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Russ McDonald has this shrewd comment about the combination of slapstick comedy and satisfied resolution in MSND: "Even as we anticipate a happy ending, we take pleasure in watching shenanigans, pretension, and the well-aimed custard pie. This tension amounts to a contest between the end and the middle: The resolution provokes the laughter of satisfaction; the comic conflict, the laughter of scorn." This, I think, is a wonderful way to describe the difference between the old comedy of Aristophanes and the comedy of Christian literature. The latter does not delete the slapstick, the scorned, or the satirical; but it embeds this in a larger framework where what James Wood has called the comedy of forgiveness reigns.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Thursday, January 27, 2005 at 11:14 AM
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1 & 2 Kings
Brazos Theological Commentary
The Promise Of His Appearing: An Exposition Of Second Peter
A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons
Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, And Hope In Western Literature
Miniatures & Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen
The Priesthood of the Plebs: A Theology of Baptism
A Son To Me: An Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel
From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution
Ascent to Love: A Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy
Blessed Are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper
A House For My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament
Heroes of the City of Man: A Christian Guide to Select Ancient Literature
Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide To Six Shakespeare Plays
Wise Words: Family Stories That Bring the Proverbs to Life
The Kingdom and the Power: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church
