#The Funda Thembi Trend: Social Media Sensibilities Towards Pentecostal Online Humour
Sphesihle Blessing Khanyile 
Issue: Vol.6 No.5 Issue Article 18 pp. 617-629
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20256518 | Published online 25th April, 2025
© 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Late in 2022, the #FundaThembi video trend went viral on social media. Video footage of a heated Pentecostal service won over the hearts of South African online users, agitating droves to reciprocate in humour. A Pentecostal preacher was captured on camera fervently reading scripture before his sermonic presentation. Thembi, a female congregant, obediently and energetically reads the biblical passage in isiZulu, captivatingly. The wholly dramatic, humorous, and theatrical were consummated in Thembi’s passionate read. Online Pentecostal-Christian audiences rejected the hilarious interpretation of #FundaThembi, arguing that it worked to debase the sacrosanct Christian impulse. Conversely, secular online audiences perceived #FundaThembi as amusing and refreshing. The goal of the paper is to elucidate the relationship between online humour and Pentecostal subjectivities and how this can speak to more pertinent issues about the little-explored scholarly reconciliation between humour and religion enacted on digital platforms. The methodological path employs the potency of critical discourse analysis to examine online audiences’ lexical choices for excavating positionalities ideologically loaded within the virtual platform of Facebook. By examining the #FundaThembi trend’s online displays in detail, the discussion underscores the paper’s main finding, which illustrates that Pentecostal online subjectivities have an ideological predilection for viewing church sprouted humour negatively: evil, unholy and morally atavistic. The study contributes to the impoverished body of scholarly literature reconciling humour and pentecostalism and attempts to critically comprehend Pentecostal sensibilities toward humour as enacted on social media plaforms.
Keywords: #FundaThembi, Humour, Audiences, Pentecostalism, Social Media
Aboudan, Rima. “Laugh and Learn: Humor and Learning a Second Language.” International Journal of Arts and Sciences 3, no. 3 (2009): 90–99.
Al-Ameedi, Riyadh Tariq Kadhim, and Rufaidah Kamal Abdulmajeed. “Persuasion in Jesus Christ’s Humour: A Linguistic Analysis.” Open Journal of Modern Linguistics 6, no. 02 (2016): 71.
Alatalo, Sari, and Anne Poutiainen. “Use of Humor in Multicultural Classroom,” 2016.
Ali, Holi Ibrahim Holi, and Awad Alhassan. “Fighting Contract Cheating and Ghostwriting in Higher Education: Moving towards a Multidimensional Approach.” Cogent Education 8, no. 1 (January 1, 2021). https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2021.1885837.
Andrew, Patricia. “Laughter Is the Best Medicine: The Construction of Old Age in Ageist Humor.” Language and Humour in the Media, 2012, 11–24.
Balcomb, Anthony. “Nicholas Bhengu—The Impact of an African Pentecostal on South African Society.” Exchange 34, no. 4 (2005): 337–48.
Banda, Felix. “Translanguaging and English-African Language Mother Tongues as Linguistic Dispensation in Teaching and Learning in a Black Township School in Cape Town.” Current Issues in Language Planning 19, no. 2 (2018): 198–217.
Bardon, Adrian. “The Philosophy of Humor.” Comedy: A Geographic and Historical Guide 2 (2005): 462–76.
Berger, Peter L. A Rumor of Angels: Modern Society and the Rediscovery of the Supernatural. Open Road Media, 2011.
Bortolussi, Giulia, and Andrés Fernando Muro. “Advances in Understanding Disease Mechanisms and Potential Treatments for Crigler–Najjar Syndrome.” Expert Opinion on Orphan Drugs 6, no. 7 (July 3, 2018): 425–39. https://doi.org/10.1080/21678707.2018.1495558.
Borum, Caty, and Caty Borum Chattoo. The Revolution Will Be Hilarious: Comedy for Social Change and Civic Power. Vol. 29. NYU Press, 2023.
Broeck, R. van den. “The Concept of Equivalence in Translation Theory: Some Critical Reflections.” In Literature and Translation, edited by J. S. Holmes, J. Lambert, and R. van den Broeck, 29–47. Leuven: Academic, 1978.
Bunting, I. “The Higher Education Landscape Under Apartheid.” In Transformation in Higher Education, edited by et al. Cloete N. Norwell, MA: Springer, 2006.
Christopher, Sarah. “An Introduction to Black Humour as a Coping Mechanism for Student Paramedics.” Journal of Paramedic Practice 7, no. 12 (2015): 610–17.
Cilliers, J H. “From the Ridiculous to the Sublime: Practical Theological Perspectives on the Healing Power of Humor.” Practical Theology in South Africa= Praktiese Teologie in Suid-Afrika 24, no. 2 (2009): 18–37.
Dijk, Rijk Van. “Witchcraft and Scepticism by Proxy: Pentecostalism and Laughter in Urban Malawi.” In Magical Interpretations, Material Realities, 97–117. Routledge, 2003.
Durkheim, Emile. “The Elementary Forms of Religious Life.” In Social Theory Re-Wired, 52–67. Routledge, 2016.
Faimau, Gabriel, and Camden Behrens. “Facebooking Religion and the Technologization of the Religious Discourse: A Case Study of a Botswana-Based Prophetic Church.” Online-Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet 11 (2016).
Freud, Sigmund. Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious. WW Norton & Company, 1960.
Gardner, Richard A. “Humour and Religion: New Directions?” The Palgrave Handbook of Humour, History, and Methodology, 2020, 151–72.
Geybels, Hans. “The Redemptive Power of Humour in Religion.” Humour and Religion: Challenges and Ambiguities. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2011, 11–21.
Gifford, Paul. “‘ Africa Shall Be Saved’. An Appraisal of Reinhard Bonnke’s Pan-African Crusade.” Journal of Religion in Africa, 1987, 63–92.
Gooren, Henri. “An Introduction to Pentecostalism: Global Charismatic Christianity.” Ars Disputandi 4, no. 1 (2004): 206–9.
Hale, Adrian. “Joking, Prophetically: The Use of Humour in Mormon Leaders’ Sermons.” Comedy Studies 15, no. 1 (2024): 77–93.
Harmer, Emily, and Karen Lumsden. “Online Othering: An Introduction.” Online Othering: Exploring Digital Violence and Discrimination on the Web, 2019, 1–33.
Hassim, Adila, Mark Heywood, and Jonathan Berger. “Health and Democracy: A Guide to Human Rights, Health Law and Policy in Post-Apartheid South Africa,” 2014.
Holmes, Janet, and Meredith Marra. “Over the Edge? Subversive Humor between Colleagues and Friends,” 2002.
Ihejirika, Walter Chikwendu. “Research on Media, Religion and Culture in Africa: Current Trends and Debates.” African Communication Research 2, no. 1 (2009): 1–60.
Immink, Gerrit. “The Sense of God’s Presence in Prayer.” HTS: Theological Studies 72, no. 4 (2016): 1–7.
Jónsson, Jakob. Humour and Irony in the New Testament: Illuminated by Parallels in Talmud and Midrash. Vol. 28. Brill Archive, 1985.
Kalsoom, Nazia, and Sadia Kalsoom. “Semiotic Representation of Gender in Google Emojis.” Linguistics and Literature Review 5, no. 2 (2019): 127–37.
Kay, William K. Pentecostalism: A Very Short Introduction. Vol. 255. Oxford University Press, USA, 2011.
Kgatle, Mookgo S. “Social Media and Religion: Missiological Perspective on the Link between Facebook and the Emergence of Prophetic Churches in Southern Africa.” Verbum et Ecclesia 39, no. 1 (2018): 1–6.
———. “The Unusual Practices within Some Neo-Pentecostal Churches in South Africa: Reflections and Recommendations.” HTS: Theological Studies 73, no. 3 (2017): 1–8.
Khanyile, Sphesihle Blessing. “The Virtualization of the Church: New Media Representations of Neo-Pentecostal Performance (s) in South Africa,” 2016.
Komisa, Z. “‘Funda Thembi!’- SA in Awe as Mzansi Woman Passionately Reads the Bible,” 2022. https://www.kaya959.co.za/entertainment/watch-funda-tembi-sa-in-awe-as-mzansi-woman-passionately-reads-the-bible/.
Lettau, Meike, Christopher Yusufu Mtaku, and Eric Debrah Otchere. Performing Sustainability in West Africa: Cultural Practices and Policies for Sustainable Development. African Identities. London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2015.
Lintott, Sheila. “Superiority in Humor Theory.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 74, no. 4 (2016): 347–58.
Mangeya, Hugh. “Mediation of the Black African Identity through Social Media Humour.” The Dyke 16, no. 1 (2022): 1–23.
Mbembe, Achille. On the Postcolony. Vol. 41. Univ of California Press, 2001.
McFadden, Susan H. “The Paradoxes of Humor and the Burdens of Despair.” Journal of Religious Gerontology 16, no. 3–4 (2004): 13–27.
McGhee, Paul E. “The Role of Laughter and Humor in Growing up Female.” In Becoming Female: Perspectives on Development, 183–206. Springer, 1979.
McIntyre, Elisha. “God’s Comics: Religious Humour in Contemporary Evangelical Christian and Mormon Comedy,” 2013.
Mindess, Harvey. Laughter and Liberation. Routledge, 2017.
Morreall, John. Comic Relief: A Comprehensive Philosophy of Humor. Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
———. Comic Relief: A Comprehensive Philosophy of Humor. John Wiley & Sons, 2011.
Mpofu, Phillip. “The Nollywood Cultural Effect in Zimbabwe: Manifestation of Nigerian Lingo in Everyday Discourses.” Journal of Multicultural Discourses 16, no. 3 (July 3, 2021): 245–57. https://doi.org/10.1080/17447143.2021.1941064.
Musila, Grace A. “Laughing at the Rainbow’s Cracks? Blackness, Whiteness and the Ambivalences of South African Stand-up Comedy.” Civic Agency in Africa: Arts of Resistance in the 21st Century, 2014, 147–66.
Ndlovu, Nonhlanhla. “‘A Nation That Laughs Together, Stays Together’: Deconstructing Humour on Twitter During the National Lockdown in South Africa.” Digital Humour in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Perspectives from the Global South, 2021, 191–212.
Nel, Annemieke B. “South African Missions, Methodism, Identity and Agency in the Cape, with Reference to the Klipfontein Mission Station, ca. 1800s-2010s.” Stellenbosch University, 2020.
Nhlapo, N. “ Imvuselelo Ezinkundleni Zokuxhumana Owesifazane Efunda Izwi,” 2022. https://www.isolezwe.co.za/izindaba/imvuselelo-ezinkundleni-zokuxhumana-owesifazane-efunda-izwi-5b043b2c-229e-4775-9a81-7fb432464620.
Nsereka, Barigbon Gbara, and Tessy Nwanze. “Evangelism in the Era of New Media.” International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) 5, no. 8 (2021): 643–48.
Obadare, Ebenezer. “The Uses of Ridicule: Humour,‘Infrapolitics’ and Civil Society in Nigeria.” African Affairs 108, no. 431 (2009): 241–61.
Parker, Zoe. “Standing up for the Nation: An Investigation of Stand-up Comedy in South Africa Post-1994 with Specific Reference to Women’s Power and the Body.” South African Theatre Journal 16, no. 1 (2002): 8–29.
Senge, P., C. Robert, R.B. Ross, B.J. Smith, and A. Kleiner. The Fifth Discipline Field-Book: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organisation. New York: Doubleday, 1994.
Shade, A.R. Licence to Laugh: Humour in the Classroom. Westport: Greenwood Publishing, 1996.
Sorensen, Majken Jul. “Humor as a Serious Strategy of Nonviolent Resistance to Oppression.” Peace & Change 33, no. 2 (2008): 167–90.
Tshuma, Lungile Augustine, Mbongeni Jonny Msimanga, and Bhekizulu Bethaphi Tshuma. “Laughing through the Stomach: Satire, Humour and Advertising in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Journal of Asian and African Studies 59, no. 3 (2024): 788–806.
Vanyoro, Kudzaiishe Peter, and Kudakwashe Paul Vanyoro. “Exploring the Use of Humour, Vulgarity and Allegory in Social Media Discourses: The Case of Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp.” Africanus: Journal of Development Studies 49, no. 1 (2019): 22-pages.
Venkatesh, Viswanath, and Fred D. Davis. “A Theoretical Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model: Four Longitudinal Field Studies.” Management Science 46, no. 2 (February 2000): 186–204. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.46.2.186.11926.
Wasserman, Herman. “Laughter in the Time of a Pandemic: Why South Africans Are Joking about Coronavirus.” The Conversation 15 (2020).
Weitz, Eric. “Humour and Social Media.” The European Journal of Humour Research 4, no. 4 (2016): 1–4.
White, Peter, and Cornelius J P Niemandt. “Ghanaian Pentecostal Churches’ Mission Approaches.” Journal of Pentecostal Theology 24, no. 2 (2015): 241–69.
Williams, Donald M, and Wessel Bentley. “The Need for Continued Decolonisation and Africanisation of Ordination in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa.” Theologia Viatorum 44, no. 1 (2020): 1–10.
Zahoor, Asma. “Linguistic Humor in Memes to Mitigate Post COVID-19 Severity.” Linguistics and Literature Review (LLR), 2020.
Zukowski, A. “Communicating Faith in a Digital Culture.” Momentum 43, no. 3 (2012).
Sphesihle Blessing Khanyile is researcher and academic who lecturers Media Studies at the Central University of Technology, South Africa. His research foci overarchingly engages African Pentecostalism, prosperity gospel and the discursive representations of African Christianity on media terrains.
Khanyile, Sphesihle Blessing. “#The Funda Thembi Trend: Social Media Sensibilities Towards Pentecostal Online Humour ,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 6, no.5 (2025): 617-629. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20256518
© 2025 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Featured
Others
