Abraham and Sarah were presented with a paradox when God told them they would have a son in their old age. Paradox in the Old Testament plays an important part in the dialogue between God and the Jews. In the New Testament, paradox is prominent in Jesus' teaching and helps to explain the Christian understanding of salvation. Today paradox arises when religious meaning of traditional culture con icts with secular meaning of modern culture. Heddendorf argues that a subversive quality in humour gradually replaces traditional values with new cultural meanings. The resulting humour becomes a substitute for faith. As this secular humour becomes functional for society, it nds its way into many areas of the culture. This process of secularisation in humour moves from faith to fun and, nally, to fun as faith. The result of this secularisation could be called a fun culture'. Redemption of this culture, Heddendorf asserts, should be a continuing concern of the church. "From the Genesis account of God telling Abraham and Sarah they would have a son in old age to twenty-first century jokes about priests and rabbis, sacred and profane have been juxtaposed in jarring messages about the paradoxes of human life. Heddendorf has done a masterful job of tracing the changing meanings of this complex cultural lineage. This book offers a rich, thoughtful, and rewarding investigation." - Robert Wuthnow, author of 'America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity' Russell Heddendorf is on the faculty of the Oxford Graduate School in Dayton, Tennessee, and is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. He founded the Association of Christians Teaching Sociology, and is a former president of the American Scienti c Af liation. Heddendorf has published extensively on the interface of sociology and Christianity.
