Description

This anthology explores the intersection of humor and laughter with various faith, religious, and mythic traditions.

Each chapter covers a unique case where humor and laughter have intersected with some part of a religious, cultural, or mythic tradition and explores how and why laughter and humor are important in those stories. The authors also explore how the role of humor and laughter shaped and influenced the various religions, cultures, or myths and what that might mean to the parent society. Finally, authors reflect on the influence of humor and laughter in the modern world.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Editor's Introduction: Sacred Laughter
Chapter One: The Wheel of Gelastic Fortune: The Turnings of Monastic Mirth
Terry Lindvall and Christian Palmisano
Chapter Two: The Transformative Nature of the Sun-god's Laughter in Ancient Egyptian Religious Texts
LaReina Hingson
Chapter Three: The Archfigure Trickster: The Role of Humor in Functional Models of the Trickster-Civilizer's Actions in North American Indian Myths
Nikol Danisova
Chapter Four: Humor in Islam
Fatima Ahmed and Sundus Mohamed
Chapter Five: Buddhism, Humor, and Laughter
Richard Gardner
Chapter Six: Transformations of a Japanese Deity of Dance: Humor, Ritual, and the Question How to Reach the Gods
Bernard Scheid
Chapter Seven: The Sanctity of the Funny: Christian Clown Ministries and the Paradox of the Profane
Liz Sills
Chapter Eight: Serious Buddha, laughing Krishna? Some aspects of fun and games in Hinduism and Buddhism
Paul van Der Velde
Chapter Nine: 'The Gods live like Us': Sacred Humor in Africa
Benson Igboin
Chapter Ten: Boiled Shoe, Enamoured Cow and a Buddha in a Fur: Buddhist Humour in Mongolian Communities
Alevtina Solovyeva and Anastasiya Fiadotava
Chapter Eleven: Laughing to Move the Gods: The Transformative Power of Humor in Shinto
Kaitlyn Ugoretz
Editor's Epilogue
About the Contributors

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published 02 Oct 2025
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Extent 256
ISBN 9781978770270
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Illustrations 13 bw illus; 4 tables
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Anthology Editor

Michael K. Cundall Jr.

Michael K. Cundall Jr. teaches at North Carolina A…

Contributor

Terry Lindvall

Contributor

Fatima Ahmed

Contributor

LaReina Hingson

Contributor

Benson Igboin

Contributor

Sundus Mohamed

Contributor

Bernhard Scheid

Bernhard Scheid is a senior researcher at the Aust…

Contributor

Liz Sills

Contributor

Kaitlyn Ugoretz

Contributor

Michael K. Cundall Jr.

Michael K. Cundall Jr. teaches at North Carolina A…

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