Mark Roncace. Holy Hilarity: A Funny Study of Genesis (Macon, GA: Smyth and Helwys, 2016). I was a big fan of Mark Roncace’s previous book God’s Story. I also very much enjoyed Raw Revelation (albeit with some reservations). So when he offered to send me a review copy of his latest popular study, Holy Hilarity, I welcomed the opportunity. […]
humor
The Best Religious Joke Ever isn’t About Religion (and why that matters)
Emo Philips’ 1985 comedy album E=mo2 features a famous joke about meeting a guy on a bridge. He shares that joke in this 1987 comedy performance: In 2005 Philips’ joke was voted the best religious joke ever. The only problem is that in my view the joke isn’t really about religion per se. Rather, it is […]
Offensively trite suburban reasons to believe in God # 257: New earbuds just when you need them
Yesterday I was out for a run when one of my earbuds stopped working suddenly. Completing the run with the loss of stereo sound was bad enough, but even worse, I had no backup earbuds. What was I supposed to listen to now? Running with one working earbud was simply not an option. And the prospect […]
The Berenstain Conspiracy and beyond…
Like many other people, I grew up reading The Berenstein Bears. Or so I thought. However, it turns out that the series (and the bear family’s surname) is spelled Berenstain. Sounds suspicious to me. How do you explain a persistent, collective group memory that Berenstain is really Berenstein? The son of the authors insists that […]
The beauty of laughter
Humor is a beautiful thing. It makes us human and it helps us deal with the very worst that life can throw at us. In life’s darkest moments the comedian’s salve is no less worthy than the priest’s. I was reminded of this the other day while watching an episode of Jerry Seinfeld’s “Comedians in […]
Who can save the box office from superhero movies?
I woke up this morning, checked the box office numbers for the weekend, and saw with horror and disappointment (but not, I admit, surprise) that the new Spider-Man film (the second in a shamelessly rebooted series) is going to pull in $90 million at the North American box office. Amazing Spider-Man? You want to see […]
People who ride scooters aren’t all wusses
Motorcyclists tend to look down on those who ride scooters. Unless you’ve got a Vespa and you live in Sicily, scooters just ain’t cool. And everybody knows, therefore, that scooter riders are wusses. Right? Gee, now I’m not so sure. You see, a few weeks ago I was sitting outside McDonalds (see comedian Jim Gaffigan talk […]
How (not) to make Jesus in your image: A review of “Imaginary Jesus”
Matt Mikalatos. Imaginary Jesus. Barna, 2010. 225 pp. ISBN: 978-1414335636 Many of us engage in pastimes which can be dangerous to our health, things like lion tamer, meth smoker, or race car driver. But from a Christian point of view, one of the most dangerous pastimes is making Jesus into our own image, for this practice […]
A visit from the aliens?
Last night I was out with a friend when he reported a strange occurrence. The previous night, he said, he’d been asleep when he felt and heard a thump on the pillow beside him. He got up (it was 3:44 am) and saw the large scientific calculator that he’d left on the dresser more than 6 […]
Now Dave Fletcher doesn’t care for my glasses. When will the personal attacks stop?!
First Dave Fletcher picked on my head. Now he’s picking on my glasses! Surely this is going too far! Did I ask to have OD (i.e. right eye) 2.50-100×075 and OS (left eye) 1.25-0.75×100? The worst part is that my glasses can’t speak for themselves. They didn’t ask to be pulled into this dispute. […]
Why You Should Use Humor When Trying to Dialogue with Triablogue
As you know, in the last few days I’ve mixed it up with Patrick Chan of Triablogue. Some of my readers appreciated the efforts. Apparently not all did however. Kor wrote: “I was saddened to see this string of posts on your own blog, as they seem to run counter to the message of the […]
