Reviews for And the laugh shall be first

The average rating for And the laugh shall be first based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-08-28 00:00:00 Joyce Hamel All my respect to Bishop Willimon (who was not a bishop yet when he put this together), but there's a huge problem with this "treasury of religious humor": it isn't funny. Perhaps I'm the wrong audience; I'm a Methodist preacher, the butt of many of the jokes in this volume. But most of what's in here is satire, biting and fierce. It's not funny. It's not even really meant to be funny; it's meant to call for change, but even in doing so many of these stories go for the easy targets. It takes little effort to mock exultant Pentecostal-types in the sticks. It takes little effort to deflate puffed-up stuffed-shirt pastors who have abandoned their duties for the sake of their vanity. It takes little effort to press on the "nicety" of pastors who think that they can't be rude. These are stories that largely haven't aged well over the last 100 years, not because they're not applicable but because there is so much that mocks clergy and the general doing of church these days that they are but one of a thousand voices. I did appreciate Willimon's "Methodist Preachers" story simply because I'm in the midst of tangling with the District Committee on Ministry and the Board of Ordained Ministry, so the stereotypes in that clip were applicable and funny in a painful sort of way. But that's because he's speaking from Methodism to Methodism with me, so I don't know that that would translate well to other denominations. And I liked the obituary of God in response to the Emory prof's "God is dead" declaration, although again that has to fight the uphill battle of time because here in 2018 God has been declared dead for 50 years and we're all sort of used to the idea and have moved on. I won't be keeping this, and I'm actually hesitant to pass this on to anyone else I know. These days, the Church is into enough evil in reality that we don't need to make up more with which to lampoon it. But maybe my sense of humor is off.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-05-03 00:00:00 Betty J Harris Some clever pieces, some rather boring. The best were Ch's 14 & 15 written by Willimon. Ch 14 is "Olympics for Clerics," written in anticipation of the 1984 Olympics in LA. I especially enjoyed the Calling-Card Dash (p. 89), and the Preaching-Volume Throw (p. 90). And the last selection was also good--an obituary for God, written 50 years ago in response to the "God is Dead" meme.