Special Olympians as a “Prophetic Sign” to the Modern Sporting Babel

Watson, Nick J.

doi:10.1080/15228967.2014.868993

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…As Chairman of the Special Olympics, I have the opportunity to reflect on this history and on the spiritual and religious aspects of the Special Olympics movement. Although there is a small, growing body of literature on the spiritual and religious aspects of sport and disability (Brock, 2012;Shafer, 2012;Watson, 2013Watson, , 2012Yong, in press), these works focus on Christianity, and it is also important to address these issues more broadly. In the face of the reality of inequality, our Movement aims to join forces with millions of human beings living in anguish to set a goal no less radical than the problem it confronts: to end the scourge of discrimination against people with intellectual differences once and for all.…”

Section: T Shrivermentioning

confidence: 98%

Triumph From Anguish: The Inspiration of the Special Olympics

Shriver

2014

Journal of Disability & Religion

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Section: T Shrivermentioning

confidence: 98%

Triumph From Anguish: The Inspiration of the Special Olympics

Shriver

2014

Journal of Disability & Religion

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“…Theological analysis of disability sport has been virtually non-existent to-date. However, this journal Special Edition, recent publications (Brock, 2012;Watson & Parker, 2015;Watson, 2013;Watson & Parker, 2012) and two keynote lectures by one of the pioneers of the field of theology of disability, John Swinton (2016Swinton ( , 2012, demonstrates a growing interest in this subject matter. This corpus of work that is focussed on the theology of disability is largely based upon the foundational writings of theologians, such as, John Swinton, Brian Brock, Amos Yong, John Hull, Henri Nouwen, Stanley Hauerwas and the founder of L'Arche 2 , Jean Vanier.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sport, Theology, and the Special Olympics: A Christian Theological Reflection

Watson¹,

Kumar²

2020

Theology, Disability and Sport

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This article explores the potential of the Special Olympic movement to act as a counter-narrative and prophetic message to the big-business world of professional sports. Drawing on the work of pioneers in the field of theology of disability, such as, Jean Vanier, John Swinton, Brian Brock, Amos Yong and Stanley Hauerwas, we provide a brief overview of the key themes within the theology of disability which are then deployed analyse the Special Olympics. This section is prefaced with a succinct account of the modern sporting institution and its key characteristics from a theological stand-point. We conclude that "those that are excluded … those at the edge of the system" (Rohr, 1995, p. 28)-Special Olympians-have an important and timely message for those within the system of big-business professional sport.

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“…Further to reading and corresponding with theologians that have examined issues of disability, we have identified very few reflections on the connections between sport, religion and disability save for those emanating from such sources as: papal addresses (John Paul II, 2010a, 2010b), theological essays on the Special Olympics and Paralympics (Watson, 2013a(Watson, , 2012Watson & Parker, 2012;Brock, 2012), sections of a recent doctoral thesis and book chapter that addressed the Special Olympics (Shafer, 2012, pp. 189-196;Yong, 2007, pp.…”

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confidence: 98%