Research & Writing

I specialize in the history of sports and Christianity in the modern United States, and I have also researched and written on subjects related to race, religion, and the Midwest in American history. A few highlights and current projects related to my academic work and research:

My first book, The Spirit of the Game: American Christianity and Big-Time Sports, will be published by Oxford University Press in the fall of 2024.
I am the Principal Investigator for a collaborative capacity-building grant between Baylor Athletics and Truett Seminary's Faith & Sports Institute. The grant is part of the Educating Character Initiative, funded through the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University. Learn more about the grant at this link.
I am serving as the lead organizer for the 4th Global Congress on Sport and Christianity, hosted at Baylor University from July 31 - August 2 in 2025. Look for more information to come soon!

Along with my academic publications, my writing has appeared at Christianity Today, Religion & Politics, Slate, Religion News Service, and other online publications. Check out some of my pieces in the links below.

My CV

ONLINE PUBLICATIONS

CHRISTIANITY TODAY
•"The Basketball Team Created to Represent God" (May 2, 2024)
•"Basketball is a Beautiful Game, but Not a Blueprint for Society" (February 8, 2023)
•"Super Bowl Fans Don’t Need a Linebacker Jesus" (February 8, 2023)
•"After Answered Prayers for Damar Hamlin, What’s Next?" (January 10, 2023)
•"Mine Eyes Have Seen the Thrill of Victory, and the Agony of Defeat" (September 20, 2022)
•"Why We Fight About Football Prayers" (April 22, 2022)
•"The Witness of the Black Church Rings Through NBA History" (Feb. 2, 2022)
• "Bill Glass, Football Star Who Changed Evangelical Approach to Sports and Prisons" (Dec. 9, 2021)
• "Baptists Can Dunk: 5 Facts About Baylor Basketball’s Historic NCAA Championship Win" (April 6, 2021)
• "ORU Basketball Fans Know to ‘Expect a Miracle’" (March 26, 2021)
• "Black Christians Play a Crucial Role in Athlete Activism" (August 31, 2020)
• "Oklahoma v. Baylor: Rivals on the Field, Partners in Ministry" (November 14, 2019)
• “The Philadelphia Eagles Get the ‘God Squad’ Treatment” (September 6, 2018)
• “The Anti-Racism Activist That History Forgot” (June 5, 2018)
• “God and the Gridiron Game” (September 6, 2017)
• “Finally, Jackie Robinson’s Faith is Getting the Attention It Deserves” (June 29, 2017)

RELIGION & POLITICS
• "Revisiting the Legacy of Jackie Robinson: the Christian, the Athlete, and the Activist" (Nov. 1, 2022)
• “Football and the Political Act of Prayer” (August 28, 2018)
• "The Role of Sports Ministries in the NFL Protests” (October 17, 2017)
• "Nebraska: A Cornhusker Prays with FCA" (March 17, 2015)

SLATE
• "The Black Man Who Invented Nebraska Football" (November 13, 2020)
• "John Wooden's Homespun Creed Was Not So Homespun" (May 17, 2017)

RELIGION NEWS SERVICE
• "How the Coronavirus Could Change America’s Religion of Sports" (March 25, 2020)
• "Patriots 'Character Coach' Jack Easterby Joins Long Tradition of Chaplains” (February 1, 2019)

BOOKS AND BOOK CHAPTERS

My first book, titled The Spirit of the Game: American Christianity and Big-Time Sports, will be published by Oxford University Press in September 2024. Order your copy and learn more about the book here. I also have chapters in two edited collections that are under contract with Oxford University Press: "Touchdown Jesus: The Midwest and the Integration of Religion and Sport," (in Oxford History of the Midwest) and "Fundamentalism and Sport" (in The Oxford Handbook of Christian Fundamentalism).

In 2022, I published an essay titled “‘There is Talk of Black Power’: Christian Athletes and the Revolt of the Black Athlete,” in Religion and Sport in North America: Critical Essays for the Twenty-First Century, edited by Jeffrey Scholes and Randall Balmer (New York: Routledge, 2022), 13-34.

ACADEMIC ARTICLES

Peer-Reviewed Publications

“Tracing the Historical Contours of Black Muscular Christianity and American Sport,” The International Journal of the History of Sport, 39.4 (2022): 404-424. [PDF available upon request]
“Commercializing the Sacred Office: Sexual Revolution and the Scandal of the Modern Marrying Parson, 1895-1930,” The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era 17.1 (January 2018): 56-76. [PDF available upon request]
“For Race and Region: A Brief History of the Western Negro Press Association, 1896-1920,” Great Plains Quarterly 38.2 (Spring 2018): 175-198. [PDF available upon request]
“Building a City on a Hill: Mobilizing Evangelical Protestant Men for Moral Reform under the Des Moines Plan, 1907-1916.” The Annals of Iowa 77.1 (Winter 2018): 1-40. [this article can be accessed online]
“Big-League Basketball Comes to Omaha: A History of the Omahawks.” Nebraska History 97.4 (Winter 2016): 185-198. [PDF available upon request]
"From the Pulpit to the Press: Frank Crane's Omaha, 1892-1896." Nebraska History 96.3 (Fall 2015): 136-153. [this article can be accessed online]
Co-author with Jordan R. Bass and Mark Vermillion, “‘Going Viral’: The Impact of Forced Crowdsourcing on Coaching Evaluation Procedures.” International Sport Coaching Journal 1.2 (2014): 103-108.
“A Church for the People and a Priest for the Common Man: Charles W. Savidge, Omaha’s Eccentric Reformer.” Nebraska History 94.2 (Summer 2013): 54-73. [this article can be accessed online]
“Jesse ‘Cab’ Renick: In Search of an Indian Identity.” Chronicles of Oklahoma 89.1 (Spring 2011): 72-97.

BLOGGING

In my current role with Truett Seminary's Faith & Sports Institute, I serve as editor and contributor to the Faith & Sports Blog.

During my graduate school days I sporadically kept up Sportianity, a blog exploring the historical and contemporary connections between sports and Christianity in the United States. Among the most popular blog posts at the site:

I used to have a personal blog at peputz.blogspot.com, where I wrote about basketball, music, history, culture, and whatever else caught my fancy. Below is a sampling of my most popular blog posts, arranged by category.

Basketball:

Books:

Personal Reflections:

Farewell Chipper: Baseball and Memories

I have also written at a couple of academic group blogs, including Sport in American History (you can find my posts by clicking here) and Religion in American History (You can find my posts by clicking here). Below is a sampling of some of my RiAH posts.

Book Preview Lists:

Book Reviews:

American West/Midwest