There Is No Humor in Heaven : Mark Twain and Religious Liberalism

More than a century after his death in 1910, Mark Twain remains a lightning rod for controversy. Especially in matters of race, class, and gender, the volatile views this iconic American author expressed in classics like Adventures of Huckleberry Finn continue to provoke heated debate among antagonistic culture-war factions. However, when citing his withering attacks on religion, believers and atheists alike are often united in concluding that Twain was either a mocking skeptic or a hostile atheist.

In There is No Humor in Heaven, Dwayne Eutsey challenges the persistent view of Twain as a hostile critic of religion by placing him within the prevailing liberal religious ethos of his time. From Hannibal to the western frontier and from Hartford to the wider world, Eutsey contends Twain’s vocation as a humorist was rooted in his frustrated youthful ambition to become a preacher of the Gospel. Throughout his life, his friendships with several influential liberal ministers, each of them espousing various forms of the era’s diverse progressive theology, informed not only Twain’s evolving religious worldview but his lecture performances and literary output.

There is No Humor in Heaven traces unconventional theological influences on Twain ranging from African-American spirituality, Freemasonry, and frontier Unitarianism to devout Liberal Christianity, radical Free Religion, and esoteric Hinduism. Drawing from Twain’s writings, documents, personal notes, and more, There is No Humor in Heaven offers readers a radical re-examination of the spiritually creative vitality of a controversial literary giant.
 

After earning a B.A. in English at the University of Maryland and a certificate in Theological Studies from Georgetown University, Dwayne Eutsey completed his master’s thesis on Mark Twain’s unconventional religious views at Georgetown University and has since established himself as an independent scholar in Twain Studies. The author of several scholarly articles on Twain and numerous freelance pieces on humor, religion, politics, and popular culture, Eutsey also is the co-author of The Abide Guide: Living Like Lebowski.