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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 abovequoted 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 KeskiVähälä, 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. 20 + 324 + Daréczi-Sepsi-Vassänyi_Initiation_155x240.indb 324 6 2020.06.15. 11:04:26