Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Politics and Religion
Searching for Luther on Laughter

Searching for Luther on Laughter

Last updated on: May 18, 2023 at 9:30 am by Gene Veith

0 Comments

Searching for Luther on Laughter 2023-05-18T09:30:50-04:00 Gene Veith

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Martin Luther said, “It is pleasing to the dear God whenever thou rejoicest or laughest from the bottom of thy heart.”

My fellow Patheos blogger Randy Alcorn quoted that. It’s such a good quote that I wondered why I hadn’t heard it before. Which set me on a merry chase to find the source. Along the way, I found lots of fascinating material on Luther’s thoughts about laughter, including these other quotations, from AZ Quotes:

If the earth is fit for laughter then surely heaven is filled with it. Heaven is the birthplace of laughter.

If I am not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don’t want to go there.

The Gospel is nothing less than laughter and joy.

The heart overflows with gladness, and leaps and dances for the joy it has found in God. In this experience the Holy Spirit is active, and has taught us in the flash of a moment the deep secret of joy. You will have as much joy and laughter in life as you have faith in God.

But AZ Quotes doesn’t give sources! Resisting the felt need to also identify the sources of these quotes (if you know them or can find them, please say what they are in the comments), I forged ahead.

I found several citations of Alcorn’s quote, but, again, no source. The closest authoritative citation with some illuminating context is from Strong’s Systematic Theology by the Reformed Baptist theologian Augustus Hopkins Strong (1836-1921) (not to be confused with the James Strong who gave us Strong’s Concordance). Strong contrasts Luther’s appreciation of laughter with a medieval theologian who considered laughter a sin:

Peter Damiani, the great monk-cardinal, said that the sin he found it hardest to uproot was his disposition to laughter. The homage paid to asceticism is the homage paid to the conqueror. But not all conquests are worthy of homage. Better the words of Luther: “If our God may make excellent large pike and good Rhenish wine, I may very well venture to eat and drink. Thou mayest enjoy every pleasure in the world that is not sinful; thy God forbids thee not, but rather wills it. And it is pleasing to the dear God whenever thou rejoicest or laughest from the bottom of thy heart.”

This is probably where Alcorn picked up the quote, since Strong’s Systematic Theology is still studied in evangelical and Reformed circles. But where is it in Luther?

I had just about given up my search on Google. But then I remembered how I said that ChatGBT is best used as search engine. So I gave the virtually-intelligent site the quotation and asked what the source is. I got this:

I’m not entirely sure that this quote is from Martin Luther’s works. I’ve searched through his writings and speeches, including his sermons, commentaries, and letters, but I couldn’t find any reference to this exact quote.

It is possible that the quote is a paraphrase or a summary of Luther’s teachings on the role of joy and laughter in the Christian life. Luther did emphasize the importance of joy as a fruit of faith, and he encouraged Christians to find delight in God’s grace and the promises of the Gospel. He also believed that laughter and humor were gifts from God that could be used to relieve stress and strengthen relationships.

However, without more specific information, I cannot determine the exact source of this quote or whether it can be attributed to Martin Luther with certainty.

So I was just about to consign this saying to the rather large list of Luther quotes that he didn’t really say, when I had one more idea. This sounds like something Luther might have said in Table Talk, the collection of notes drawn from the Reformer’s dinner conversations. So I gave ChatGPT a little help. I asked,

Is the following quote from Martin Luther’s “Table Talk”? “It is pleasing to the dear God whenever thou rejoicest or laughest from the bottom of thy heart.”

And this is the reply:

Yes, that quote is from Martin Luther’s “Table Talk”. “Table Talk” is a collection of informal conversations, anecdotes, and sayings attributed to Martin Luther, recorded by his students and friends over the years. The quote you mentioned is found in a section titled “On the Duty of Preachers”, and it reads as follows:

“The world is now so full of venom and malice that every Christian ought to be armed with the knowledge that it is pleasing to the dear God whenever thou rejoicest or laughest from the bottom of thy heart.” (Table Talk, No. 1015)

So, while the quote you asked about is similar to the one you mentioned earlier, it differs slightly in wording and context.

Success! Or so I thought. But whereas Strong put the words in the context of “excellent large pike and good Rhenish wine,” ChatGPT put them in the context of “venom and malice.” So I next looked up Table Talk, No. 1015, and found nothing! There weren’t any entries with that number. And yet I knew that the best-known English translation by the Victorian writer William Hazlitt that I was consulting is just a selection, as is the more scholarly translation by Theodore Tappett, volume 54 in Luther’s Works. The entire Table Talk, that is to say, Tischreden, in the German Weimar Edition of Luther’s complete works takes up six volumes! This is where they are numbered, and they go up to 6,507.

I wasn’t aware that ChatGPT read German, so, after a fruitless search on Google, I asked it, “What is the source of this quotation that you gave me earlier?: ‘The world is now so full of venom and malice that every Christian ought to be armed with the knowledge that it is pleasing to the dear God whenever thou rejoicest or laughest from the bottom of thy heart.'”

This brought forth this confession, plus the answer I was seeking:

I apologize for the confusion earlier. I made an error in my previous response. The quotation “If our God may make excellent large pike and good Rhenish wine…” is indeed from Luther’s Table Talk, but the quotation “The world is now so full of venom and malice that every Christian ought to be armed with the knowledge that it is pleasing to the dear God whenever thou rejoicest or laughest from the bottom of thy heart.” is not found in Table Talk No. 1015.

After doing further research, I have found that this quotation is actually from a letter that Luther wrote to his friend Nicholas von Amsdorf on December 30, 1530. The letter is included in the English translation of Luther’s letters, edited by Henry Wace and published by A. J. Holman in 1913. The quotation is found in Letter No. 254, and it is in line with Luther’s emphasis on finding joy and pleasure in life as long as it is not sinful.

The satisfaction for finding two sources of Luther’s contention that God is pleased at our laughter was heightened by my satisfaction at the much-feared and groveled-to Artificial Intelligence confessed to making an error and apologized for it.

At the end of this research, I not only learned about the possibilities and the limits of today’s online technology, I was left with a provocative statement from Luther that I will continue to muse on: “Thou mayest enjoy every pleasure in the world that is not sinful.”

On the way, Google did turn up quite a few articles, scholarly and otherwise, on Luther’s humor. In tomorrow’s post, I will tell you what I learned.

Image by Alexandra_Koch from Pixabay

Previous Post

May 17, 2023

The Evil That Considers Itself Good

Next Post

May 19, 2023 DISCUSSION: Immigration

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"I know wired earbuds are making a comeback (I never stopped using them as I ..."

reg

Luther on Tools

"VCRs, tape decks, and cassette players are all having a revival among a segment of ..."

Tom Hering

Luther on Tools

"As a (retired) lawyer I see potential liability from sharing things like power or sharp ..."

reg

Luther on Tools

"I am not sure the items you mentioned, though disused, discontinued, discarded, could be considered ..."

reg

Luther on Tools

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category America Apologetics Art baseball Bible Blog Christ Church crime Culture Economics Education Ethics Family Food Football Government History Holidays Holy Week Humor International Islam Language Law Life Issues Literature Media Medicine Movies Music Nature News Personal Philosophy Politics psychology Reformation Religions Sacraments Science sex Social Science Sports technology television terrorism Theology Uncategorized Vocation war

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: Timothy was instructed to avoid godless chatter and opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge.

Select your answer to see how you score.

FALSE TRUE

Books by This Author Books by Gene Veith

See All Titles »