Laughing with God

When Sarah overhears God tell Abraham that she will give birth toa son, she laughs. Of course, Sarah does give birth to a son and
names him Isaac, whose name means "to laugh." But can we in modern
times recover the divine humor, the paradox and promise, in this and
other biblical accounts? Can we use that sacred laughter as a means to
evangelize a world that longs for God every bit as much as the ancients
did? In Laughing with God: Humor, Culture, and Transformation, Catholic
priest and cultural anthropologist Gerald Arbuckle helps us do just that.
With Arbuckle, readers will enter many rich biblical stories and come
away laughing, not laughter as in response to a joke or comedy, but a
"profound laughter of the heart." Readers will discover divine humor in
the parables of Jesus and even in his suffering and death, the ultimate
paradox for Christians. In addition to uncovering and recovering humor
in Scripture, Arbuckle's work is a treasure trove of modern examples of
humor-from literature, movies, and television-that surprisingly can be
a means of transforming cultures to better refl ect the kingdom of God.