CRAIG HARLINE, a professor of history at Brigham Young University, is the author of A Bishop’s Tale, The Burdens of Sister Margaret, and Miracles at the Jesus Oak. His research has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Philosophical Society, the American Council of Learned Societies, and other granting agencies. He lives in Orem, Utah.

Super Bowl Sunday, Recently

While most in the basement viewing room rush off with the rest of America to the kitchen buffet, or join the annual great flush that so worries local water departments, the colored lights, music, and smoke of the halftime show go up on the big screen. Remaining behind with my ninety-year-old grandmother, I wonder which of the Jacksons will be performing this year and what my grandmother will think of it all. Comfortable in her favorite recliner, she’s no fan of football or pop music, but she recognizes a cultural spectacle when she sees one and likes to join in the fun. She also likes, I know, to have yet another look at what the world is coming to now. . . . It isn’t long before she raises her eyebrows and utters her trademark “Good Night!”—sure signs of disapproval. Watching her, I’m struck by the thought that my grandmother cannot be the only one wondering at the moment, “Just exactly how did we get here? . . . That “Super Bowl” ended up as an adjective for “Sunday” was no simple matter, I suspect—nor was Sunday’s partnering with such seemingly innocent words as “outing,” “driver,” “shopping,” “movie,” or “brunch.” . . . I wanted to look at Sunday over a long period of time, but in more than one place, to give variety. I wanted it to be historically reliable, yet appealing to general readers. . . . By the end, I hope that you will have a much better sense of the question that has occupied me and many others for so long: just exactly how did Sunday get to be where it is, in this place or that?

—From Sunday

The mere mention of “Sunday” will immediately conjure up a rich mix of memories, associations, and ideas for most anyone of any age.  Whatever we think of—be it attending church, reading a bulky newspaper, eating brunch, or watching football— Sunday occupies a unique place in Western civilization. But how did we come to have a day with such a singular set of traditions?

Here, historian Craig Harline examines Sunday from its ancient beginnings to recent America in a fascinating blend of facts and anecdotes. For early Christians, the first day of the week was a time to celebrate the liturgy and observe the Resurrection. But over time, Sunday in the Western world took on still other meanings and rituals, especially in the addition of both rest and recreation to the day’s activities. Harline illuminates these changes in enlightening profiles of Sunday in medieval Catholic England, Sunday in the Reformation, and Sunday in nineteenth-century France—home of the most envied and sometimes despised Sunday of the modern world. He continues with moving portraits of soldiers and civilians observing Sunday during World War I, examines the quiet Sunday of England in the 1930s, and concludes with the convergence of various European traditions in the American Sunday, which also adds some distinctly original habits of its own, including in the realms of commerce and professional sports.

With engaging prose and scholarly integrity, Sunday is an entertaining and long-overdue look at a significant hallmark of Western culture.