Shirl James Hoffman is professor emeritus of kinesiology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He wrote the Jan. 29, 2010, Christianity Today cover story “Sports Fanatics,” and he has a book, Good Game: Christianity and the Culture of Sports.

The Rev. Kent Berghuis is senior pastor at First Baptist Church of Oklahoma City, and an affiliate in theology at Palmer Theological Seminary in King of Prussia, Pa.

Clifford Putney teaches American religious history at Bentley College in Waltham, Mass. He is the author of Muscular Christianity: Manhood and Sports in Protestant America, 1880-1920, regarded by many as a definitive work on the relationship between Protestantism and sports in America.

Warren Goldstein teaches American history at the University of Hartford, where he chairs the history department. He is the author of Playing for Keeps: A History of Early Baseball, and he wrote an essay in the Nov. 1, 2003, Christian Century magazine titled, “Winning Isn’t Everything: Baseball as a Theological Discipline.”

The Fellowship of Christian Athletes, based in Kansas City, Mo., is the leading Christian organization for professional and student athletes. The ministry aims to evangelize through sports and has members sign a “Competitor’s Creed” to be on “Team Jesus Christ.” The FCA was founded in 1954, and its “huddles” meet regularly on nearly 8,000 junior high, […]

Frank Reich is a former college and NFL star quarterback and from 2003 to 2006 was president of the Charlotte, N.C., campus of the Reformed Theological Seminary. He is now a motivational speaker and speaks about the relationship between prayer and athletic contests, often in the context of his own record of “miraculous” comeback victories. He […]

Tom Krattenmaker is director of communications for the Yale Divinity School in New Haven, Conn. A former reporter, he writes frequently on religion and public life for USA Today and Salon. His books include Onward Christian Athletes.

Read a Jan. 13, 2013, story published by Slate about a survey released by the Public Religion Research Institute that found 27 percent of Americans think that a higher power plays some role in deciding who will win sporting events.

Chester L. Gillis is dean of Georgetown College, a professor in the department of theology and director of the Program on the Church and Interreligious Dialogue in the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. He is an expert in Catholocism and the editor of The Political Papacy: John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Their Influence.