America’s God and America’s Game: Home, Hope and the Gospel According to Baseball

Since its emergence in the nineteenth century, baseball has grown alongside the American nation itself. More than simply “America’s pastime,” it has shaped—and been shaped by—the nation’s history, values, and identity. Through clips from Ken Burns’ acclaimed documentary Baseball, memorable scenes from Field of Dreams, and selections from literature and history, we’ll explore how baseball became America’s civil religion, expressing our deepest longings for home, community, sacrifice, reconciliation, and redemption. Finally, we’ll consider how these themes point beyond the ballpark to the larger story told by the Christian gospel.

Our speaker, Rev. Quinn Fox, recently retired from over 40 years of ordained ministry in the PCUSA. He has served Whitworth University as a college chaplain, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary as Director of Vocation and Admissions, The Office of Theology and Worship of the Presbyterian Mission Agency as an Associate for Theology, and two large PCUSA congregations as Associate Pastor for Discipleship and Education: First Presbyterian Church of Colorado Springs and, for the past 14 ½ years, The National Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC.

Quinn has degrees from Colorado College (B.A.), Fuller Theological Seminary (M.Div., M.A.) and Princeton Theological Seminary (Th.M.). And he earned a Ph.D. in The History of Christian Thought at Vanderbilt University. Quinn has taught as an adjunct professor for Fuller Theological Seminary, The Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo, Egypt, and the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary. 

Join us in Heritage Hall, the lowest level of Elliot House each Sunday for our Adult Forum.