SHOW NOTES
Episode 2: “A Laugh A Minute, Guaranteed*”
- Ken and Bill start out being a bit random and ribald in their expressions of theology and humor. We know well (from John 3:16) that God sent exactly the Christ we needed, showing unlimited—and undeserved—mercy.
http://www.usccb.org/bible/john/3
- Ken’s study in the area of humor and cognitive dissonance promotes a hopeful perspective. Steve Allen’s How to Be Funny may encourage you.
https://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Funny-Discovering-Comic/dp/0879757922
- The word “humus,” describing the organic matter of the earth’s soil, is a common root for words including human, humility and humor.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/humus
- Did Jesus have a sense of humor? See Matthew Chapter 15 for the dialogue Ken refers to. See Discovering Humor in the Bible for one scholar’s views.
http://www.usccb.org/bible/matthew/15
- Discovering Humor in the Bible by Howard R. Macy offers comments cited by Ken in his reference to Jesus’ dialogue with the Canaanite woman.
https://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Humor-Bible-Explorers-Guide/dp/1498292593
- Chesterton speculated that Jesus experienced mirth born of his relationship of divine love with God the Father.
https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1807543-orthodoxy
- Chesterton also said that, if the whole world were suddenly stricken with a sense of humor, it would find itself fulfilling the sermon on the Mount.
http://catholicexchange.com/wit-humor-of-the-saints
- Philosopher Friedrich Schiller said we laugh so our passions will not master us, so we can see reality with neither blind optimism nor a hopeless spirit.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/schiller/
- Humor recognizes life’s tough times and happy times. Hugo Rahner, quoted in a recent book by David Fagerberg, says humor must be rooted in reality.
https://www.amazon.com/Hugo-Rahner/e/B001K6H0FG
https://www.amazon.com/Chesterton-Everywhere-David-Fagerberg/dp/1937155145
10. Pieper talks about festivity as a release from the work we do. We work so that we can be at leisure; we need to set aside time for festivity and joy.
http://books.google.com/books/about/In_Tune_with_the_World.html?id=pHINAQAAMAAJ
11. How can humor be used to draw people into relationship with the Lord? Bishop Sheen and Mother Angelica mixed wisdom, wit and tough love.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxLdrE7WTaA
- Bob Hope was able to bring humor and joy to places of war and suffering, as with his comedy shows in Vietnam. He donated funds for the Our Lady of Hope Chapel in the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.
http://www.kintera.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=etITK6OTG&b=309286&ct=160562
13. Why did St. Paul use italics in writing parts of his Epistles? For Ephesus.
http://www.usccb.org/bible/scripture.cfm?bk=Ephesians&ch
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*No guarantee actually implied. If you don’t laugh, perhaps you didn’t get the joke?