THEOLOGY BASEBALL: GAME RULES
Theology Baseball is a fun way to teach theology. It helps students exercise their knowledge of
key theologians, events, and ideas in Church history—while using the competitive structure of
baseball.
1. PICKING THE TEAMS
There will be two teams: the St. James Padres and the Orthodoxy Dodgers.
The Professor will select the players for each team at the beginning of the semester and will
also serve as the Umpire for the Theology Innings.
Each team will have 1 General Manager (GM), 1 Coach, and several Players.
The Umpire will select one GM and one Coach for each team. If the original GM or Coach is
unwilling to serve in this capacity, their team may vote in a replacement. The Umpire is
responsible for ensuring fair contests, and so will oversee Theology Innings.
2. HOW TO PLAY
Theology Innings follow the basic structure of baseball. Both teams will bat in each inning.
Each incorrect answer is an out. After three outs, the other team bats. Runners advance by
answering questions correctly.
The Theologian Trading Cards (TCC) provide the raw material for pitches. The GM and
Coach work together to create questions from the stats on either team’s cards. These
questions are asked of the opposing team.
A. Rightly answered questions with multiple choice answers given are singles.
Rightly answered questions without multiple choice answers are doubles. The
hitter chooses whether to receive multiple choices.
B. A curveball is a question that’s improvised by pitchers and is not found on the
TCC; it comes from knowledge gained in class. If a player answers a curveball
question without using the multiple choice option, it’s a home run. If the hitter
selects the multiple choice option, a correct answer is a triple.
C. At least one curveball must be thrown per inning, per team, and be declared
before it is thrown. Any player on the hitting team may identify unintentional
curveballs to count for potential home runs or triples, but this must be done prior
to the hit.
D. Runs are scored by advancing runners home (e.g., 2 doubles = 1 run).
Theology innings are played until there are either three outs (3 wrongly answered questions),
or the whole team has hit through the order. One team will hit per class period, unless time
allows for more. If time runs out, innings will be ‘paused’ until the next contest. Theology
Innings may occur each Friday, or at the Umpire’s discretion.
3. HOW TO WIN THE GAME
General Managers and Coaches are responsible for keeping score and the status of ‘paused’
innings. Each team will be allotted the same amount of innings to hit. Theology Innings may
exceed 9 innings, and may require extra innings to determine the winner. The cumulative
score from the innings will determine the winning team.
PRIZE: The winning team not only earns bragging rights, but the option to either skip the next
exam, or have extra credit points added to each player’s final grade.
OPTIONAL RULE – TRADING PLAYERS
GMs may trade players. Trades can only occur with the written consent of both GMs and the
involved players. During the first full week of the semester, Coaches submit a line-up to the
Umpire and may change the line-up once during the semester.
Game rules and concept by Benjamin D. Wayman, assistant professor of religion at
Greenville College (Greenville, IL). He holds the Ph.D. in historical theology (early Christianity)
from Saint Louis University and the M.Div. from Duke Divinity School. Professor Wayman
wants to thank his Fall 2013 COR 102 class, ‘Introduction to Christian Thought and Life,’ for
fine-tuning the rules of Theology Baseball.
Download these rules from the Zondervan Academic blog. http://bit.ly/tccbaseball
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