Review 57: The Morality of Laughter (F. H. Buckley)

A fairly serious book about laughing. This is a philosophical, at times theological, enquiry into laughter. A helpful book in that it encourages us all to give laughter its proper place in our lives. The reasoning is usually sound and convincing; Buckley rejects postmodernism (40-42) and defends Christianity as true joy (64, 66-70). His discussion of joy is excellent (68-69). Two critiques: 1) I am not sure the main thesis of the book (laughter comes from superiority) is sound, relevant, or consistently held (cf. p 70), 2) Imprecise use of terms gets confusing. For example, is 'laughter' the same as 'amusement' (p. 65)? Sports are 'amusing,' but don't illicit laughter.