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Part of
Humour in the Beginning: Religion, humour and laughter in formative stages of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Judaism
Edited by Roald Dijkstra and Paul van der Velde
[Topics in Humor Research 10] 2022
► pp. 34–46

Derisive laughter and religious identity in ancient Christianity

| University of Bergen

Polemic and mockery were part of Christian identity-making, especially in apologies and heresiologies, where boundaries were created against pagans and other Christians. In this paper, the focus is on the use of derisive laughter in the Nag Hammadi texts. This chapter presents a survey of four variants of the laughter-motif, discusses them and investigates what they have to say about Christian monastic identity in the fourth to fifth century in Upper Egypt. It appears that the motif works as a powerful rhetorical instrument and pedagogical tool. It contributed to guide the readers in the right direction – towards spirituality and superior knowledge, but it was not necessarily intended to make them laugh out loud.

Keywords: derisive laughter, mockery, Nag Hammadi texts, exegesis, monasticism
Article outline
  • Nag Hammadi texts and Christian identity
  • Codex II and Codex VII
  • The laughter of Eve
  • The laughter of the Saviour
  • Laughing at the world-creator and his prophets
  • Jesus smiles to/at the disciples
  • Origin, function and meaning of the laughter motif
  • The contribution of the laughter motif to the religious project of ascetics and monastics
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
Published online: 27 October 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/thr.10.05sel
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