The Origins of Basketball: The Christian Gift for Everyone
Our American Stories
iHeartPodcasts
4.3 • 737 Ratings
🗓️ 11 April 2025
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of Our American Stories, Faith and sports go hand in hand. Quarterbacks quote Bible verses in interviews, star players host team Bible studies, and a last-ditch attempt to win a game is called a “Hail Mary.” But it isn’t just the players who are indebted to faith—sometimes, the sports themselves are. Paul Putz, author of The Spirit of the Game: American Christianity and Big-Time Sports, shares the unusual origin story of basketball: a game initially designed to bring people to Christ that took on a life of its own.
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