James H. Evans, Jr., is Robert K. Davies Professor of Systematic Theology at Colgate-Rochester Divinity School and the author of several books. This paperback is part of Fortress Press's Compass Series on Christian Explorations of Daily Living, edited by David H. Jensen, who is Professor of Constructive Theology at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
True to its theological purview, Playing has a Trinitarian focus with chapters on "Playing in the Dark: God and the Field of Play," "Don't Hate the Player, Hate the Game: Jesus as a Player," and "The Spirit at Play: Humanity, Church, and Cosmos." The postlude is titled "Playing Around the World" and it ponders play as a global practice.
Evans begins with play studies by Johan Huizinga, Roger Callois, and Brian Sutton-Smith before moving on to a look at literary works and the ways in which slaves in U.S. used play as a source of personal renewal. The author then probes playing in the dark as a creative activity, a re-creative movement connected with storytelling, and a resource providing hope. Evans sees Jesus as a master player who subverts the honor/shame cultural system and changes the game completely with his understanding of grace. He also modeled fresh ways of being in his confrontation with imperial power and religious legalists: "In Jesus' encounter with both devotees and detractors, he was able to bring change by playing through time and history. He was able to juxtapose playfully the past and the present and through them posit a hopeful future."
Evans breezes through a section on the playful dimensions of humanity, the church, and the cosmos, before landing on the conclusion that "the recovery of play is the first step in reclaiming our freedom and recognizing our humanity."
