Anu mentions that the text of the Bible contains all kinds of styles of writing and he says that there are puns. I would like to see them. As far as I concerned, the Bible is completely devoid of humor. Here are a couple of quotations that kind of validate my point of view:
"The total absence of humor from the Bible is one of the most singular things in all of literature" (A. North Whitehead)
"If you don't count some of Jehovah's injunctions, there are no humorists in the Bible." (Mordecai Richler)

Rejean

the Bible is completely devoid of humor

Not sure of Mr, Richler's credentials, but if it's puns we're talking about they're all going to get lost in translation.

The Bible is full of humor, especially wordplays. Jesus told Simon, "You are Petros, and upon this Petra, I will build my ekklesia." Petros and Petra are both Koine Greek and mean "rock", but Petros means "pebble" while Petra is thought to mean "boulder" or "huge rock." This has, of course, caused humorless theologians to engage in vicious debates as to what Jesus (or the Gospel writer) meant by the distinguishing words, but the lack of humor is not in the Bible, it is in its so-called "Scholars." :-( (BTW, ekklesia is Greek for "called-out ones", i.e., the Church.)

Jesus, speaking in Aramaic, most likely said, "You are Kepha (or Kepa) and upon this Kepha (or Kepa) I will build my Qahal." Kepha (Kepa) means rock; Qahal means assembly and is almost synonymous with synagogue.

Similarly, in the book of Jeremiah, there is an interesting play on the word "Watching Tree" (meaning the Almond Tree) and the word for "watching".

St. Paul the Apostle used lots of sarcastic and ironic humor in his letters.

There is a great academic paper posted on the Web on humor in the Bible. Check out

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/economic/friedman/bibhumor.htm

It's really good and informative.

Robert (pundoc)

Mordecai Richler is one of Canada's most famous novelists; his most celebrated work was "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz" which was also turned into a movie. He was of Jewish faith and his characters are also modern North American Jewish people.

I am presently reading a Sci-Fi novel by David Brin called "Kiln People" and one of the secondary characters in the story is named Gadarene. He kind of rushes in dangerous situations without thinking much. Some coincidence!
Rejean

Kiln People Ew--I have to say I don't like the sound of that--it makes me think of them going in there.
Um--is Rejean your name, may I ask?

Mordecai Richler is one of Canada's most famous novelists … He was of Jewish faith and his characters are also modern North American Jewish people.

How's his Hebrew? His Greek?

the lack of humor is not in the Bible, it is in its so-called "Scholars."

There is a sense in which Holy Scripture is a mirror in which we see the face we bring to it.

Serious question re:
... a mirror in which we see the face we bring to it
Isn't that true of just about everything in life? For ex., people who expect to make new friends usually do, and people who habitually deceive others expect that others are doing the same to them.

There are about six jillion schools of literary criticism in vogue (or on the way into vogue or on the way out of being in vogue). One of them is called Reader-Response Criticism.

RRC is distinguished from the other 5.99 jillion schools of literary criticism by its focus on the interaction between the reader and the text. One might even say that, for the RRC critic, the audience of a work is its context. Pushed to its extreme, RRC would hold that a work has no meaning apart from that created by the individual reader out of the sum of the text and what the reader brings to the experience of reading it.

PS: My darling daughter was an English major; can you tell?

and I suppose there is a deconstructionist approach to the Bible?!

I suppose there is a deconstructionist approach to the Bible?!

Feminist theology and liberation theology both use deconstructionist methods in their biblical hermeneutic.

e.g. Elisabeth Schussler-Fiorenza, In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins (New York: Crossroad/London: SCM, 1983).

deconstructionist methods in their biblical hermeneutic.

Boy, howdy. Anybody who'd use a hermeneutic on a Bible must is gotta gonna burn in Hell. Cain't we break down the wall between church and state long enough to make it illegal?

There are, of course, those who are extremely upset about the application of Reader Response Critical methods to biblical texts. This aggravation is a reflection of their great personal and emotional attachment to the texts. It has nonetheless been around for several decades and there has been some interesting work done using this method, e.g.

George Aichele, et al., The Postmodern Bible: The Bible and Culture Collective, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995.

Darr, John A. On Character Building: The Reader and the Rhetoric of Characterization in Luke-Acts. Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992.

Lodge, John G. Romans 9-11: A Reader-Response Analysis. Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press, 1996.

Moore, Stephen. Literary Criticism and the Gospels: The Theoretical Challenge. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989.

Suleiman, Susan and Crosman, Inge. The Reader in the Text: Essays on Audience and Interpretation. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980.

Tompkins, Jane, ed. Reader-Response Criticism: From Formalism to Post-Structuralism. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1980.

Moore, Stephen. Literary Criticism and the Gospels: The Theoretical Challenge. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989.

I know this guy! (well, sort of...)

I do believe the opener of this thread is the first "quotee" in AWADmail 172. Congratulations!