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Joseph L.
Price
While attending Georgetown College in Kentucky in the late
1960s, Joseph Price heard Vanderbilt professor John
Killinger deliver a lecture on Dadaism. Killinger considered
how the literature's seemingly nonsensical syllables
revealed deep aesthetic sensitivity and religious
sensibility. Convinced that the study of spiritual
dimensions of secular experiences and expressions were
engaging, Price decided to pursue graduate study in
"religion and culture."
After completing his doctoral studies in theology at The
University of Chicago Divinity School, Price joined the
faculty at Whittier College. His teaching often blends his
theological, literary, and cultural interests in courses
ranging from "Cinema and Religion" and "Farce and Faith in
Recent Southern Fiction" to "Sport, Play, and Ritual."
Currently, he holds the Genevieve Shaul Connick Chair in
Religious Studies.
Price's research, lectures, and publications include two
widely used theological resources, the New and Enlarged
Handbook of Christian Theology and A New Handbook of
Christian Theologians, both of which he co-edited with
Donald Musser. Recently he has collaborated again with
Musser in writing an introductory study of the theology Paul
Tillich for Abingdon’s series on "Pillars of Theology."
An avid sports fan from early childhood, Price has observed
the passionate devotion of sports fans who have often also
participated actively in traditional religious
congregations. His initial interests in the religious
affiliations and testimonies of athletes have expanded to
include the study of the religious character of rituals in
sporting events and the spiritual significance of fans’
devotion to sports teams, which provide the focus for books
Rounding the Bases: Baseball and Religion in America and
From Season to Season: Sports as American Religion.
Currently, Price is working on two projects that connect
sports and religion. One focuses on the ritual significance
of the performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" for
baseball games. As part of the research for that work, he is
singing the National Anthem at than 100 Minor League
ballparks during the 2011 baseball season. In previous years
he has sung the Anthem in twenty Major League ballparks
throughout the country. In another work, he analyzes the
rituals of closure for baseball stadiums, having interviewed
fans and photographed ceremonies following the final games
in eight Major League stadiums.
Within the Whittier community, Price is Past President of
the Whittier Area Chamber of Commerce, and he has served two
terms as the Chair of the Cultural Arts Commission of the
City of Whittier. He and his wife Bonnie were honored by the
community in 2010 with the Rio Hondo chapter Good Scout
Award.
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