Acknowledgments Editor's Introduction: Sacred Laughter Chapter One: The Wheel of Gelastic Fortune: The Turnings of Monastic Mirth Terry Lindvall and Christian Palmisano Chapter Two: The Transformative Nature of the Sun-god's Laughter in Ancient Egyptian Religious Texts LaReina Hingson Chapter Three: The Archfigure Trickster: The Role of Humor in Functional Models of the Trickster-Civilizer's Actions in North American Indian Myths Nikol Danisova Chapter Four: Humor in Islam Fatima Ahmed and Sundus Mohamed Chapter Five: Buddhism, Humor, and Laughter Richard Gardner Chapter Six: Transformations of a Japanese Deity of Dance: Humor, Ritual, and the Question How to Reach the Gods Bernard Scheid Chapter Seven: The Sanctity of the Funny: Christian Clown Ministries and the Paradox of the Profane Liz Sills Chapter Eight: Serious Buddha, laughing Krishna? Some aspects of fun and games in Hinduism and Buddhism Paul van Der Velde Chapter Nine: 'The Gods live like Us': Sacred Humor in Africa Benson Igboin Chapter Ten: Boiled Shoe, Enamoured Cow and a Buddha in a Fur: Buddhist Humour in Mongolian Communities Alevtina Solovyeva and Anastasiya Fiadotava Chapter Eleven: Laughing to Move the Gods: The Transformative Power of Humor in Shinto Kaitlyn Ugoretz Editor's Epilogue About the Contributors Velde Chapter Nine: 'The Gods live like Us': Sacred Humor in Africa Benson Igboin Chapter Ten: Boiled Shoe, Enamoured Cow and a Buddha in a Fur: Buddhist Humour in Mongolian Communities Alevtina Solovyeva and Anastasiya Fiadotava Chapter Eleven: Laughing to Move the Gods: The Transformative Power of Humor in Shinto Kaitlyn Ugoretz Editor's Epilogue About the ContributorsVelde Chapter Nine: 'The Gods live like Us': Sacred Humor in Africa Benson Igboin Chapter Ten: Boiled Shoe, Enamoured Cow and a Buddha in a Fur: Buddhist Humour in Mongolian Communities Alevtina Solovyeva and Anastasiya Fiadotava Chapter Eleven: Laughing to Move the Gods: The Transformative Power of Humor in Shinto Kaitlyn Ugoretz Editor's Epilogue About the ContributorsVelde Chapter Nine: 'The Gods live like Us': Sacred Humor in Africa Benson Igboin Chapter Ten: Boiled Shoe, Enamoured Cow and a Buddha in a Fur: Buddhist Humour in Mongolian Communities Alevtina Solovyeva and Anastasiya Fiadotava Chapter Eleven: Laughing to Move the Gods: The Transformative Power of Humor in Shinto Kaitlyn Ugoretz Editor's Epilogue About the Contributors.