Playing (Compass: Christian Explorations of Daily Living)

"Playing often connotes frivolity. But James Evans, in this insightful reflection, offers another view: playing lies at the heart of Christian faith in the triune God. Through a close examination of African-American literature and experience, and a re-examination of basic doctrinal affirmations, Evans recovers play as a subversive and even revolutionary activity, a practice of faith that gives life in the midst of structures and authorities that suffocate. In this light, Jesus becomes the political, cultural and religious player who redeems by changing the game so that it no longer excludes but instead gives life. God creates us for freedom in a field of play. The Spirit summons us toward God's Reign, where the freedom of play never ends. Playing, in this view, is hardly frivolous, but the pulse of life itself. Evans invites us to play as we live and work" -- Publisher description.

James H. Evans Jr. is Robert K. Davies Professor of Systematic Theology at Colgate-Rochester Crozer Divinity School. He is the author of We Have Been Believers: An African American Systematic Theology (1993), Spiritual Empowerment in Afro-American Literature (1988), and, with G.E.Gorman, Black Theology: A Critical Assessment and Annotated Bibliography (1987).


David H. Jensen is Professor of Constructive Theology at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.