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Laughter at the Foot of the Cross
About This Book
"Christian laughter is a maze: you could easily get snarled up within it." So says Michael A. Screech in his note to readers preceding this collection of fifty-three elegant and pithy essays. As Screech reveals, the question of whether laughter is acceptable to the god of the Old and New Testaments is a dangerous one.But we are fortunate in our guide: drawing on his immense knowledge of the classics and of humanists like Erasmus and Rabelaisâwho used Plato and Aristotle to interpret the Gospelsâand incorporating the thoughts of Aesop, Calvin, Lucian of Samosata, Luther, Socrates, and others, Screech shows that Renaissance thinkers revived ancient ideas about what inspires laughter and whether it could ever truly be innocent. As Screech argues, in the minds of Renaissance scholars, laughter was to be taken very seriously. Indeed, in an era obsessed with heresy and reform, this most human of abilities was no laughing matter.
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Copyright
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Foreword
- To the Reader
- A Note on the Translations and Abbreviations
- Footnote Disclaimer
- Introduction
- 1. Laughter is the Property of Man
- 2. Laughter in an Evil World
- 3. Christian Humanists
- 4. Jewish and Gentile âSchoolmastersâ
- 5. The Mocking of the Crucified King
- 6. The Old Testament Gospel
- 7. Words and their Meanings
- 8. The Mocking of Christ in the Old Testament
- 9. Unholy Railing
- 10. Good Holy Railing
- 11. Diasyrm
- 12. A God who Laughs to Scorn
- 13. Erasmus on Diasyrm
- 14. The Laughter of Jesus and the Laughter of the Father in the New Testament
- 15. More Irony from Jesus
- 16. Pitiless Laughter at Ugliness
- 17. Ignorance or Madness? The Importance of a Gamma
- 18. Madman Laughs at Madman
- 19. Laughing at Christ and Laughing at Carabba
- 20. Laughing Back
- 21. Christ as Divine Madman
- 22. Madness Providentially Feigned by David: a Silenus
- 23. Theophylact and a Lunaticâs Chains
- 24. Laughing with the Great Cardinal of Saint-Cher
- 25. Jesus in Ecstatic Madness
- 26. Lessons in Exegesis
- 27. Plato and Christian Madness
- 28. Drunk with God and Drunk with Wine
- 29. Christâs Mad Disciples: Erotic Madness
- 30. The Philosophy of Christ
- 31. The Foolishness of God
- 32. Socrates
- 33. Christian Laughter all but Nipped in the Bud: Eutrapely Condemned
- 34. The Gospel according to Lucian: Christianity is once again Stupid and Mad
- 35. Lucian in the Pulpit
- 36. A Taste of Lucianic Laughter in the Colloquies
- 37. Laughter in the Annotations
- 38. He who Calleth his Brother a Fool
- 39. Fools in Cap-and-Bells?
- 40. Caps and Bells Sneak In
- 41. Obscure Men
- 42. Dutch Wit, Gallic Licence and the Liturgical Year
- 43. Christian Wit and Christian Comedy: âThe Great Jester of Franceâ
- 44. Christian Laughter at Shrovetide
- 45. Seeking for Signs
- 46. Christian Laughter for Faithful Folk
- 47. Laughter at the Philosophy of Christ
- 48. Godâs Coadjutors: Deed and Words and Christian Laughter
- 49. Laughing at Idolatry
- 50. Laughter and Christian Mythology
- 51. Gluttony
- 52. Realist Laughter: Laughter and Eternity
- 53. Charity and Joy
- Notes
- Index