Baseball as a Road to God

December 10, 2012
Can baseball be a “road to God”? Sexton, the president of New York University, a former Brooklyn Dodgers fan, and tortured Yankees convert, considers the question as only an academic can. He draws heavily on the writings of University of Chicago professor Mircea Eliade, who proposed the existence of a phenomenon known as a “hierophany,” a connection to the “ineffable domain” of sacred manifestations, or in layman’s terms, the “touching of a transcendent plane.” With assists from journalists Oliphant (The Boston Globe) and Schwartz (Forbes), Sexton weaves supporting testimonials from physicists, authors, transcendentalists, and theologians into his reasoning over the course of nine chapters, or innings, with his summary reserved for the 10th. After loading the bases through nine, though, Sexton confesses that his thesis is little more than a balk. Baseball is not a “Road to God,” even if it can awaken us to an “often missing” dimension of life. That’s deflating after his logical progression from thesis to proof, but it’s a thought-provoking proposition for zealots and skeptics alike.

December 15, 2012
A tour of religious thought from the vantage point of that most perfect of cathedrals, the baseball diamond. "Baseball can teach us that living simultaneously the life of faith and the life of the mind is possible, even fun," writes lawyer, theologian and New York University president Sexton near the close of this examination of religion's chief questions as seen through a baseball glove. So it can, and if Stephen Jay Gould observed that science and religion were nonoverlapping magisteria, baseball might just connect them into a Venn set. If science sharpens the mind to a razor edge, then, Sexton counters, religion is a medium of "contemplation, sensitivity, awareness, and mystical intensity"--and so, as every fan knows, is the game, which makes, as Sexton deems it, "a wonderful laboratory." There are some big questions to ponder, many of which Sexton explores. If there is a just supreme being in charge, for instance, then why have the Cubs labored in the vineyards of hell for so many years? Can God hit a home run so powerful that He can't catch it? More to the point, Sexton observes, baseball's calendar is nearly liturgical. Its doubters often become converts to the faith, while its true believers are so often dashed against the rocks; it is a matter of saints (Lou Gehrig) and sinners (a much longer list), with some (Shoeless Joe Jackson) fitting on both lists. Sexton's view is refreshingly small-c catholic, embracing Taoism, Dante and Yogi Berra in a single sweep, and his enthusiasm for both baseball and the otherworld is refreshing. Whether it will make a doubter of a believer is another matter, for while there may be no atheists in the foxhole, there are still those sad souls who march away from Wrigley Field season after season. An elegant little meditation on life and the afterlife, well worth reading while waiting for spring.

COPYRIGHT(2012) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from May 1, 2013

After more than a decade teaching a course on this topic, Sexton (president, New York Univ.) shares some of his insights in this elegant meditation on the ways in which baseball evokes the essence of religion. Drawing on the work of religious historian Mircea Eliade, Sexton's reflections develop out of the foundational concepts of the ineffable and hierophany. The first refers to that which is indescribable in words but known through experience. The second is the breakthrough of the sacred into the ordinary world. Building on these shared starting points, Sexton further explores parallels between baseball and religion across topics such as sacred space and time, faith and doubt, conversion, miracles, blessings and curses, saints and sinners, community, and nostalgia. Masterfully utilizing the vast riches of baseball stories, and liberally sprinkling supporting thoughts from luminaries such as Yogi Berra and Abraham Heschel, Sexton creates a convincing case that baseball, like religion, "can awaken us to a dimension of life often missing in our contemporary world." VERDICT Contrary to what his title implies, Sexton's message is more about finding a sense of the spiritual than of finding God. This is an essential read for baseball fans of all spiritual and religious perspectives.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2013
I see great things in baseball, Walt Whitman rhapsodized in 1846. A century and a half later, Sexton and his collaborators see such great things in the game that they look to it for spiritual enlightenment. Readers learn how such enlightenment comes to fans in sacred places such as Wrigley and Forbes Fields, during rituals such as Opening Day and the seventh-inning stretch, through saints such as Christy Mathewson and Roberto Clemente, and by means of miracles such as The Catch made by Willie Mays and the perfect game thrown in the World Series by Don Larsen. To be sure, Sexton acknowledges that baseball has had its sinners, including Ty Cobb and Pete Rose. He further concedes that some great baseball stars, including Hank Greenberg and Sandy Koufax, have actually stayed away from the diamond to honor religious commitments. But because of the way its timeless rhythms foster serious reflection, Sexton still evangelizes for baseball as an underappreciated wellspring of faith. A surprisingly profound new look at America's national pastime.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)