Can God laugh? Lacking empirical evidence, we accept or reject the hypothesis based on what we think about laughter as well as what we think about deity. Plato was not keen on the guardians of his Republic hearing or reading of gods laughing, not because he believed the gods to be above laughter, but because being “overpowered by laughter“ suggested boorishness and even malice. If laughter mainly expresses disparagement or feelings of superiority—as Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Cleese, Izzard, and Birbiglia all attest—what kind of god laughs at his or her inferiors, reveling in “sudden glory”? Martin Gore might sincerely expect to find God laughing at him when he dies, but most theories of humor require an element of suddenness or surprise, so this would entail either laughter without surprise or a god who can be surprised. What god would laugh at “the incongruity of sensuous and abstract knowledge” (Schopenhauer), or as the result of an “economy in expenditure upon inhibition, … ideation, … [or] feeling” (Freud)? Try as we might to humanize our deity, many struggle to imagine a god laughing at a knock-knock joke, much less telling one. Jokes require suspending our disbelief. What god suspends his omniscience?
The comic and the sacred often appear in opposition. The sacred is what matters most to us, and the comic, after all, is what happens when we’re “only joking.” (At least in Western tradition. At multiple Shinto shrines, yearly rituals require the laughter of priests and worshipers.) This symposium seeks to explore the supposed barrier between the two, picking at the interwoven threads of the sacred and the taboo, looking for where the motives and aims of humor and worship might align—asking how “joy, humor, and laughter [might be] at the heart of the spiritual life” (James Martin). Laughter, after all, also emerges from revelation. The poet Darlene Young calls it “the huge gasping HA of joy.” What then is the place of laughter within spiritual experience? What is the relationship between laughter and joy? What are the intersections, whether fraught or felicitous, between faith and humor?
Plenary Speakers
Columbia University
“Is Judaism Funny?: A Historical Investigation”
Jeremy Dauber is the Atran Professor of Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture and, for a decade, directed the Institute of Israel and Jewish Studies at Columbia University. He is the author of six books: Antonio’s Devils: Writers of the Jewish Enlightenment and the Birth of Modern Hebrew and Yiddish Literature (Stanford University Press, 2004); In the Demon’s Bedroom: Yiddish Literature and the Early Modern (Yale University Press; 2010); The Worlds of Sholem Aleichem (Schocken Books, 2013); Jewish Comedy: A Serious History ( W.W. Norton, 2017); American Comics: A History (W.W. Norton: 2021), and, now, Mel Brooks: Disobedient Jew (Yale University Press: 2023). His seventh book, American Scary: A History of Horror From Salem To Stephen King and Beyond, will be published next week by Algonquin. He frequently lectures on topics related to Jewish literature, history, humor, and popular culture at the 92nd St Y and other venues throughout the United States.
Saint Mary’s College
“From Homer to Homer: Divine Laughter from The Iliad to The Simpsons”
Anita Houck is Professor of Religious Studies and Theology at Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, where she holds the Joyce McMahon Hank Aquinas Chair in Catholic Theology. She is also an affiliated faculty member with the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion at the University of Notre Dame. She received her Ed.M. from Harvard Graduate School of Education and M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago Divinity School. Her articles and talks cover a range of topics, especially religion and humor, vocation, and pedagogy; and she is co-editor, with Mary Doak, of Translating Religion (Orbis, 2013).
Executive Director of the Aspen Institute’s Program on Religion and Society
“Does God Have a Sense of Humor?”
Growing up in Texas as the son of Indian immigrants and a self-described “turban-wearing, brown-skinned, beard-loving Sikh,” Simran Jeet Singh constantly confronted racism, bullying, and ethnic slurs. But, where others may have grown bitter or angry, he looked to the lessons of Sikh teachings he grew up with to seek out the good in every situation and find positive ways to direct his energy. These tenets of love and service to others empowered him to forge a life of connection and a commitment to justice that catapulted him to the national stage in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
In The Light We Give and his moving keynote programs, Dr. Singh shows how Sikh wisdom can transform lives, and enlightens audiences on how to integrate ethical living with personal happiness. He helps people reach beyond their comfort zones to practice a deeper form of living, proving that everyone can learn the insights and skills that have led him to find this crucial balance of compassion, activism, and peace. Dr. Singh’s vision of hope shows how each of us can turn away from fear, uncertainty, and anger to move toward renewal and positive change.
Recognized among TIME Magazine’s sixteen people fighting for a more equal America, Dr. Simran Jeet Singh’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Harvard Business Review, CNN, and Religion News Service, where he is a regular monthly columnist. He has been featured on Good Morning America, NBC News, ABC News, and the On Being podcast. A prolific speaker, he has brought his powerful approach to building a purposeful, rewarding, and happy life to organizations ranging from Google to the Harvard Divinity School to the White House.
Singh is also the author of Fauja Singh Keeps Going, a bestselling children’s picture book based on the true story of Fauja Singh, who broke world records to become the first one-hundred-year-old to run a marathon. In it, Dr. Simran Jeet Singh shares valuable lessons on the source of the marathoner’s grit, determination to overcome obstacles, and commitment to positive representation of the Sikh community. Fauja Singh Keeps Going was named an NPR Best Book of 2020, a New York Public Library Best Book of 2020, and a Chicago Public Library Best Informational Book for Younger Readers of 2020, among other accolades.
Currently, Dr. Simran Jeet Singh is Executive Director of the Aspen Institute’s Program on Religion and Society, a Soros Equality Fellow with the Open Society Foundations, a Senior Adviser on Equity and Inclusion for YSC Consulting, and a Visiting Professor at Union Seminary. He was recently named a 2022 Atlantic Fellow for Racial Equity. He lives with his family in New York City.