Seminary professor Mark Stamm explores, in scholarly writing and in liturgy, how baseball connects with culture and Christian faith.
Mark Stamm grew up in Pennsylvania, a United Methodist preacher’s kid. He loved playing sports, but also reading about sports and poring over even the minor league baseball statistics in The Sporting News.
He would find his call to ministry and academia, becoming a United Methodist elder and earning a Th.D. at Boston University. At Perkins, where he joined the faculty in 2000, he has taught a range of classes, overseen chapel services and written articles and books, including Devoting Ourselves to the Prayers, A Baptismal Theology for the Church’s Intercessory Work (Discipleship Ministries).
The passion for sports, especially baseball, has never subsided. His Perkins office has an All Star team’s worth of Major League baseball hats, as well as theological texts and a John Wesley portrait. He attends about 20 Rangers home games a year.
Sam Hodges has the rest of the story about Stamm’s course, “Sports and Spirituality.”
Last Updated on December 8, 2023