Download or read book Humour and Religion written by Hans Geybels and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2011-03-17 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leading scholars analyze the importance and functioning of humor in different world religions.
Download or read book Christianity and the Triumph of Humor written by Bernard Schweizer and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-07-17 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book traces the development of religious comedy and leverages that history to justify today’s uses of religious humor in all of its manifestations, including irreverent jokes. It argues that regulating humor is futile and counterproductive, illustrating this point with a host of comedic examples. Humor is a powerful rhetorical tool for those who advocate and for those who satirize religious ideals. The book presents a compelling argument about the centrality of humor to the story of Western Christianity’s cultural and artistic development since the Middle Ages, taking a multi-disciplinary approach that combines literary criticism, religious studies, philosophy, theology, and social science. After laying out the conceptual framework in Part 1, Part 2 analyzes key works of religious comedy across the ages from Dante to the present, and it samples the breadth of contemporary religious humor from Brad Stine to Robin Williams, and from Monty Python to South Park. Using critical, historical, and conceptual lenses, the book exposes and overturns past attempts by church authorities, scholars, and commentators to limit and control laughter based on religious, ideological, or moral criteria. This is a unique look into the role of humor and comedy around religion. It will, therefore, appeal to readers interested in multiple fields of inquiry, including religious studies, humor studies, the history of ideas, and comparative literature.
Download or read book Drawn to the Gods written by David Feltmate and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2017-04-11 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sacred centers -- The difference race makes: Native American Religions, Hinduism, and Judaism -- American Christianity, part 1: backwards neighbors -- American Christianity, part 2: American Christianities as dangerous threats -- Stigma, stupidity, and exclusion: "cults" and Muslims -- List of episodes referenced
Download or read book Comedy Tragedy and Religion written by John Morreall and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 1999-05-27 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CHOICE2000 Outstanding Academic Title Comedy, tragedy, and religion have been intertwined since ancient Greece, where comedy and tragedy arose as religious rituals. This groundbreaking book analyzes the worldviews of tragedy and comedy, and compares each with the world's major religions. Morreall contrasts the tragic and comic along twenty psychological and social dimensions and uses these to analyze both Eastern and Western traditions. Although no religion embodies a purely tragic or comic vision of life, some are mostly tragic and others mostly comic. In Eastern religions, Morreall finds no robust tragic vision but does find significant comic features, especially in Taoism and Zen Buddhism. In the Western monotheistic tradition, there are some comic features in the early Bible, but by the late Hebrew Bible, the tragic vision dominates. Two millennia have done little to reverse that tragic vision in Judaism. Christianity, on the other hand, has shown both tragic and comic features—Morreall writes of the Calvinist vision and the Franciscan vision—but in the contemporary era comic features have come to dominate. The author also explores Islam, and finds it has neither a comic nor a tragic vision. And, among new religions, those which emphasize the personal self come close to having an exclusively comic vision of life.
Download or read book Humour in the Beginning written by Roald Dijkstra and published by John Benjamins Publishing Company. This book was released on 2022-10-15 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Humour in the Beginning presents a multidisciplinary collection of fourteen in-depth case-studies on the role of humour – both benign and blasphemous, elitist and ordinary, orthodox and heterodox – in early, formative stages of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and (late-antique) Judaism. Its coherence is strengthened by four preceding theoretical essays, many cross-references and a conclusion. Thus, the volume allows for a methodologically sound comparison and explanation of historical views on humour in the world’s most important religions. At first sight, the foundational period of religions do not seem to offer much opportunities for humour. A closer look on primary sources, however, reveals the ways in which people formulated answers to existing ideas on humour and laughter, in moments of religious renewal. Main topics include the incongruous nature of the divine, the role of anthropomorphism, superior and didactic humour, moderate laughter, responses from dissenters and the gap between religious regulations and reality.
Download or read book Between Heaven and Mirth written by James Martin and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2011-10-04 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Between Heaven and Mirth will make any reader smile. . . . Father Martin reminds us that happiness is the good God’s own goal for us.” —Timothy M. Dolan, Archbishop of New York From The Colbert Report’s “official chaplain” James Martin, SJ, author of the New York Times bestselling The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, comes a revolutionary look at how joy, humor, and laughter can change our lives and save our spirits. A Jesuit priest with a busy media ministry, Martin understands the intersections between spirituality and daily life. In Between Heaven and Mirth, he uses scriptural passages, the lives of the saints, the spiritual teachings of other traditions, and his own personal reflections to show us why joy is the inevitable result of faith, because a healthy spirituality and a healthy sense of humor go hand-in-hand with God's great plan for humankind.
Download or read book Humour and Religion written by Hans Geybels and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2011-03-17 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leading scholars analyze the importance and functioning of humor in different world religions.
Download or read book Comedy Tragedy and Religion written by John Morreall and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1999-01-01 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explicates the worldviews of comedy and tragedy, and analyzes world religions, finding some to be more comic, others more tragic.
Download or read book Religion and Humour written by David Feltmate and published by . This book was released on 2024 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the first volume to introduce the field of religion and humour, exploring their intersection through evaluating existing scholarship and methodologies within the field, arguing for a culturally critical approach to the study.
Download or read book Hating God written by Bernard Schweizer and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2010-11-04 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While atheists such as Richard Dawkins have now become public figures, there is another and perhaps darker strain of religious rebellion that has remained out of sight--people who hate God. In this revealing book, Bernard Schweizer looks at men and women who do not question God's existence, but deny that He is merciful, competent, or good. Sifting through a wide range of literary and historical works, Schweizer finds that people hate God for a variety of reasons. Some are motivated by social injustice, human suffering, or natural catastrophes that God does not prevent. Some blame God for their personal tragedies. Schweizer concludes that, despite their blasphemous thoughts, these people tend to be creative and moral individuals, and include such literary lights as Friedrich Nietzsche, Mark Twain, Zora Neale Hurston, Rebecca West, Elie Wiesel, and Philip Pullman. Schweizer shows that literature is a fertile ground for God haters. Many authors, who dare not voice their negative attitude to God openly, turn to fiction to give vent to it. Indeed, Schweizer provides many new and startling readings of literary masterpieces, highlighting the undercurrent of hatred for God. Moreover, by probing the deeper mainsprings that cause sensible, rational, and moral beings to turn against God, Schweizer offers answers to some of the most vexing questions that beset human relationships with the divine.
Download or read book From Faith to Fun written by Russell Heddendorf and published by Lutterworth Press. This book was released on 2009-02-26 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abraham and Sarah were presented with a paradox when God told them they would have a son in their old age. Paradox in the Old Testament plays an important part in the dialogue between God and the Jews. In the New Testament, paradox is prominent in Jesus' teaching and helps to explain the Christian understanding of salvation.
Download or read book Born a Crime written by Trevor Noah and published by One World. This book was released on 2016-11-15 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • More than one million copies sold! A “brilliant” (Lupita Nyong’o, Time), “poignant” (Entertainment Weekly), “soul-nourishing” (USA Today) memoir about coming of age during the twilight of apartheid “Noah’s childhood stories are told with all the hilarity and intellect that characterizes his comedy, while illuminating a dark and brutal period in South Africa’s history that must never be forgotten.”—Esquire Winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor and an NAACP Image Award • Named one of the best books of the year by The New York Time, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, Esquire, Newsday, and Booklist Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show began with a criminal act: his birth. Trevor was born to a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother at a time when such a union was punishable by five years in prison. Living proof of his parents’ indiscretion, Trevor was kept mostly indoors for the earliest years of his life, bound by the extreme and often absurd measures his mother took to hide him from a government that could, at any moment, steal him away. Finally liberated by the end of South Africa’s tyrannical white rule, Trevor and his mother set forth on a grand adventure, living openly and freely and embracing the opportunities won by a centuries-long struggle. Born a Crime is the story of a mischievous young boy who grows into a restless young man as he struggles to find himself in a world where he was never supposed to exist. It is also the story of that young man’s relationship with his fearless, rebellious, and fervently religious mother—his teammate, a woman determined to save her son from the cycle of poverty, violence, and abuse that would ultimately threaten her own life. The stories collected here are by turns hilarious, dramatic, and deeply affecting. Whether subsisting on caterpillars for dinner during hard times, being thrown from a moving car during an attempted kidnapping, or just trying to survive the life-and-death pitfalls of dating in high school, Trevor illuminates his curious world with an incisive wit and unflinching honesty. His stories weave together to form a moving and searingly funny portrait of a boy making his way through a damaged world in a dangerous time, armed only with a keen sense of humor and a mother’s unconventional, unconditional love.
Download or read book Sacred Play written by Selva J. Raj and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2010-01-12 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the significance of levity and humor in South Asian religious traditions.
Download or read book Religious Humor in Evangelical Christian and Mormon Culture written by Elisha McIntyre and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-01-25 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Incorporating perspectives from religious studies, humor studies, cultural and film studies, and theology, as well as original data from textual analysis and the voices of religious comedians, this book critically analyses the experiences of believers who appreciate that their faith is not necessarily a barrier to their laughter. It is often thought that religion and humor are incompatible, but Religious Humor in Evangelical Christian and Mormon Culture shows that humor is not only a popular means of entertainment, but also a way in which an individual or community expresses their identity and values. Elisha McIntyre argues that believers embrace their sense of humor, actively producing and consciously consuming comic entertainment that reflects their own experiences. This process is not however without conflict. The book argues that there are specific characteristics that indicate a unique kind of humor that may be called 'religious humor'. Through an examination of religious humor found in stand-up comedy, television sitcoms, comedy film and satirical cartoons, and drawing on interview data, the book outlines the main considerations that Christians take into account when choosing their comedy entertainment. These include questions about ideology, blasphemy, taboos around the body, and the motives behind the joke.
Download or read book Laugh Your Way to Grace written by Rev. Susan Sparks and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2010-05-01 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Laughter—the GPS System for the Soul Laughter was honored by the ancients as a spiritual healing tool and celebrated by the world's great religions. So why aren’t we laughing along the spiritual path today? What would happen if we did? In this personal and funny look at humor as a spiritual practice, Rev. Susan Sparks—an ex-lawyer turned comedian and Baptist minister—presents a convincing case that the power of humor radiates far beyond punch lines. Laughter can help you: Remove the fearful mask of a God who doesn’t laugh Debunk the myths that you don’t deserve joy Find perspective when faced with adversity Exercise forgiveness for yourself and others Reclaim play as a spiritual practice Heal—emotionally, physically, and spiritually Keep your faith when God is silent Live with elegance, beauty, and generosity of spirit Whatever your faith tradition—or if you have none at all—join this veteran of the punch line and the pulpit in reclaiming the forgotten humor legacy found in thousands of years of human spiritual history.
Download or read book Redeeming Laughter written by Peter L. Berger and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2014-10-14 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Amid the variety of human experiences, the comic occupies a distinctive place. It is simultaneously ubiquitous, relative, and fragile. In this book, Peter L. Berger reflects on the nature of the comic and its relationship to other human experiences. Berger contends that the comic is an integral aspect of human life, yet one that must be approached and analyzed circumspectly and circuitously. Beginning with an exploration of the anatomy of the comic, Berger addresses humor in philosophy, physiology, psychology, and the social sciences before turning to a discussion of different types of comedy and finally suggesting a theology of the comic in terms of its relationship to folly, redemption, and transcendence. Along the way, the reader is treated to a variety of jokes on a variety of topics, with particular emphasis on humor and its relationship to religion. Originally published in 1997, the second edition includes a new preface reflecting on Berger’s work in the intervening years, particularly on the relationship between humor and modernity.
Download or read book Spirituality of Later Life written by Elizabeth Mackinlay and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-06-11 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Humor expresses a certain heroic defiance in the face of life’s most challenging experience and provides a valuable resource for the celebration of life and the divine comedy of faith, hope, and love.”—From the book chapter by Melvin A. Kimble, PhD Studies have shown that as many people age, their spirituality deepens. Spirituality of Later Life: On Humor and Despair explores the challenges faced by those in later life and the use of humor for self-transcendence to achieve greater strength and deeper spirituality. Respected authorities share their insights on humor and despair in the process of spiritual development in later life, with discussions on how to provide effective pastoral practice in aged care. Spirituality of Later Life: On Humor and Despair presents the major issues that challenge people in later life that could lead them to either spiritual integrity or despair. Beyond the physical and psychosocial, this book shows how the journey into aging can—through humor—become self-transcendent and deeply spiritual in the face of physical decline. This theological perspective illustrates the full breadth of issues facing those in later life. It presents effective pastoral frameworks of care for those who struggle with the depression, dementia, disabilities, losses, and terminal illness that may accompany aging. Spirituality of Later Life: On Humor and Despair explores: humor as a path to self-transcendence in later life later life’s ’paradox of well-being’ and ’defiant power of the human spirit’ dementia and its effect on spirituality spiritual and pastoral care approaches for those with depression religiousness in older people with dementia the spiritual journey of hospice patients non-speech based pastoral care Spirituality of Later Life: On Humor and Despair provides valuable insights for aged care chaplains, parish clergy, pastoral and aged care workers, social workers, activity officers, health professionals, and anyone whose life includes an elderly person.
