Exploring Clement of Alexandria’s attitude(s) towards laughter: Opponent or advocate?

Graham, Nicole

doi:10.1075/thr.10.06gra

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. 47–62

Opponent or advocate?

Exploring Clement of Alexandria’s attitude(s) towards laughter

Nicole Graham | University of Kent

This chapter explores one of the earliest Christian commentators on laughter, Clement of Alexandria. It argues that his views on laughter were more nuanced than the fervent opposition with which he is often characterised and that, at times, he advocates for laughter. With particular reference to ‘On laughter’ in his Paedagogus, this chapter will demonstrate how Clement was influenced by Greek philosophy, Scripture, and the Hellenistic society within which he lived when forming his ambiguous views on laughter. Indeed, by exploring laughter in various forms, e.g. drunken laughter, erotic laughter, comic laughter, and pedagogical laughter, it will become clear that Clement’s beliefs about laughter vary depending on the context, the intention, and the consequences of the laughter.

Keywords: laughter, Clement of Alexandria, pedagogy, the body, patristics, Christianity, Greek philosophy

Article outline

Influences
Causing laughter
Laughing animals
Intoxication, lust, and laughter
Pedagogical laughter
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography

Published online: 27 October 2022

https://doi.org/10.1075/thr.10.06gra

References (28)

Bibliography

Primary sources

Aristotle (1926). Rhetoric. (J. H. Freeze, Trans). In Aristotle in Twenty-Three Volumes: Volume 22. London: William Heinemann Ltd.

(1934). Nicomachean Ethics. (H. Rackham, Trans). In Aristotle in Twenty-Three Volumes: Volume 19. London: William Heinemann Ltd.

(1944). Politics. (H. Rackham, Trans). In Aristotle in Twenty-Three Volumes: Volume 21. London: William Heinemann Ltd.

(1981). Eudemian Ethics. (H. Rackham, Trans). In Aristotle in Twenty-Three Volumes: Volume 20. London: William Heinemann Ltd.

(2007). On the Parts of Animals. (W. Ogle, Trans). Adelaide: University of Adelaide.

Clement of Alexandria (2004). Exhortation to the Heathen. (Rev. A. Roberts & J. Donaldson, Trans). In P. Schaff (Ed.), Fathers of the Second Century: Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, and Clement of Alexandria: Ante-Nicene Fathers Volume 2. Grand Rapids: CCEL.

(2004). Paedagogus . (Rev. A. Roberts & J. Donaldson, Trans). In P. Schaff (Ed.), Fathers of the Second Century: Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, and Clement of Alexandria: Ante-Nicene Fathers Volume 2. Grand Rapids: CCEL.

(2004). Stromata . (Rev. A. Roberts & J. Donaldson, Trans). In P. Schaff (Ed.), Fathers of the Second Century: Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, and Clement of Alexandria: Ante-Nicene Fathers Volume 2. Grand Rapids: CCEL.

Plato. (1967–68). Laws. (R. G. Bury, Trans). In Plato in Twelve Volumes: Volumes 10 & 11. London: William Heinemann Ltd.

(1925). Philebus. (H. N. Fowler, Trans). In Plato in Twelve Volumes: Volume 9. London: William Heinemann Ltd.

(1969). The Republic. (P. Shorey, Trans). In Plato in Twelve Volumes: Volumes 5 & 6. London: William Heinemann Ltd.

Secondary sources

Adkin, N. (1985). The Fathers on Laughter. Orpheus, 6(1), 149–152.

Billig, M. (2005). Laughter and Ridicule: Towards a Social Critique of Humour. London: Sage Publications.

Conybeare, C. (2013). The Laughter of Sarah: Biblical Exegesis, Feminist Theory, and the Concept of Delight. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.

Critchley, S. (2002). On Humour: Thinking in Action. Oxon: Routledge.

Ferguson, J. (1974). Clement of Alexandria. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc.

Gilhus, I. S. (1997). Laughing Gods Weeping Virgins: Laughter in the History of Religion. London: Routledge.

Halliwell, S. (2008). Greek Laughter: A Study of Cultural Psychology from Homer to Early Christianity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lilla, S. (1971). Clement of Alexandria: A Study of Christian Platonism and Gnosticism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lorenz, K. (1949). Man Meets Dog. London: Routledge.

Mercogliano, C. (2008). Rats Laugh, Too. Encounter, 21(2), 6–9.

Meyer, M., Baumann, S., Wildgruber, D. & Alter, K. (2007). How the Brain Laughs: Comparative Evidence from Behavioural, Electrophysiological and Neuroimaging Studies in Human and Monkey. Behavioural Brain Research, 182(2), 245–60.

Nesselrath, H-G. (2014). Later Greek Comedy in Later Antiquity. In M. Fontaine, & A. Scafuro (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Comedy (pp.667–679). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Osborn, E. F. (1976). Ethical Patterns in Early Christian Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

(2005). Clement of Alexandria. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Pfister, M. (2002). Introduction: A History of English Laughter. In M. Pfister (Ed.) A History of English Laughter: Laughter from Beowulf to Beckett and Beyond (pp.v–x). New York: Rodopi.

Sanders, B. (1995). Sudden Glory: Laughter as Subversive History. Boston: Beacon Press.

Schulten, P. (2009). Humour on Religion in the Greco-Roman World. In H. Geybels, & W. Van Herck (Eds.), Humour and Religion: Challenges and Ambiguities (pp.66–84). London: Continuum.