This has been a wonderful summer if you follow sports: tennis championships, end-of-season tournaments and soccer’s European Championship and Copa America – all leading up to the most global event of all, the Olympics. The Olympic Games began as a religious celebration in ancient Greece, with competitions to honor their gods. But the Olympics declined once the Roman Empire replaced Greek power in the Mediterranean; the final blow came from the Christian Emperor Theodosius I , who saw the Games as a stage for paganism.
At the end of the 19th century, the modern iteration of the Games began – minus religion. This time, they were secular, with flags and patriotism replacing religious worship. But religion is still easy to see at the Games today, including right on the athletes’ bodies.
At the Summer Games, in particular, lots of skin is on display, and many athletes use it as a testament to faith. There’s Anthony Davis – usually playing for the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers – with a cross and praying hands across his forearm. Fellow basketball pro Jayson Tatum, of the Boston Celtics, has a collection of religious tattoos, including “God’s will” and “Proverbs 3:5-6” across his back.
As a scholar of religion who writes about tattoos, I’m often asked whether Christianity disapproves of tattoos. According to the Bible, didn’t God reject them? The answer is not so simple. The first problem in exploring the history of tattoos, religious or not, is what to call.
