Comedy, Tragedy, and Saint Thomas More

Abstract

The twentieth-century political philosopher Leo Strauss uses a quotation from Thomas More to suggest that Christianity is akin to tragedy while philosophy is closer to comedy. This article responds to Strauss’s contention by examining the implications of characterizing philosophy or biblical religion as either comic or tragic; it then analyzes Thomas More’s understanding of Christianity in order to see whether More shares Strauss’s opinion. The paper concludes that he does not: Thomas More sees Christian life and thought as essentially “comic” in both structure and orientation.