Christian Philosophy of Comedy: Parody

Image Credit: Media from Wix

Parody is a form of humor that "spoof[s] existing works through imitation and exaggeration" [1]. So how can parody be used to glorify God?

As the definition says, parody is spoofing something by imitating it and exaggerating it. So, there is apparently one problem with the idea that parody can be used Christianly: exaggerating implies lying. It implies making something look more ridiculous than it really is in order to try to discredit it in people's eyes. Since lying is clearly an anti-Christian practice (Exodus 20:16; cf. Romans 13:8-10), using it in a way that would please and glorify God would be impossible. This is a principle that applies to any kind of comedy relative to whether it can be God-glorifying or not. Yet, if, by "exaggeration," we mean not making something more than it really is, but rather showing what it really is, in contrast to a false, mild representation of that thing, then it can be a valid comedic form for Christians to use. That sounds really abstract, so I'll try to be more concrete here. Say there is a book promoting an anti-Christian ideology. While all unbiblical/nonchristian ideologies are anti-Christian in the sense that all people (and, consequently, all ideas) that are not for Christ are against Him (Matthew 12:30), the ideology in our hypothetical example here is explicitly anti-Christian in that it identifies Christianity as an enemy (if not THE enemy) to human well-being. While this ideology would appeal to many people, because all people apart from Divine grace are enemies of God, it simultaneously wouldn't be able to win over many converts if it was perfectly consistent in its opposition to Christian doctrine. Because many people enjoy the benefits they get from Christian ideas they selectively like (such as the Golden Rule-Matthew 7:12), they really wouldn't be willing to jettison all Christian concepts (unless they would be so given over to sin that they actually are opposed to Biblical notions like the Golden Rule). So, our hypothetical anti-Christian ideology here has to steal some ideas from Christianity that appeal to all people, believers and unbelievers, in order to be fully marketable. But if a Christian parodist comes across the book introducing this ideology, he, in response, writes a book that imitates the ideology's manifesto and exaggerates the ideology, not by presenting it as something more than it really is, but by stripping it of all the Christian ideas it stole to show what it would look like if it was faithful to its professed opposition to Christianity (in other words, if it was consistent). This applies not only to unbiblical belief-systems that steal some Biblical ideas to look more appealing than they actually are, but also nonchristian worldviews that use other deceptive means to hide the false and immoral aspects of their teachings. What the Christian parodist does in this example is a model for how all Christians can use parody to glorify God.

May God make this post clear and useful for all His people who want to praise Him through parody!

[1] https://www.masterclass.com/articles/types-of-comedy?utm_source=chatgpt.com