Sport as sacrament. Loving your opponent as yourself. Athletics for the sake of the soul. As issues from racism to doping to violence on and off the playing field gather increasing public notoriety, so, too, are philosophers and ethicists directing their lofty attention to the connection among sports, faith and the common good.

Lifting up the virtue of humility may seem anachronistic in an age that extols self-adulation. But for Tomas Halik, a Czech priest and philosopher who won the 2014 Templeton Prize, the willingness of religious and secular individuals to engage in dialogue and learn from one another is essential to a civil society. “We must learn to share public space,” Halik declares.