What's So Funny About God?: A Theological Look at Humor

by Steve Wilkens

Publisher:

christianaudio.com

, 2019

Overview

In What's So Funny About God? Steve Wilkens launches an exploration of the connections between humor and many of the central topics of Christian theology. If you don't believe God has a sense of humor, just look in the mirror. Humor is a truly human phenomenon-crossing history, culture, and every stage of life. Jokes often touch on the biggest topics of our existence. And although it may seem simple on the surface, humor depends on the use of our highest faculties: language, intelligence, sympathy, sociability. To the philosopher Steve Wilkens, these facts about humor are evidence that God just has to be in there somewhere. Yet many Christians, scholars and laypeople alike, haven't taken humor seriously. In What's So Funny About God? Wilkens launches an exploration of the connections between humor and many of the central topics of Christian theology. He argues that viewing Scripture and theology through the lens of humor brings fresh insight to our understanding of the gospel, helps us avoid the pitfalls of both naturalism and gnosticism, and facilitates a humble, honest, and appealing approach to faith. Wilkens turns this lens on the paradoxes of human nature, the Christian calendar, church life, and new readings of well-known biblical texts, including the book of Esther, the nativity narratives, and Jesus's own teachings. Taking into account the problems of suffering and the need for timely lament, he portrays the Christian story as one that ultimately ends in cosmic comedy.

Product Details

• Title: What's So Funny About God?: A Theological Look at Humor
• Author: Steve Wilkens
• Publisher: christianaudio.com
• Print Publication Date: 2019
• Logos Release Date: 2021
• Era: era:modern
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Audio
• Subjects: Religion › Christian Theology--General; Religion › General; humor in the New Testament; biblical stories; biblical interpretation
• ISBNs: 9781545913772, 1545913773
• Resource ID: LLS:9781545913772
• Resource Type: Media
• Metadata Last Updated: 2025-01-24T22:59:12Z

About Steve Wilkens

Steve Wilkens, Ph.D. is professor of theology and ethics in the School of Theology. In the past, he has been involved in APU’s Great Works Option program, a living-learning environment that teaches liberal arts academics in the High Sierras, which has allowed him to teach outside of the traditional class setting. He has authored several books including, Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics and Good Ideas from Questionable Christians and Outright Pagans and co-authored Christianity and Western Thought: Faith and Reason in the Nineteenth Century, Vol. II.