The myriad of goods reflected in and derived from sport are part of the richness of our humanity. When athletes contest with one another, they revel in the very complex act of being human.

Shirl Hoffman’s recent CT article, “Sports Fanatics,” questions an evangelical love for modern sports that confuses infatuation for true love. Repentance! For the first 10 years of my 17 years on staff with Athletes in Action, I confess that rarely, if ever, did I question this relationship between faith and sport.

Evangelicals should be grateful that Hoffman is willing to cry from the wilderness, even if it makes us uncomfortable. John the Baptist types always make religious folk uneasy. I am personally indebted to Hoffman, who has contributed to my own intellectual formation as I work on my PhD, in theological ethics. No qualms, in general, from me.

However, there is a fallacy that lurks behind his call for us to think Christianly about sport. His view comes from a view of human nature that appears to lead him into a kind of dualism. Let me explain.

He states that what is wrong or right about sport is determined by our passions—or what Augustine claims are our loves. This is spot on. Sport, like other practices (education, for example) allows us to experience certain goods that fulfill us as human beings. Human beings, who are made in the image of God, long for those very goods that are integral to their own flourishing. Those longings are a form of love.

For more, read here.

John White is a Ph.D. candidate in theological ethics at the University of Edinburgh and assistant professor of theology at Cedarville University. “Speaking Out” is Christianity Today’s guest opinion column and (unlike an editorial) does not necessarily represent the opinion of the publication.

The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of The Aquila Report.