Christianity and the triumph of humor : from Dante to David Javerbaum / Bernard Schweizer.
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 ex...
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| Online Access: |
Full Text (via Taylor & Francis) |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Milton :
Routledge,
2020.
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| Series: | Routledge new critical thinking in religion, theology, and biblical studies.
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| Subjects: |
| Summary: | 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, be of great interest to scholars of Religious Studies, Humor Studies, and the Sociology of Religion. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (254 pages) |
| ISBN: | 9780429591600 0429591608 9780429196690 0429196695 9780429589669 0429589662 9780429587726 0429587724 |
| Source of Description, Etc. Note: | Print version record. |
| Biographical or Historical Data: | Bernard Schweizer is a Professor of English in the Department of English, Philosophy, and Foreign Languages at Long Island University, USA. He specialises in humor studies, heresy studies, travel studies and gender studies and has written multiple articles and books in these areas, including Hating God: The Untold Story of Misotheism (2010) |