ABSTRACT
'Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not befitting.' St Paul was instructing the church at Ephesus. Christians, it seems, may not, as the prophets did, jest even at the madness of their enemies and the worldly-wise. With his vast authority, Paul risked killing Christian laughter stone dead. Low and obscene speech and rash and stupid prattling are likely to be condemned by many kinds of moralist. If he cannot be, that leads to a head-on clash with the Philosopher. That clash would become unavoidable once Christianity moved outwards and upwards into the world of the scholars and gentlefolk of the Roman Empire. St Paul's letter to the Ephesians is the foundation of Christian worries about eutrapely. It is interesting to see what Erasmus makes of it all in his Annotations. There were bonuses when Christian exegetes turned increasingly to the Ancients for guidance on laughter.
