The contemporary muscular Christian instrument: A scale developed for contemporary sport

Abstract

Social scientists have conducted quantitative research investigations since at least the early 1980s. However, to date no valid, reliable and objective survey instrument has been developed for sport sociologists to measure important religious ideals in contemporary sport. Historical and theoretical scholarship identifies muscular Christianity as primary to modern sport ideals. Therefore we developed and validated The Contemporary Muscular Christian Instrument, an easily distributable survey that measures the prevalence of muscular Christian values among contemporary participants and consumers of recreation and sport. Our aim in developing this quantitative instrument is to provide social sport scholars a research tool that informs their understanding of these muscular Christian values as they continue to influence notions of sport, recreation, the body, physical activity, and other social indices. This valid and reliable scale allows scholars to examine larger populations and provides data suited to identify differences in levels of the constructs measured, thus allowing researchers and theorists alike to deepen their understanding of the relationship sport and religion have in the globalized social context.

Sport spirituality as an educational innovation (evidenced-based study)

“…Within the Orthodox tradition, the direction of sports philosophy has been formed -as an idea of rethinking the social role of sports and physical culture, as well as the influence of sports on the formation of a system of moral and ethical values. In order for young people to begin to form a system of values, it is necessary to familiarize them with the understanding of physical culture as an integral part of the general culture and develop the idea of a comprehensively and harmoniously formed person [22][23]. In this context, the direction of spiritual growth within the framework of sports began to develop, because sports teachers most often use physical culture and sports only to satisfy and develop the physical activity of schoolchildren and much less often as a means for spiritual education, self-education and development, since they do not always have the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities [24].…”

Christianity as public religion: a justification for using a Christian sociological approach for studying the social scientific aspects of sport

“…Whilst there is still at least some cultural residue of Muscular Christianity within sports today (cf. Meyer et al 2015;Meyer and Umstattd Meyer 2017), it is also apparent that modern sports started to lose the Christian values upon which they were based almost as soon as they had been codified, and this became more pronounced as the 20 th century advanced.…”

When helping helps: exploring health benefits of cancer survivors participating in for-cause physical activity events

“…In his popular novel Tom Brown at Oxford (1861) Hughes states that muscular Christians are “to have strong and well-exercised bodies…that a man’s body is given to him to be trained and brought into subjection, and then used for the protection of the weak, the advancement of all righteous causes, and the subduing of the earth which God has given to the children of men” (p. 82) [ 31 ]. While the term muscular Christianity is relegated to historical discussions of sport and physical activity, the tenants of the historical movement are found in sport and physical activity ideals today [ 40 ].…”

“…Related to the focus of this current study, existing research parallel’s tenants of muscular Christianity, demonstrating its relevance today in various sport and health related areas. For example, Hoverd and Sibley (2007) identified how “conceptions of health use moral discourses derived from Christianity” (p. 391) [ 41 ], and recent empirical studies have focused on identifying muscular Christian themes among various populations with relation to place attachment and prescription drug misuse [ 40 ]. Additional research has discussed the ways in which moral conversations about bodies have been shaped by Christian ideals since the nineteenth century [ 41 ].…”