Laughing gods, weeping virgins : laughter in the history of religion / Ingvild Slid Gilhus.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gilhus, Ingvild Slid.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Laughter--Religious aspects--Comparative studies.

Laughter.

Emotions--Religious aspects--Comparative studies.

Emotions.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (198 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Laughing gods weeping virgins

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 1997.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Laughing Gods, Weeping Virgins analyses how laughter has been used as a symbol in myths, rituals and festivals of Western religions, and has thus been inscribed in religious discourse. The Mesopotamian Anu, the Israelite Jahweh, the Greek Dionysos, the Gnostic Christ and the late modern Jesus were all laughing gods. Through their laughter, gods prove both their superiority and their proximity to humans.In this comprehensive study, Professor Gilhus examines the relationship between corporeal human laughter and spiritual divine laughter from c`ussical antiquity, to the Christian West

Contents:

Cover; Laughing Gods, Weeping Virgins; Copyright; Contents; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Laughter, the Body and Two Fields of Meaning; Theories of Laughter; History of Religions; Three Cultural Contexts of Religious Laughter; 1 the Ancient Near East; Laughter and Trickery; Creation, Change and Control; Gods and Human Beings; Jahweh and the Battle Against Erotic Laughter; Divine Laughter: Its Channels and Consequences; 2 Greece; Cunning Gods/immortal Gods; Laughing Women; Between Comedy and Tragedy; Chaotic Laughter; 3 Rome; 'all This Business of Laughter-raising Is Trivial

Critical Laughter On Tour with the Gods; Animals and Mysteries; The Divine Man and the Mocking of Christianity; Farewell to Laughter; 4 Early Christianity; Church Fathers and Desert Fathers; Weeping Virgins; Did Anyone Laugh?; The Ludicrous Jahweh and the Laughing Christ; Gnostic Mythology; Spiritual Laughter; 5 Medieval Christianity; The Feast of Fools; Deforming the Lord's Supper and Elevating the Ass; Carnival in Religion; Corpus Christi; Embodied Laughter; From Body to Mind; 6 Modernity and the Remythologization of Laughter; Bakhtin and Utopian Laughter; Postmodern Mythology

Christ as Clown The Laughing Christian; Jokes of Criticism and Doubt; Rolling in the Aisles; 7 Religion of Jokes; Buddhism Comes Laughing; The Joking Guru; A Key Symbol; Absolute Self/relative World; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 153-166) and index.

ISBN:

1-134-71767-9

1-134-71768-7

1-280-10918-1

0-585-45343-8

0-203-41160-9

9780203411605

OCLC:

567894809