humor

In the World

"Madonna? Not on the list."

Mar 08, 2013 by Steve Thorngate

So, Sen. Paul filibustered and received brief assurances that at least there are some limits to the Obama adminstration's policy of targeted assassination. Alex Kane—in a Short Imagined Monologue, one of my favorite features at McSweeney's humor site—spells out some others. I for one would be reassured if the White House actually said this.

Living by the Word

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Ezekiel 17:22–24; Mark 4:26–34

Jun 05, 2012 by Nadia Bolz-Weber

Recently I was telling a pastoral colleague that I have no idea how people become preachers without having first been stand-up comics. In the early 1990s when I was getting clean and sober, I worked for a few years as a stand-up comic; getting paid to be caustic on stage was cheaper than paying for therapy and had much the same result.

In the World

"Seriously. Are you a Baptist?"

Jan 11, 2012 by Steve Thorngate

This "Which denomination are you?" flowchart from Lutheran Satire has been making the rounds this week.

Features

Anne Lamott’s divine comedy

Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith.
By Anne Lamott. Pantheon, 275 pp. 

Jul 28, 1999 by Debra Bendis

Read the sidebar interview, 'God lets me start over.'

In the World

When despair is funny

Apr 01, 2011 by Steve Thorngate

Much of the most delightfully silly online humor follows a particular formula: a single good idea that alters or plays on a pop-cultural artifact; execution that relies on computer technology, but not too much (some simple Photoshop work, a couple lines of code); loads of nostalgia.

Features

Religion and the ridiculous

Novelist Clyde Edgerton

Sep 10, 2010 by Amy Frykholm

A critic once called Clyde Edgerton the "love child of Dave Barry and Flannery O'Connor"—a reflection of the fact that his novels are both dark and funny.

Features

Dear John

Your Gospel does not meet our current needs
Dec 01, 2009 by William H. Willimon
To: John
From: Harold Sniveling, Acquisitions Editor
Re: Your submission
Faith Matters

Punch lines

Habits of friendship and community
Apr 17, 2007 by L. Gregory Jones
Laughter was a hallmark of my family’s life as I grew up. Our family dinner table was so often marked by jokes and storytelling that we were the embodiment of those old canards about communities that know the jokes so well that all you have to do is call out the numbers and everyone laughs.
Features

The submergent church

"The unseen leaven in society"
Feb 06, 2007 by James Choate-Munitz
A man in his mid-30s sits in a recliner in a dark room. Bursts of light from an episode of Dancing with the Stars flash on the walls and furniture. He grasps a cold beer, and a bag of potato chips is in his lap. This man is a pastor, and he is—at this very moment—leading his flock.
Features

Strangely familiar

Imagined book tables
May 17, 2005 by Sarah Morice Brubaker
At a recent theology conference I made a beeline for the book table the instant a coffee break was called. But all the volumes seemed strangely familiar. Later that night, in that famed space between dreaming and waking, the trends in Christian publishing became even clearer.

Evangelical

Modest Girls Are Hot.