By Christopher J. Anderson, Ph.D.

In an 1858 article for Atlantic Monthly titled, "Saints, and their Bodies," author Thomas W. Higginson suggests that physical exercise "takes a man out-doors, and it uses his muscles, and therefore of course it is good." For Higginson, the use of one's body for healthy activities helps to get men and women into top physical condition and is "a necessary condition of all permanent success." These physical activities also help to shape one's "moral muscles," thus resulting in both a well-toned and an ethically-conditioned American citizen. By Higginson's account, physical conditioning makes active Christians muscular, healthy, and moral an important combination which has endured from the mid-nineteenth century until today.

Clifford Putney's compelling text, Muscular Christianity, investigates this notion of blending muscles and morality. Looking at trends between the years 1880 and 1920 during the so-called American Progressive Era, he calls attention to the phrase "muscular Christianity" which he defines as "a Christian commitment to health and manliness." Putney traces how the YMCA and YWCA, along with the Boy Scout and Girl Scout organizations, helped build character in the individual while at the same time providing opportunities for physical fitness and reflection on God. These organizations functioned in part as public arenas where Christian men and women, boys and girls, could learn about the importance of living a moral life while building muscle mass and getting fit through scouting activities and camping excursions.

During the twentieth century, the emergence of playground associations and organizations devoted to discipleship for Christian athletes provided spaces where children and young adults could be physically and spiritually active toward developing a healthier body and a deeper relationship with Christ. The formation of the Playground Association of America (1906) provided carefully designed locations for play and wellness activities within U.S. cities in part to keep children off the streets and out of trouble by means of physical participation on ball fields, swing sets, and merry-go-rounds. By mid-century, the faith-based initiative Fellowship of Christian Athletes (1954) endorsed gatherings for persons physically active in extra-curricular sporting events at high school and college. At these meetings athletes were either encouraged to begin a relationship with Jesus through spiritual conversion or to be discipled in their Christian faith through Bible study groups.

The combined emphasis on muscular development and morality - fitness and faith - continues to pervade American society today. Companies across the United States look to American churches to sell goods directly related to physical fitness. Some of these businesses market their exercise equipment for the purpose of providing churchgoers with physical activities inside the church. These activities help tone muscles on the body while also providing locations where physical instructors can inform church gym-goers on issues of moral concern and denominational interest. The manufacturers of these types of equipment advertise that their universal weight set and treadmill will function as tools of evangelism to draw new persons into the church for physical activity and Christian fellowship, as well as give regular church members a vigorous workout.

Other organizations outside the walls of the church gymnasium pitch their businesses toward persons interested in a health club experience designed specifically for Christians. Once a membership is purchased, the individual can immediately start personal training to build physical strength and lose weight on exercise machinery that works the body as well as the mind. Suffering and sweating for Christ on these devices takes American Christians on a journey toward health and weight loss.

Other organizations and physical fitness gurus target U.S. Christians who are interested in looking trimmer at their work place or physically fit on the beach. These companies hawk their wares by promoting the importance of having a body that exemplifies Christ, and also by developing and advertising dietary and exercise regimens that supposedly echo the teachings on fitness found in the Bible. Yet, other organizations provide online instructors who personally check in on the client's progress via email correspondence. Businesses also enable shoppers to peruse their online stores where Christian buyers can purchase trinkets imprinted with a variety of slogans promoting athleticism for Jesus or screened T-shirts that signify that the wearer is a physically fit Christian. A credit card is all one needs to purchase an assortment of sweatshirts, fitted tank tops, baseball caps, mouse pads, and coffee mugs.

How might we consider the ways in which these websites help shape and reshape not only one's physical condition but also one's Christian faith and practice? For some Christian organizations and believers, physical exercise can be used as a tool for evangelization. As mentioned previously, various companies advertise their products for use in the church as a means to draw people into the gymnasium or recreation hall. By purchasing and implementing physical fitness equipment as a luring agent, some ministers and church boards hope that persons not interested in or affiliated with their congregation will enter the sacred confines of the building, interact with other Christians also using the workout equipment, and eventually experience a conversion to Christianity. In this way, ministers and parishioners can feel like they are doing their part to help bring others into a relationship with Christ. By doing so, churchgoers are able to link muscular Christianity with the Great Commission of Matthew 28, albeit through means of a bench press and chilled bottles of sport drink.

For those Christians who are told they are overweight or do not meet the requirements of the Body Mass Index, Christian fitness gyms and exercise establishments provide opportunities for believers to build muscle through weight training and exercise and to build biblical competency by using passages from the Bible that adorn the walls of their facilities, presumably so that while working out, members can reflect upon the words of Jesus and be encouraged to press on toward complete physical fitness and weight loss. These facilities function as agents that purposefully blend the gymnasium with the Christian education center.

Finally, and perhaps most striking, is the marketing of physical fitness and its accompanying merchandising toward Christian consumers. For example, while visiting a local mall, wearing T-shirts adorned with slogans highlighting the link between a physically fit body and a relationship with Christ might make the wearer feel that he or she is the ultimate example of Christian faith and physical fitness. Yet, one wonders if the people to whom these Christians are trying to witness, popularly known by some as non-Christians or the unchurched, ever feel personally convicted or convinced that they need to be like the person who is publicly claiming a relationship with Jesus on a fitted T-shirt? Are people running to Christ (and later running for Christ) by reading these advertisements? Does the bottom line (and ultimate purpose) of these wearables center on the politics of dollars and cents? In the end, the companies and producers of these lines of clothing and commodities are quite likely making a great deal of money off the Christian consumer, although some do throw a taxable donation in the coffers of their favorite charity. In a sense, wearers are being used as human billboards to broadcast the interests of the Christian company and as walking showcases promoting the linkage between Christian faith and physical fitness to those passing by.

The historic intersections between physical fitness and Christian faith have a storied past in the United States. From a mid-nineteenth century emphasis upon exercise and morality, to the recent selling and purchasing of exercise equipment for churches and weight loss programs grounded in the Bible, Christians have a variety of options to build muscle, lose those extra pounds, and study the Scriptures. Because of this emphasis on weight loss and Christian faith, one wonders what would happen should a person purchase these programs and not lose weight? Does this make them less of a Christian because they are not able to shed those extra pounds as promised by a website or mailing? Does an overweight believer wearing a T-shirt promoting health and fitness through Christ embarrass the companies and marketers who seemingly desire to see slim and trim believers wearing their goods? Or are the ultimate motives for these companies geared toward the reception of your credit card number or personal check in the mail irregardless of whether or not you get in shape according to perceived biblical dietary standards?