It is all too easy to forget the deeply subversive dimension of revelation. In this brilliantly original book, Jason Crawford helps us read Christian scripture and tradition through the lens of comic absurdity, linking Francis of Assisi with Lenny Bruce, Perpetua of Carthage with Richard Pryor. A really engaging, accessible, fresh, and challenging study. * Rowan Williams, 104th Archbishop of Canterbury * In this fascinating and deeply humane book, Jason Crawford reimagines the history of laughter. Moving from saints and hermits to stand-up stages and silent films, he shares the ancient legacy of a comedy rooted in vulnerability, mischief, and hope. Gods fools are the ones who refuse to grow numb in the face of the world's injustice and banality, but stumble, rage, joke, and dance their way toward grace. Irreverent, scholarly, and unexpectedly moving, this is a reminder that laughter can be a form of revelation, and that comedy speaks to the heart of what it means to be human. * Andrew McConnell Stott, author of The Pantomime Life of Joseph Grimaldi: Laughter, Madness, and the Story of Britains Greatest Comedian * What does Richard Pryor have in common with Francis of Assisi, or Issa Rae with William Shakespeare? In this extraordinary book, Jason Crawford illumines the origins and ends of modern comedy by staging an unlikely and often poignant conversation. Crawfords deft storytelling exposes the suffering, the hope, and the religious longings that animate modern comedy, even as he remains attentive to the comedic structure of so many religious performances and stories. Gods Fools is both moving and deeply insightful, a must-read for scholars of literature or religionand anyone who likes to laugh. * Natalie Carnes, author of Image and Presence and Motherhood: A Confession *
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