‘Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God.’
Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics II/1
Introduction
Humour is a funny thing (pun intended). Like a good joke, if you have to explain how it works, you fail to capture its true essence, and indeed time constrains us from spending too much time defining what humour is. Formal definition is difficult because of the variety of things that ‘humour' might describe. It is manifested and perceived in many ways within a culture, and jokes vary from culture to culture (although apparently fart jokes and mother-in-law jokes enjoy a broad appeal).
Ultimately, humour is part of the freedom which is ours to exercise, thanks to the grace of God in Jesus Christ. It is a sign of liberation and release rather than bondage and resignation. Grace creates “liberated laughter,” laughter made possible by God's faithfulness, the present foretaste of God's new creation, and the hope in the fulfilment of God's promises. As Barth says: ‘The grace of God in Jesus Christ is beautiful, and it radiates joy and awakens humour.' To put it another way, humour is rooted in the glory and beauty of God and is an expression of the delight and pleasure which the God of the gospel evokes in human life.
