This book investigates the complex and often contradictory role of laughter within religious traditions, questioning why some systems embrace humor while others strictly forbid it. Ingvild Saelid Gilhus, a scholar of religious studies, utilizes a wide-ranging historical framework to examine how laughter functions as a social, ritual, and theological tool. By analyzing primary texts and historical practices, she argues that laughter is not merely a secular reaction but a significant indicator of power dynamics, sacred boundaries, and human identity within religious communities.

Scholars recognize this work as a significant contribution to the study of emotions in religious history. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which provides a rigorous examination of under-researched cultural phenomena.