the elements of a spiritual life in a wildly popular course at NYU. Using great works of baseball literature as well as the actual game’s fantastic moments, its legendary characters, and its routine rituals—from the long-sought triumph of the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers to the heroic achievements of players like the saintly Christy Mathewson and the sinful Ty Cobb to the loving intimacy of a game of catch between a father and son—Sexton teaches that through the game we can touch the spiritual dimensions of life.Baseball as a Road to God is about the elements of our lives that lie beyond what can be captured in words alone—ineffable truths that we know by experience rather than by logic or analysis. Applying the inquiry usually reserved for the study of religion to the secular activity of baseball, Sexton reveals a surprising amount of common ground between the game and what we all recognize as religion: sacred places and times, faith and doubt, blessings and curses, and more.In thought-provoking, beautifully rendered prose, Baseball as a Road to God elegantly demonstrates that baseball is more than a game or even a national pastime: It can be a road to a deeper and more meaningful life.

About John Sexton

John Sexton is the fifteenth President of New York University, and prior to becoming the university’s president in 2001, he served as Dean of the NYU Law School for 14 years. President Sexton is Chair of the American Council on Education, Chair of the New York Academy of Sciences and immediate past Chair of the Commission on Independent Colleges and University of New York. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and has served as the Chairman of the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He received a Ph.D. in History of American Religion from Fordham University and a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. In addition to his executive duties as President of NYU, he teaches a full course load, making him one of the only university presidents to teach a full faculty schedule.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Darin on May 18, 2014

I just finished this little gem of a book. If you like baseball history, this one’s for you. The author, John Sexton, also cleverly overlays the game of baseball with modern religion. It’s amazing how much they have in common. While I’m not going to give a full blown book review, I had to point out o......more

Goodreads review by Ricardo on April 21, 2013

This is a really wonderful book. I was actually skeptical as to how much I'd like it, but it really surprised me. The author shows how many of the elements found in baseball - faith, doubt, conversion, accursedness, blessings - are elements associated with the religious experience. He uses many classi......more

Goodreads review by Dani on February 23, 2013

This is a really wonderful book. I was actually skeptical as to how much I'd like it, but it really surprised me. The author shows how many of the elements found in baseball - faith, doubt, conversion, accursedness, blessings - are elements associated with the religious experience. He uses many classi......more

Goodreads review by Ben on December 23, 2024

Would probably be fire if I was a simpleton in a very specific way......more

Goodreads review by Amy on June 06, 2016

I think my friend Missy recommended this book to me, although I'd not take that information to the bank. I do know that it sat on my shelf for at least a year, started once then never finished because life and other interests got in the way. The book by former NYU president John Sexton is a reader ba......more