JASON CRAWFORD W/ JOY MOORE & FR. WES GRISTY: GOD'S FOOLS

Join us as we welcome JASON CRAWFORD in conversation with JOY MOORE & FR. WES GRISTY on THURSDAY, MAY 28 at 6:00 PM to celebrate the release of Crawford's new book.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Comedians play a complicated role in modern culture. They get up on public stages to talk about nothing in particular, with no expertise. They go out of their way to put their flaws, failures, and shabbiness on display. They break social taboos and orchestrate their own persecution. And through it all, they seem to be touched with a kind of spiritual charisma. Sometimes they seem like prophets, speaking truths that no one else would dare. Sometimes they seem like children, wide-eyed and innocent. We can't stop listening to what they have to say.

In God’s Fools, Jason Crawford tells the stories of these strange figures. He ranges over a motley crew of modern comedians, from the pioneers of early cinema to the provocateurs of contemporary stand-up. But he also follows the story of the comedian further back, into a surprising history of holy fools, wild prophets, and mischief-making saints. In his account, comic performers from Charlie Chaplin to the present mingle with older figures like Francis of Assisi, Symeon the Fool, the laughing martyrs Perpetua, Lawrence, and Akiva, and the weird hermit Thecla of Iconium. As he uncovers the through-lines that connect these ancient lives to the world of modern comedy, Crawford asks how comedians still fashion themselves as prophetic and sacred characters. He explores the things comedy shares with sacred experience: how jokes are like prophecies, and how comic resolutions are like apocalyptic visions. And he finds new ways of understanding the power of comedy in our own moment.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Jason Crawford teaches at Union University, where he offers courses about topics such as comedy and tragedy, Shakespeare and Dante, beauty and faith. His book Allegory and Enchantment was published by Oxford University Press in 2017, and his essays have appeared in publications such as ELH, The Cresset, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. He lives in Jackson, Tennessee with four funny people and one funny dog.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNERS:

Joy Moore lives in Jackson, Tennessee, where, for the last fifteen years, she has taught undergraduate writing and interdisciplinary courses, designed and managed two coffee shops, and led a music and arts venue. Her poems have appeared in Best Spiritual Literature, Verse Daily, and such journals as The Southern Review, 32 Poems, Ecotone, and Prairie Schooner, where she won a Glenna Luschei Award.

Fr. Wes Gristy has been the Rector (Senior Pastor) of All Saints Anglican Church in Jackson, TN since 2014. Though he's been serving in church ministry since 1997, Fr. Wes and his family transitioned into the Anglican tradition back in 2012. A native Texan, he and his wife Abbie have made Jackson their home since 2005. They have three children.