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JOHANNA DOMOKOS
the interrelationship of sports, religion, and philosophy. Ihe 1697 doctoral
thesis by Gustavus Starck, Professor of Eloguence at the University of Turku
already used source material from Aristotle, Plutarch, and Terentius, as
well as several ideas from the Bible, to reflect on sports in terms of their
influence on the worldviews and lifestyles of their practitioners."" More recent
publications by Finnish authors include Juoskemisen filosofia (Philosophy of
Running), a 2005 book on the philosophy of running by Tapio Koski, whose
theoretical framework draws from the philosophy of Maurice Merleau-Ponty
and Martin Heidegger", and also Suomalaisen kestdvyysjuoksun historia
(The History of the Finnish Endurance-Running, 2014) a work on the history
of endurance running in Finland by Erkki Vettenniemi.”°
And what is the case with sports in Finnish literature? In the above¬
quoted 2014 article in the prestigious literary journal Parnasso, dedicated to
the century-old tradition of Finnish sporting literature (urheilukirjallisuus),
writer and runner-athlete Juoni Tossavainen lists twenty Finnish authors
who have contributed to this genre, like Jari Ehrnrooth, Paul-Erik Haataja,
Laila Hietamies, Juha Hurme, Pekka Jaatinen, Anja Kauranen, Sami Keski¬
Vähälä, Tuomas Kyré, Leena Lehtolainen, Marjo Niemi, Miika Nousiainen,
Kalle Veirto, Maarit Verronen, Kjell West6 and Mika Wickstrom, and from
the younger generation Elisabeth Aho, Anneli Kanto, Tuija Lehtinen, Kirsi
Pehkonen and Jorma Ranivaara. Three works from the present oeuvre of
Jari Ehrnrooth could also be considered core contributions to this genre:
Kaksi syntymää ja yksi kuolema (Two Births and One Death, 2002, essays),
Lähemmäksi kuin lähelle (Closer than Close, 2007, novel), and Juoksu
(The Run, 2012a story-essay-poems).”!
In Ehrnrooth’s work, these three titles and the spiritual prose of his two
recent books Tietämättä uskon (Faith Without Knowledge, 2012b, essays on
personal faith) and Toivon tarkoitus (The Meaning of Hope, 2014, essays on
enduring hope) can be interpreted as a subtle transition from the genre of
the novel to the genre of essayistic, theological-philosophical commentaries
De pancratio indeq{ue] viro forti arte, natura, marte et moribus disputabit, ex consensu
Ampliss[imae] Fac[ultatis] Philosophlicae] in Regia Academia Aboensi, sub moderamine ...
d[omini] mlagistri] Christierni Alandri, eloq[uentiae] professl[oris] ... ad diem] 3 Nov. anno
1697. Gustavus Starck. Impr. apud Jo. Wallium. Doctoral thesis. See Jouni Tossavainen,
Urheilukirjailijoiden jäljillä. Urheilufiktiota on julkaistu Suomessa sata vuotta, Parnasso
6-7/2014, 48-53.
Tapio Koski, Juokseminen filosofia, Tampere, Tampere University Press, 2005.
Erkki Vettenniemi, Suomalaisen kestävyysjuoksun historia, Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden
Seura, 2014.
?! Jari Ehrnrooth, Kaksi syntymää ja yksi kuolema, Helsinki, WSOY, 2002. Jari Ehrnrooth,
Lähemmäksi kuin lähelle. Kertomus toisesta ihmisestä, Helsinki, Kirjapaja, 2007. Jari
Ehrnrooth, Juoksu, Helsinki, Lurra Editions, 2012a.
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