Redeeming Laughter: The Comic Dimension of Human Experience

Front Cover
Walter de Gruyter, 1997 - Humor - 215 pages

The author of numerous previous books of broad appeal and scholarly acclaim on subjects ranging from sociological theory to religious ethics in government and economic systems, and the coauthor of a vastly influential treatise on The Social Construction of Reality, Berger unfolds in Redeeming Laughter a new perspective on a classic domain. Berger's comic terrain is at once noble and amusing, the terrain of Erasmus and Swift. Like his predecessors', Berger's writing in these pages is bolstered with exemplary learning and wry observation.

About the author (1997)

Peter Ludwig Berger was born in Vienna, Austria on March 17, 1929. He immigrated to the United States when he was 17 years old. He received a bachelor's degree from Wagner College in 1949 and did his doctoral work at the New School in Manhattan. He was a theologian who was known for his work in the sociology of knowledge, understanding how humans experience everyday reality. He taught at several universities including Boston University, the New School for Social Research, Brooklyn College, Rutgers University, and Boston College. He wrote many books during his lifetime including The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge, A Rumor of Angels: Modern Society and the Rediscovery of the Supernatural, The Noise of Solemn Assemblies: Christian Commitment, The Religious Establishment in America, The Heretical Imperative: Contemporary Possibilities of Religious Affirmation, and A Far Glory: The Quest for Faith in an Age of Credulity. He died from heart failure on June 27, 2017 at the age of 88.

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