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At the foot of the Cross, as Jesus hung in agony, the crowd laughed. Christians, ever since, have been ambivalent about laughter. St. Paul banned 'jesting,' but did that include mockery and high spirits? And what were the lessons of Biblical figures like (delighted) Abraham and (disbelieving) Sarah, both in their nineties, who laughed at the news they were about to have a child? Such debates had a deep influence on Erasmus, Rabelais and other great humanist writers. Michael Screech's acclaimed book illuminates both the background and their individual achievements.
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About the Author:
M.A. Screech is an Extraordinary Fellow of Wolfson College and an Emeritus Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, a Fellow of the British Academy and of the Royal Society of Literature, and a Fellow of University College London. He is a renaissance scholar of international renown. His other books include Erasmus: Ecstasy and the Praise of Folly (1988), Rabelais and Montaigne and Melancholy. All are acknowledged to be classics in their fields. Screech was promoted Chevalier dans l'Ordre du Mérite in 1982 and Chevalier dans la Légion d'Honneur in 1992. He was ordained, in Oxford, a deacon in 1993 and a priest in 1994.
Review:
“Lavishly erudite, digressive. . . . Screech commands the intellectual and literary history of the sixteenth century. . . . The finished book is a provocative, wide-ranging work of cultural history.” (Anthony Grafton Times Literary Supplement)
“Laughter can be innocent. . . . But suppose there is an exultation over the foe, can this be Christian? Psalm II suggests it can. For after describing the rage of the heathen and their plots against God’s anointed, it says: ‘He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn: The Lord shall have them in derision.’ What gives Laughter at the Foot of the Cross its sinew and muscle is the way Screech takes this mocking triumph with the utmost seriousness. . . . Apart from numerous fresh insights along the way and the scholarly erudition, the great importance of this book is a paradoxical one. It is a book about laughter but it forces us to face the reality of evil.” (Rt Revd Lord Richard Harries, former Bishop of Oxford Times Higher Education)
“A splendid and exciting book, and a learned one. It takes the maxim that man is a laughing animal and enlarges it to encompass the concept that Christianity is a religion centred on laughter. . . . Laughter at the Foot of the Cross is a book that is historical in its thrust, philological at every step in its argument, and vigorously celebratory of the achievement of Erasmus and Rabelais both for their own times and for our own.” (R. J. Shoeck Journal of Ecclesiastical History)
“Laughter can be innocent. . . . But suppose there is an exultation over the foe, can this be Christian? Psalm II suggests it can. For after describing the rage of the heathen and their plots against God’s anointed, it says: ‘He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn: The Lord shall have them in derision.’ What gives Laughter at the Foot of the Cross its sinew and muscle is the way Screech takes this mocking triumph with the utmost seriousness. . . . Apart from numerous fresh insights along the way and the scholarly erudition, the great importance of this book is a paradoxical one. It is a book about laughter but it forces us to face the reality of evil.” (Rt Revd Lord Richard Harries, former Bishop of Oxford Times Higher Education)
“A splendid and exciting book, and a learned one. It takes the maxim that man is a laughing animal and enlarges it to encompass the concept that Christianity is a religion centred on laughter. . . . Laughter at the Foot of the Cross is a book that is historical in its thrust, philological at every step in its argument, and vigorously celebratory of the achievement of Erasmus and Rabelais both for their own times and for our own.” (R. J. Shoeck Journal of Ecclesiastical History)
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- PublisherWestview Press
- Publication date1999
- ISBN 10 0813337399
- ISBN 13 9780813337395
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages352
- Rating
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Laughter At The Foot Of The Cross
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Routledge
(1999)
ISBN 10: 0813337399
ISBN 13: 9780813337395
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