The comic vision and the Christian faith: A celebration of life and laughter

by M. Conrad Hyers

Is comedy an inconsequential part of life, useful primarily for relaxation and escape? Conrad Hyers asserts that comedy is central to all aspects of existence. [Through this book] Hyers offers the first detailed study of the special significance of comic and religious themes to show that the comic tradition enriches and informs as well as entertains. Maintaining that comedy constitutes its own mythology, Hyers examines the great array of comic figures--tricksters, clowns, jesters, fools, humorists, comedians, and the like--and shows their historical significance in giving meaning to the major issues with which humankind has been concerned. Finally, Hyers shows us that when we appreciate the importance of the comic vision, we gain a keener, fresher, and more meaningful outlook.

- from back cover

192 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1981

About the author

Conrad Hyers was an American writer, lecturer, and ordained Presbyterian minister. He received his Ph.D. in Theology and Philosophy of Religion from Princeton Theological Seminary. Before retiring he was a Professor of Religion at Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota from 1977-1997.

Reviews

[Christopher Rush · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's not great. It reads like the cover, like you're trapped in some 1983 visit to someone's house your parents know but you have nothing to do and it's 1983 and there's no Nintendo or joy.

It's fine that Hyers thinks Chaplin is superior to Keaton, but it's not a great start and doesn't help his trustworthiness. He gives up fairly quickly on the anthropomorphic types he tries to distinguish, and soon it's one periphrastic, repetitive, hodgepodge of a fruit salad without marshmallows or fruit you like. Just talk talk talk, all effectively the same banal generalities about how comedy makes people happier than tragedy, usually.

Twice or thrice Mr. Hyers recalls the second half of his title, tosses in a few Bible passages, then speaks as if he has no conception of "the Christian faith" to any meaningful degree (praising the millions of years of human evolution, declaring the purpose of life is man-centric and arbitrary, palaver like that).

In a surprisingly full field of similar works, this is certainly skippable, which would have been great to know before I read it.