Agapē, Aretē, and the Arena: Exploring Sport through Faith, Reason, and Olympism

Young people have a passion for play, for competition and sport, a place where they feel fully alive. As a result, Catholic schools have introduced courses to explore sport and spirituality, delving into the working of God in their lives through athletics. However, the study of philosophy is integral to the understanding of the Catholic faith, therefore any education must also include the study of philosophy if it is to be authentically Catholic. The opportunity to create a course that incorporated both disciplines with sport resulted in a high school elective course titled, Philosophy and Theology of Sport. Its purpose is to move the young athlete from what Anthea Butler calls a Catholicism of practice to a Catholicism of the intellect (Martin, 2025, 16:37), by using both practical philosophy and practical theology. This article addresses the philosophical and theological understandings of young athletes through a one semester junior course, the Philosophy and Theology of Sport, that explores sport through the nexus of theology (agapē), philosophy (aretē), and the arena (the ideal of Olympism).