HUMOR and RELIGION: by Don L. F. Nilsen English Department Arizona

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

HUMOR and RELIGION: by Don L. F. Nilsen English Department Arizona HUMOR AND RELIGION: by Don L. F. Nilsen English Department Arizona State University Tempe, AZ 85287-0302 ( [email protected] ) Aichele, George Jr. Theology as Comedy. Lanham, NY: University Press of America, 1980. Anderson, Gary A. A Time to Mourn, A Time to Dance: The Expression of Grief and Joy in Israelite Religion. University Park, PA: Penn State Univ Press, 1991. Ashley Kathleen M. "The Guiler Beguiled: Christ and Satan as Theological Tricksters in Medieval Religious Literature." Criticism 24.2 (1982): 126-1337. Bahadur, Tejani. "Christianity and Colonialism as Objects of Humour in East and Southern African Literature." World Literature Written in English 26.2 (1986): 236-242. Baker, Margaret, and Jesse Crisler, Eds. Ho'omake'aka: The Seventh International Humor Conference at BYU- Hawaii Laie, HI: BYU-Hawaii, 1989. Basu, Sammy. “`Woe unto You that Laugh Now!’ Humor and Toleration in Overton and Shaftesbury.” Religious Toleration. Ed. J. C. Laursen. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1999, 147-172. Becker, Allienne R. The Divine and Human Comedy of Andrew M. Greeley. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2000. Beckman, Peter. "God and the Keystone Cops: Some Observations Concerning G. K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday." The Masks of Comedy. Ed. Ann Boaden. Rock Island: Augustana College Library, 1980. Bonham, Tal D. Humor: God's Gift. Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1988. Callahan, Tim. "Devil, Trickster, and Fool." Mythlore 17.4 (1991): 29-34, 36. Capps, Donald. “Religion and Humor: Estranged Bedfellows.” Pastoral Psychology 54.5 (2006): 413-438. Capps, Donald. A Time to Laugh: The Religion of Humor. New York, NY: Continuum, 2005. Carse, James P. Finite and Infinite Games. New York, NY: Free Press, 1986. Cary, James, and Steve Tomkins. “Heard the One about Jesus? Humour and Religion Can be Uneasy Bedfellows.” Third Way 29.4 (2006): 22-25. Christ, Carol P. Laughter of Aprhodite: Reflections on a Journey to the Goddess. New York: Harper and Row, 1987. Claassens, L. J. M. “Laughter and Tears: Carnivalistic Overtones in the Stories of Sarah and Hagar.” Perspectives in Religious Studies 32.3 (2005): 295-308. Corbin, Henry. "Mysticism and Humour." Spring 1973: 24-324. Cormier, Henri. The Humor of Jesus. New York: Alba House, 1977. Cowan, Louise. "The Bible as Genesis of Comedy." The Terrain of Comedy. Ed. Louise Cowan. Dallas, TX: Dallas Inst of Humanities, 1984, 41-60. Cox, Harvey. Feast of Fools: A Theological Essay on Festivity and Fantasy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ Press, 1969. Cracroft, Richard H. "The Humor of Mormon Seriousness: A Response to William A. Wilson." Sunstone 10.1 (1985): 14-17. Cracroft, Richard H. "'Ten Wives Is All You Need': Artemus Ward and the Mormons--Again." Western Humanities Review 38.3 (1984): 197-211. Cray, Ed. "The Rabbi Trickster." Journal of American Folklore 77 (1964): 331-345. Crockett, Bryan. The Play of Paradox: Stage and Sermon in Renaissance England. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995. Crossan, John Domminic. Raid on the Articulate: Comic Eschatology in Jesus and Borges. New York, NYH: Harper, 1976. D'Arcy, Martin. "Literature as a Christian Comedy." The McAuley Lectures, 1961: Literature as Christian Comedy. West Hartford, CT: St. Joseph's Press, 1962. Dart, John. The Laughing Savior: The Discovery and Significance of the Nag Hammadi Gnostic Library. NY: HUMOR AND RELIGION, PAGE 1 Harper and Row, 1976. Davies, Horton. "A Spur for the Somnolent: Wit in the English Pulpit, 1588-1645." Thalia: Studies in Literary Humor 6.1 (1983): 32-47. Davies, Marie-Hélène. "Fools for Christ's Sake: A Study of Clerical Figures in De Vries, Updike and Buechner." Thalia: Studies in Literary Humor 6.1 (1983): 60-72. Donmelly, Doris. "Divine Folly: Being Religious and the Exercise of Humor." Theology Today 1992: 385-398. Driscoll, Brother Craig. Humor Helps! The Benefits of Humor, Laughter, and Being Funny. Santa Barbara, CA: 1998. Duke, Paul. Irony in the Fourth Gospel. Atlanta, GA: John Knox, 1985. Dundes, Alan. Holy Writ as Oral Lit. Blue Ridge Summit, PA: Bowman and Littlefield, 1999. Dunne, Michael. “Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Calvinist Humor.” Studies in American Humor NS 3.12 (2005): 1-16. Eberhart, E. T. Burnt Offerings: Parables for 20th Century Christians. Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1977. Eberhart, Elvin (Cy). "Humor as a Religious Experience" Advances in Humor and Psychotherapy. Eds. Fry, William F., and Waleed A. Salameh. Sarasota, FL: Professional Resource Press, 1993, 97-120. Eberhart, E. T. In the Presence of Humor: A Guide to the Humorous Life. Salem, OR: Pilgrim House, 1984. Eckardt, A. Roy. How to Tell God from the Devil: On the Way to Comedy. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 1994. Eckardt, A. Roy. On the Way to Death: Essays Toward A Comic Vision. New Brunswick, NJ: 1996. Eckardt, A. Roy. Sitting in the Earth and Laughing New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction, 1992. Edmunds, Mary Ellen. "She Who Laughs, Lasts." Women Steadfast in Christ. Eds. Dawn Hall Anderson and Marie Cornwall. Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book Company, 1991, 148-158. Eisen, George. "The Concept of Time, Play, and Leisure in Early Protestant Religious Ethic." Play and Culture 4.3 (August 1991): 223-236. Fedorov, G. P. "The Holy Fools." The Russian Mind, Volume 1. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1966, 316- 343. Fendt, G. "Apartheid among the Dead; Or, on Christian Laughter in Ann Petry's `The Bones of Louella Brown.'" Contributions in Afroamerican and African Studies 209 (2004): 111-118. Ferro-Luzzi, Gabriella. The Taste of Laughter: Aspects of Tamil Humor. Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz, 1992. Fisher, Benjamin Franklin IV. “Devils and Devilishness in Comic Yarns of the Old Southwest.” Emerson Society Quarterly 36 (1990): 39-60. Fleming, John V. "Anticlerical Satire as Theological Essay: Chaucer's Summoner's Tale." Thalia: Studies in Literary Humor 6.1 (1983): 5-22. Fowkes, Katherine A. Giving Up the Ghost: Spirits, Ghosts, and Angels in Mainstream Comedy Films. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 1998. Friedman, Hershey H. "He Who Sits in Heaven Shall Laugh: Divine Humor in Talmudic Literature." Thalia: Studies in Literary Humor 17.1-2 (1998): 36-50. Friedman, Hershey H. "Is There Humor in the Hebrew Bible? A Rejoinder." HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research 15.2 (2002): 215-222. Friedman, Hershey H. "Talmudic Humor and the Establishment of Legal Principles." Thalia: Studies in Literary Humor 21.1-2 (2004): 14-29. Friedman, Hershey H., and Steve Lipman. "Satan the Accuser: Trickster in Talmudic and Midrashic Literature. Thalia: Studies in Literary Humor. 28.1-2 (1999): 31-41. Garrett, Paula K. “A Splinter Off the `Sound Old Theological Block’: Grace Greenwood’s Humorous Revision of the American Jeremiad.” Studies in American Humor NS 3.12 (2005): 17-44. Gilhus, Ingvild Saelid. "Religion, Laughter, and the Ludicrous. Religion 21 (1991): 257-277. Glazier, Stephen D. "The Religious Mosaic: Playful Celebration in Trinidadian Shango." Play and Culture 1.3 (August, 1988): 216-25. Good, Edwin M. Irony in the Old Testament. Sheffield, England: The Almond Press, 1965. Grawe, Paul H. "Beckett's Changing Faith," "Old Testament Comedy," "Gospel Comedy," Everyman and HUMOR AND RELIGION, PAGE 2 Pilgrim's Progress," and "Alpocalyptic Comedy." Comedy in Space, Time, and the Imagination. Chicago, IL: Nelson-Hall, 1983, 237-250, 267-344. Gritsch, Eric W. Martin--God's Court Jester: Luther in Retrospect. NY: Fortress Press, 1983. Grottanelli, Christiano. "Tricksters, Scapegoats, Champions, Saviors." History of Religions 23.2 (1983): 117-139. Gruner, Charles, and W. Lampton. "Effects of Including Humorous Material in a Persuasive Sermon." Southern Speech Communication Journal 38 (1972): 188-196. Guenther, Mathias. Tricksters and Trancers: Bushman Religion and Society. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1999. Gurra, Michael. "Through Comedy toward Catholicism: A Reading of Evelyn Waugh's Early Novels." Contemporary Literature 29 (1988): 201-220. Hall, David L. "Dancing at the Crucifixion." Philosophy and Humor. Special Issue of Philosophy East and West 39.3 (1989): 319-326. Handelman, Stanley Myron. "From the Sublime to the Ridiculous-The Religion of Humor." Handbook of Humor Research. Volume 1. Eds. Paul McGhee and Jeffrey Goldstein. NY: Springer-Verlage, 1983, 23-32. Hauck, Richard B. "The Comic Christ and the Modern Reader." College English 31 (1970): 498-508. Hempelmann, Christian F. "`99 nuns giggle, 1 nun gasps': The not-all-that-Christian Natural Class of Christian Jokes." HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research 16.1 (2003): 1-32. Henrie, Mark C. “Film, Comedy, and Christian Humanism: A First Look at Whit Stillman.” The Intercollegiate Reivew 35.2 (2000): 3-4. Hogan, Mary Ann, Kathleen S. Lowenthal, and Lynda Seaver. Is the Pope Catholic? And Other Amazing Papal Facts. Los Angeles, CA: Price/Stern/Sloan, 1988. Holden, William P. Anti-Puritan Satire. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ Press, 1954. Holland, D. "Humor in the Pulpit." Communication Quarterly 12 (1964): 17-18. Horowitz, Jeannine, and Sophia Menache. L'Humour en Chaire: Le Rire dans l'Église Médiévale, Geneva, Switzerland: Labor et Fides, 1994. Hyers, M. Conrad. "The Comic Perspective in Zen Literature and Art." The Eastern Buddhist 5.1 (1972): 26-46. Hyers, M. Conrad. "The Comic Profanation of the Sacred." Holy Laughter. Ed. M. Conrad Hyers. New York, NY: The Seabury Press, 1969. 9-27. Hyers, M. Conrad. The Comic Vision and the Christian Faith: A Celebration of Life and Laughter. New York: Pilgrim, 1981. Hyers, M. Conrad. And God Created Laughter: The Bible as Divine Comedy. Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1987. Hyers, M. Conrad. Holy Laughter. New York, NY: Seabury, 1969. Hyers, M. Conrad. "Humor in Zen: Comic Midwifery." Philosophy East and West 39.3 (1989): 267-277. Hyers, M. Conrad. The Laughing Buddha: Zen and the Comic Spirit. Wolfeboro, NH: Longwood Academic, 1989. Hyers, M. Conrad. The Spirituality of Comedy: Comic Heroism in a Tragic World.
Recommended publications
  • Chapter 15: Resources This Is by No Means an Exhaustive List. It's Just
    Chapter 15: Resources This is by no means an exhaustive list. It's just meant to get you started. ORGANIZATIONS African Americans for Humanism Supports skeptics, doubters, humanists, and atheists in the African American community, provides forums for communication and education, and facilitates coordinated action to achieve shared objectives. <a href="http://aahumanism.net">aahumanism.net</a> American Atheists The premier organization laboring for the civil liberties of atheists and the total, absolute separation of government and religion. <a href="http://atheists.org">atheists.org</a> American Humanist Association Advocating progressive values and equality for humanists, atheists, and freethinkers. <a href="http://americanhumanist.org">americanhumanist.org</a> Americans United for Separation of Church and State A nonpartisan organization dedicated to preserving church-state separation to ensure religious freedom for all Americans. <a href="http://au.org">au.org</a> Atheist Alliance International A global federation of atheist and freethought groups and individuals, committed to educating its members and the public about atheism, secularism and related issues. <a href="http://atheistalliance.org">atheistalliance.org</a> Atheist Alliance of America The umbrella organization of atheist groups and individuals around the world committed to promoting and defending reason and the atheist worldview. <a href="http://atheistallianceamerica.org">atheistallianceamerica.org< /a> Atheist Ireland Building a rational, ethical and secular society free from superstition and supernaturalism. <a href="http://atheist.ie">atheist.ie</a> Black Atheists of America Dedicated to bridging the gap between atheism and the black community. <a href="http://blackatheistsofamerica.org">blackatheistsofamerica.org </a> The Brights' Net A bright is a person who has a naturalistic worldview.
    [Show full text]
  • Religions and Legal Boundaries of Democracy in Europe: European Commitment to Democratic Principles
    Religions and legal boundaries of democracy in Europe: European commitment to democratic principles University of Helsinki, 2009 Religions and legal boundaries of democracy in Europe: European commitment to democratic principles Dorota A. Gozdecka Academic Dissertation To be presented, with the permission of the Faculty of Law of the University of Helsinki for public examination in the Auditorium of the Helsinki University Museum Arppeanum (Snellmaninkatu 3, Helsinki) on 7 November 2009 at 10 a.m. supervisor: Adjunct Professor Ari Hirvonen, University of Helsinki preliminary examiners: Professor Kimmo Nuotio, University of Helsinki Associate Professor Lisbet Christoffersen, University of Roskilde opponent: Professor Zenon Bankowski, University of Edinburgh Language edition: Doctor Joan Löfgren, University of Tampere Graphic design: Ville Sutinen Cover painting: Anna Kozar-Poikonen Copyright © 2009 Dorota A. Gozdecka ISBN 978-952-92-6256-4 (paperback) ISBN 978-952-10-5803-5 (PDF) http://ethesis.helsinki.fi University of Helsinki 2009 I dedicate this book to my parents as an expression of appreciation for their constant support of my scientific endeavours. Pracę tę dedykuję moim rodzicom, z podziękowaniami za wkład, jaki włożyli w proces mojej edukacji i wsparcie dla moich naukowych wysiłków. Abstract This dissertation’s main research questions concern common European principles of democracy in regard to religious freedom. It deals with the modern understanding of European democracy and is a combination of interdisciplinary research on law, culture, politics and philosophy. The main objective of this research is to identify common European legal principles and standards applying to religious freedom and compare them with standards and approaches in particular states. The bases for the analysis are the principles of equality and achievement of religious pluralism.
    [Show full text]
  • Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English And
    Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Juraj Štyrák When Jesters Do the Preaching Religious Parody and Satire in South Park Bachelor‟s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Jeffrey A. Vanderziel, B.A. 2015 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. ………………………………………… Author‟s signature I would like to thank my supervisor Jeffrey A. Vanderziel, B.A. for his wise guidance, valuable feedback, and nerves of steel. Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................. - 5 - 1. From Zeros to Heroes. History of “South Park” ...................................................... - 7 - 2. I don‟t get it! Theoretical Groundwork of Comedy ............................................... - 15 - 2.1. Parody ............................................................................................................. - 15 - 2.2. Incongruity ...................................................................................................... - 17 - 2.3. Satire ............................................................................................................... - 18 - 2.4. Intertextuality .................................................................................................. - 21 - 3. Laughing in the Face of God. Humor and Religion .............................................. - 26 - 4. Prophets,
    [Show full text]
  • Why the First Amendment Must Protect Provocative Portrayals of the Prophet Muhammad Daniel Ortner
    Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy Volume 12 | Issue 1 Article 1 Winter 2016 The eT rrorist's Veto: Why the First Amendment Must Protect Provocative Portrayals of the Prophet Muhammad Daniel Ortner Recommended Citation Daniel Ortner, The Terrorist's Veto: Why the First Amendment Must Protect Provocative Portrayals of the Prophet Muhammad, 12 Nw. J. L. & Soc. Pol'y. 1 (2016). http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/njlsp/vol12/iss1/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy by an authorized editor of Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. Copyright 2016 by Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law Vol. 12, Issue 1 (2016) Northwestern Journal of Law and Social Policy The Terrorist’s Veto: Why the First Amendment Must Protect Provocative Portrayals of the Prophet Muhammad Daniel Ortner1 I. INTRODUCTION On Wednesday, January 7, 2015, armed gunmen entered the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and killed employees and editors of the magazine in probable retaliation for the publication of satirical cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.2 The attack on Charlie Hebdo has contributed to the debate over whether publication of speech that is likely to provoke violent reactions from religious extremists should be permissible.3 Some have argued that such speech should be prohibited in order to prevent responsive violence and terrorism.4 Recently, a school of journalism dean argued in USA Today that the publication of cartoons that insult the Prophet Muhammad 1 Daniel Ortner, J.D.
    [Show full text]
  • Instructor's Guide
    DRAWN TO THE GODS Religion and Humor in The Simpsons, South Park, and Family Guy Instructor’s Guide Dives into a new world of religious satire illuminated through the layers of religion and humor that make up the The Simpsons, South Park, and Family Guy. Drawing on the worldviews put forth by three wildly popular animated shows – The Simpsons, South Park, and Family Guy– David Feltmate demonstrates how ideas about religion’s proper place in American society are communicated through comedy. The book includes discussion of a wide range of American religions, including Protestant and Catholic Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Native American Religions, New Religious Movements, “Spirituality,” Hinduism, and Atheism. Along the way, readers are shown that jokes about religion are influential tools for teaching viewers how to interpret and judge religious people and institutions. Feltmate develops a picture of how each show understands 304 pages | Paper | 978-1-4798-9036-1 Religion and communicates what constitutes good religious practice as well as which traditions they seek to exclude on the basis of Contents: race and ethnicity, stupidity, or danger. From Homer Simpson’s • Chapter Summaries with Discussion Questions spiritual journey during a chili-pepper induced hallucination to and Recommended Episodes South Park’s boxing match between Jesus and Satan to Peter • Questions for Reflection Griffin’s worship of the Fonz, each show uses humor to convey • Supplementary Assignments a broader commentary about the role of religion in public life. Through this examination, an understanding of what it means to "Without a doubt, I will use this delightful, well-researched, well-crafted monograph in my media, religion, and popular culture courses.
    [Show full text]
  • Comedy of Redemption in Three Southern Writers. Carolyn Patricia Gardner Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College
    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1994 Comedy of Redemption in Three Southern Writers. Carolyn Patricia Gardner Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Gardner, Carolyn Patricia, "Comedy of Redemption in Three Southern Writers." (1994). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 5796. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/5796 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps.
    [Show full text]
  • Akintunde, Comedian, Radio Personality, Producer, Actor, Writer, and 2014 Dove Award Winner
    Akintunde, comedian, radio personality, producer, actor, writer, and 2014 dove award winner. Hilarious, bold, fresh, and groundbreaking are just a few of the adjectives used to describe Comedian Akintunde. But first and foremost, he is a servant, husband, and father of 5 who loves GOD, loves his wife-Eunissa, loves his children, and loves to make people laugh. But after 20 years as a comedian, Akintunde feels as though he is just getting started. He is no longer just on a career path, he is on assignment from God--to entertain the Body Of Christ and draw the world to Christ through standup comedy, writing, acting, producing, and directing! 2003: named joke/monologue writer for syndicated television series It’s Showtime at the Apollo. 2004: wrote monologues for Comedian Monique for the annual BET Awards ceremony; recorded first live comedy album, Brutally Honest Live at Right Direction; re-teamed with comedian Chris Tucker as his monologue writer for 2005 NAACP Image Awards. He has appeared as a performer and host on the Family Expo Stage and comedy show at Bishop T.D. Jakes' Mega Fest 2005 and 2013. Televised appearances include BET, TBS, The Word Network, TBN, and The Gospel Music Channel Stellars Awards Gospel Music Show. 2008: debuted his syndicated radio show, The Akintunde Show and expanded through a partnership with Rejoice Radio Network and Broadcast Affiliate Sales. In addition to his regular comedy schedule, Akintunde has either been featured on or headlined, 8 national tours in the past 5 years (including Brutally Honest Tour, It’s Time 2 Laugh Christian Comedy Tour, Gas 2 High Comedy Tour, TBS Tyler Perry’s Meet The Browns Comedy Tour, Rebirth of Comedy Tour, Radio-One Family Comedy Tour, Acquire The Fire Tour).
    [Show full text]
  • Pro-Christian Humor and the Online Carnival Timothy William Fallis University of Pennsylvania, [email protected]
    CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by ScholarlyCommons@Penn University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 1-1-2014 Pro-Christian Humor and the Online Carnival Timothy William Fallis University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Communication Commons, and the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Fallis, Timothy William, "Pro-Christian Humor and the Online Carnival" (2014). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 1272. http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1272 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1272 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Pro-Christian Humor and the Online Carnival Abstract Humor that takes as its comedic object the beliefs, practices, and culture of Christianity has flourished in the digital age via journalistic satire, video sharing, and social network websites. Theory of the comic's use as a moderator between the sacred and the profane provide by Conrad Hyers, and the carnivalesque literary theory of Mikhail Bakhtin, reminds us that humor made at the expense of elements of Christian doctrine and culture can serve to reify and strengthen Christianity in the United States, a conclusion justified by textual analysis of three websites featuring this material. The na alysis supports that an essential rule for successfully blending humor and religion together is to avoid directly leveling the humor at God or at Christianity as a valid religion but rather restricting the ludic treatment to church practices, church culture, and individual behavior. Comments made by readers reveal that a majority approve of the ludic turn, but vehement dissent shows a strong tension between the ludic and the presupposition that religion must remain sacrosanct and solemn.
    [Show full text]
  • Judaizing and Singularity in England, 1618-1667
    Judaizing and Singularity in England, 1618-1667 Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Aidan Francis Cottrell-Boyce, Gonville and Caius College, June 2018. For Anna. Abstract In the seventeenth century, in England, a remarkable number of small, religious movements began adopting demonstratively Jewish ritual practices. They were labelled by their contemporaries as Judaizers. Typically, this phenomenon has been explained with reference to other tropes of Puritan practical divinity. It has been claimed that Judaizing was a form of Biblicism or a form of millenarianism. In this thesis, I contend that Judaizing was an expression of another aspect of the Puritan experience: the need to be recognized as a ‘singular,’ positively- distinctive, separated minority. Contents Introduction 1 Singularity and Puritanism 57 Judaizing and Singularity 99 ‘A Jewish Faccion’: Anti-legalism, Judaizing and the Traskites 120 Thomas Totney, Judaizing and England’s Exodus 162 The Tillamites, Judaizing and the ‘Gospel Work of Separation’ 201 Conclusion 242 Introduction During the first decades of the seventeenth century in England, a remarkable number of small religious groups began to adopt elements of Jewish ceremonial law. In London, in South Wales, in the Chilterns and the Cotswolds, congregations revived the observation of the Saturday Sabbath.1 Thomas Woolsey, imprisoned for separatism, wrote to his co-religionists in Amsterdam to ‘prove it unlawful to eat blood and things strangled.’2 John Traske and his followers began to celebrate Passover
    [Show full text]
  • Religious Satire and Narrative Ambiguity in the Known World
    Religious Satire and Narrative Ambiguity in The Known World Michael Odom dward P. Jones’s 2004 Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Known EWorld, explores the troubling historical phenomenon of freed blacks owning slaves in antebellum America. Jones takes what is al- ready a sensitive subject and further problematizes it by intermingling fictional and historical records, as well as displacing the chronology of events and character outcomes. This chaos proves calculated for the narrative voice to achieve a disorienting reading experience. Jones commented upon the non-linear structure of the novel in a 2004 in- terview: “It might be that because I, as the ‘god’ of the people in the book, could see their first days and their last days and all that was in between, and those people did not have linear lives as I saw all that they had lived” (4). Here Jones is referring to the literary concept of narrative omniscience, a frequently employed analogy that conceives of the author (and by extension, his narrative persona) as god-like in his knowledge of everything in the fictional world. When encounter- ing what appears to be an omniscient narrator, readers have a tendency to trust the account as both authoritative and reliable. Yet we might pause to consider the relationship between knowledge and morality in an omniscient narrator, and whether these two attributes might con- flict with one another. What if an omniscient narrator endorses slavery as a legitimate social practice? The proleptic narrative voice in The Known World unsettles the reader with ambiguous religious and moral sentiments. Despite blunt parenthetical pronouncements regarding characters’ destinies (suc- cess, death, etc.), random details from the past, and knowledge of in- correct census data caused by simple mathematical errors, the narrator expresses suspect religious views and reports anomalous supernatural occurrences that problematize the concept of narrative omniscience.
    [Show full text]
  • Barbarian Masquerade a Reading of the Poetry of Tony Harrison And
    1 Barbarian Masquerade A Reading of the Poetry of Tony Harrison and Simon Armitage Christian James Taylor Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of English August 2015 2 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation fro m the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement The right of Christian James Taylor to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. © 2015 The University of Leeds and Christian James Taylor 3 Acknowledgements The author hereby acknowledges the support and guidance of Dr Fiona Becket and Professor John Whale, without whose candour, humour and patience this thesis would not have been possible. This thesis is d edicat ed to my wife, Emma Louise, and to my child ren, James Byron and Amy Sophia . Additional thanks for a lifetime of love and encouragement go to my mother, Muriel – ‘ never indifferent ’. 4 Abstract This thesis investigates Simon Armitage ’ s claim that his poetry inherits from Tony Harrison ’ s work an interest in the politics o f form and language, and argues that both poets , although rarely compared, produce work which is conceptually and ideologically interrelated : principally by their adoption of a n ‘ un - poetic ’ , deli berately antagonistic language which is used to invade historically validated and culturally prestigious lyric forms as part of a critique of canons of taste and normative concepts of poetic register which I call barbarian masquerade .
    [Show full text]
  • Serving the Lord with Gladness: Situating Christian Humor in Three Historical Contexts
    SERVING THE LORD WITH GLADNESS: SITUATING CHRISTIAN HUMOR IN THREE HISTORICAL CONTEXTS By ANTHONY MICHAEL DIMICHELE A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Religion May 2010 Winston-Salem, North Carolina Copyright by Anthony Michael DiMichele 2010 Approved By: Lynn S. Neal, Ph.D., Advisor ____________________________________ Examining Committee: Bill J. Leonard, Ph.D., Chair ____________________________________ Jarrod L. Whitaker, Ph.D. ____________________________________ AKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I would like to sincerely thank the members of my thesis committee: Dr. Lynn Neal, Dean Bill Leonard, and Dr. Jarrod Whitaker. Dr. Neal and Dean Leonard helped me from the very start. Without their contributions and encouragement, I may have settled for an ordinary topic. I would also like to thank Dr. Whitaker for ceaselessly pushing me to become a better scholar of religion. I truly value his insights and support. Second, I am extremely grateful to my parents, Tony and Janet, who have remained continuously supportive (emotionally and financially) of all my endeavors even though I dropped the pre-med concentration in favor of studying religion. Spike Lee once said, “Parents ruin dreams more than anyone” and they have, without a doubt, helped make my dreams come true. I love you both very much. To my brothers, Alex and Michael, I love you too, but a little less. Third, I would like to thank my friends who lifted my spirits with a random phone call, text, or Facebook wall post: David, Lauren, Jason, Chris D., Chris W., Steve, Drew, Jeff, Meg, Katie, Sarah J., Molly, Erica, Cassie, Kate, Ryan, Christy, Yasmine, Eric, Sarah L., and Stephanie.
    [Show full text]